Today FINA, swimming's international body, released a list of approved suits. And with that, swimming took its first step towards sanity or towards ruin, depending on where you stand. Since the approval of Speedo's LZR Racer before the Olympics and concomitant widespread destruction of world records, the swim community has been riven by the suits: Are they too much aid or are they just a technical improvement, like when tennis moved beyond the wooden racket? The debate is best catalyzed by the case of Fred Bousquet, first man under 19s in 50 yards and under 21s in 50 meters. Attacked by anti-suit zealot Craig Lord of SwimNews, Bousquet's coach fires back in a blog whose comments themselves do a great job of demonstrating the divide. (Lord responds.) [more inside]
posted by dame on May 19, 2009 - 59 comments

The aquatic ancestry of elephants Scientists believe they have discovered why elephants have trunks - they used them as underwater snorkels. New research suggests that the animals evolved from mammals like the sea cow. [more inside]
posted by The Light Fantastic on May 31, 2008 - 27 comments

And here I am kicking my own legs like a sucker. From DEKA Research the folks that made the Segway and DARPA the little defense department that could (bomb you) comes Power Swim which uses an oscillating foil to develop vortices that...uh, it makes you go faster in the water. Some pictures, here. [more inside]
posted by Smedleyman on Dec 19, 2007 - 27 comments

Oh, deer. "The catching was slow and they looked back to check their lines. They saw what appeared to be a seal with its snout out of the water, but they didn't think any seals were around their fishing grounds and they kept watching."
posted by mr_crash_davis on Oct 20, 2007 - 73 comments

After a six hour swim, Karen Gaffney finished crossing Lake Tahoe. She's also done the English Channel as part of a relay. Karen also has Down syndrome and is a motivational speaker. [more inside]
posted by plinth on Oct 1, 2007 - 4 comments

Long Wharf in Boston and European route E5 are now stops on convenient routes for anyone looking to save a little money on airfare. Whether you're heading from Newfoundland to England or Moscow to Alaska, Google Maps recommends these places as (literal) jumping-off points. Just remember to pack your goggles.
posted by CrunchyFrog on Mar 29, 2007 - 13 comments

Martin Strel is at it again. Back in '02 he swam the Mississippi River, then went on in '04 to make a world record swim of 930 miles in the Yangtze river. Now he plans to swim the 3,375 mile Amazon "for peace and friendship", starting February 1st.
posted by lisalisa123 on Jan 20, 2007 - 28 comments

Sous La Mer . Underwater nudes by Alberich Mathews. Webs of light. [via]
posted by nickyskye on May 28, 2006 - 18 comments

Tracks of Swimming Dinosaur found in Wyoming The tracks of a previously unknown, two-legged swimming dinosaur have been identified along the shoreline of an ancient inland sea that covered Wyoming 165 million years ago, according to a University of Colorado at Boulder graduate student.
posted by hostile7 on Oct 19, 2005 - 15 comments

"I have now made my own flexible dolphin monofin, look at the drawing and the pictures. When I am in the pool I really look like a too large fish ;-)))." Isn't "monofluke" more appropriate? (Via)
posted by brundlefly on Oct 15, 2005 - 13 comments

Learn to Swim or just refine your mad aquatic skillz with the cool multimedia instruction of the BBC Sport Academy. How's your Front Crawl?
posted by Dr. Zira on Jul 20, 2005 - 6 comments

Surfrider is a nonprofit environmental organization that produces a annual "State of the Beach" (explanation here) report with information about US beach access (public access and private ownership issues), water quality, beach erosion, surfing, links and more. Reports are available for Hawaii, West Coast, Gulf States, Southeast, Mid Atlantic, Puerto Rico, Northeast and Great Lakes. In-depth Water Quality reports for beaches in CA, HI, TX, AL, and parts of FL, as well as results of beach water testing conducted by (or sanctioned by) Surfrider Chapters are also available. There are also Surfrider chapters in: Australia, Brazil, Canada (no website), Europe and Japan. EPA: Beaches is also an excellent resource for information about the condition of US beaches. [via LII New This Week]
posted by MLIS on Jun 5, 2005 - 7 comments

The Tao of Skinny-Dipping. [nytimes reg required] After long days spent defending their positions atop New York's most competitive fields, Manhattan's alpha males need to unwind. From mistresses to treadmills, these men have as many forms of relaxation as sources of stress. But some of the city's titans have a secret. They meet around private pools in private clubs and swim together, naked.
posted by jba on Apr 28, 2005 - 27 comments

Happy Harold Holt Day! On this day in 1967, Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt disappeared whilst swimming at Cheviot Beach near Melbourne. Conspiracy theories abound. Today, his memory is honoured by a memorial swimming pool.
posted by Pinback on Dec 17, 2004 - 7 comments

The End of the Deep End. Citing safety reasons, North American cities are abolishing the standard public swimming pool that many of us grew up with. The deep ends of existing pools are being filled in, and new pools are being built shallower. Is this action too extreme, or are deep ends a real threat to public safety? (via Manifesto Multilinko)
posted by sanitycheck on Jul 14, 2003 - 51 comments

Budget cuts threatening your college athletic team? No problem. Raise $210,000 on eBay.
posted by SandeepKrishnamurthy on Dec 4, 2002 - 7 comments

Swimming the Columbia River - lengthwise. What have you been up to for the past week? How about the next 6 months? If you're Christopher Swain, the answer is "swimming - and lots of it". Swain plans swim the 1,243 miles of the Columbia River from headwaters to the Pacific over about 180 days. The further downriver he goes, the riskier it gets - aside from the rapids and ocean freighters that await him, he'll be in waters contaminated by atomic waste, PCBs and other toxins - which is the point of the swim, to raise awareness and support for river protection. "I learned that tasting every mile of a river is a great way to build the credibility to speak on its behalf"
posted by kokogiak on Jun 11, 2002 - 15 comments

Underwater rugby? "An air-filled ball is not suitable for underwater games, since they are bouyant and always return to the surface. For this reason, Bersuda filled the ball with salt-water. Since the density of the ball was now greater than that of normal water, it no longer floated to the surface, but slowly sank to the bottom. The sink rate could, within certain limits, be controlled by the concentration of the salt solution. The first underwater ball was invented." Apparently, it's big in Switzerland (located east or south of Germany). Anyone else know anything about it?
posted by tippiedog on Oct 5, 2001 - 5 comments

Tourists swimming with the fishes... Ok, more accurately swimming with sharks. Summer is coming and with it my little coastal town is starting to endure the first surges of tourist crowds. With the changing of the seasons comes the eternal question, just what can you convince tourists to spend money on? I live in great white shark country so it's unlikely that this particular tourist activity will take off locally. However, we have had problems with commercial shark chummers in the past.
posted by rdr on Apr 15, 2001 - 8 comments

Coach Touretski Suspended Over Steroids Charge - Leading swimming coach Gennadi Touretski has been suspended from the Australian Institute of Sport following allegations of illegal possession of anabolic steroids. This is very big news here in Australia at the moment.
posted by Jase_B on Apr 10, 2001 - 5 comments

Equatorial Guinea has a new swimming star: 22-year-old Eric Moussambani. He won his heat in the 100m freestyle, despite never having learned how to swim at all until January, and having never even raced more than 50m before this race. His winning time: 1:52.72. Since that's about a minute more than it takes most Olympians, it should be noted here that his two competitors had been disqualified for false states, so he had the pool to himself. You really need to see the video of him "swimming" to believe it. But it's obvious that Sydney now has its own Eddie "the Eagle" Edwards!
posted by aaron on Sep 19, 2000 - 8 comments