Bay Swimmer Plans Repeat Performance

WMAR2 News, Katie Pumphrey announces plans for second swim from the Bay to Inner Harbor

The ultra-marathon open water swimmer that swam 24-miles from the Chesapeake Bay to the Inner Harbor announced she'll be doing it again. 

Katie Pumphrey completed the first swim in 2024. She started the swim at three in the morning and didn't finish until five in the afternoon. She stands alone as the only person to complete this 24-mile, nearly 14-hour swim.

Pumphrey said the hardest part of last year's swim came towards the end once fatigue set in and the current was fighting against her. What kept her going was the surprise of a big pirate ship filled with friends and family. Once she arrived to the finish line at the Inner Harbor, she was greeted with an overwhelming scene.

These events bring awareness to the ongoing efforts to make Baltimore's harbor safe to swim in.

Since 2010, the Waterfront Partnership started working on creating a swimmable harbor. Last summer, the harbor held its first public swimming event in over 40 years. “The Bay to Baltimore swim is not just a personal challenge—it’s about celebrating our city’s progress and encouraging more people to experience recreation on the water,” Pumphrey said.

This year's swim window is May 18-23, pending water conditions. During the swim, Pumphrey will have two support boats from the Freedom Boat Club to help pilot the swim.

I got cold just reading this. What I want to know where she started from that makes it a 24 mile trip. According to Google maps, the distance from the Inner Harbor to the Bay proper is less than 15 miles.  And, did she have to get Hep A shots to swim in the harbor?

Random Celebrity News

For some values of "random", "celebrity" and "news." Bounding into Sports features Three U.S. Female Olympians Who Are Stealing The Show In 2024

Casey Kaufhold is only 20 years old, but she’s already made history as the first U.S. woman to rank as the world No. 1 in women’s recurve archery. That’s no small feat!

She made her Olympic debut at the Tokyo Games when she was just 17, and while she didn’t snag a medal then, she’s back with a vengeance now. Casey is a favorite for gold in Paris, and if she wins, she’ll be the first U.S. woman to win an individual archery medal since 1976. Talk about pressure!

Anita Alvarez, at 27, is no stranger to the Olympic stage. She’s heading to her third Olympics, bringing tons of experience and determination to the U.S. artistic swimming team.

Despite not medaling in her previous attempts, Anita’s resilience is something to admire.

With Russia out of the competition this year, there’s a golden opportunity for new champions to emerge. Anita is ready to seize it! Her dedication and passion for artistic swimming make her a standout athlete. We’re excited to see her shine in Paris.

 

Kelly Cheng – Beach Volleyball. Kelly Cheng is 28 and the only Team USA beach volleyball player with previous Olympic experience. She competed at the Tokyo Games with her former partner, Sarah Sponcil, but they were knocked out in the Round of 16. Now, Kelly is back with her old USC partner, Sara Hughes, and they’re ready to make waves on the beach.

These two won back-to-back national championships together in 2016 and 2017. More recently they took gold at the 2023 world championships in Mexico.

I haven't watched enough beach volleyball this year.  

Wednesday Wetness

Chesapeake Bay Magazine, June Date Set For “Harbor Splash” Swim In Baltimore’s Inner Harbor

For years, the idea of swimming in the Baltimore Harbor was seen more as a punchline than a real possibility. But thanks to ongoing efforts to reduce runoff, wastewater pollution, and litter sweeping down from upstream urban neighborhoods, waterkeepers have found that areas of the harbor are safe for swimming much of the year.

To celebrate the progress and to raise support for future efforts, the City of Baltimore announced it would hold an upcoming “Harbor Splash” swim—right in the harbor. The idea has certainly raised eyebrows, and this week the city’s Waterfront Partnership announced the Harbor Splash is on for Sunday, June 23, 2024.

Up to 125 people ages 18 and older can sign up to take part in the organized, timed jump. The first Harbor Splash participants to jump in will be Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, Maryland Comptroller Brookie Lierman, and other key partners, diving right in from a a floating dock at Bond Street Wharf in Fells Point.

Umm, maybe next year.

The Wombat has Rule 5 Sunday: Pool’s Open up and garnering clicks at The Other McCain.

Random Celebrity News

For some values of "random", "celebrity" and "news". At Hollywood in Toto, Kristen Stewart Proves Massive Progress for Gay Rights

Stewart plays a gym manager named Lou who falls in love with a female bodybuilder (Katy M. O’Brian, “Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania”). Their romance is threatened by Lou’s father (Ed Harris), a criminal whose schemes endanger the main characters. The film opens wide March 15.

Stewart promoted the film with a cover story in the far-Left Rolling Stone magazine. The “Twilight” alum vowed to make the cover shoot the “gayest thing you’ve ever seen,” posing in a jock strap.

The magazine tried to antagonize allegedly bigoted conservatives with an accompanying article entitled, “Right-Wingers Are Terrified of Our Gay Kristen Stewart Cover.” The small sampling of conservatives referenced in the article recoiled at how unhappy Stewart appears in the photographs and how sexually explicit they are for shock value’s sake. It hardly suggested any sort of rebellion or attempt to silence her and her romantic life. None appear “terrified” by any rational definition.

There are gay people in Hollywood? Whoda thunk. NYPo reports Sylvester Stallone had Navy SEALs train his daughters before they moved to NYC

To live in the Big Apple, they had to train like Rambo. Sylvester Stallone was so nervous about his daughters Sophia and Sistine living in NYC that he hired Navy SEALs to train them in self-defense — and even had them chase chickens Rocky-style.

“It was the hardest. It was about six hours we were in those woods,” Sistine, 25, told The Post ahead of Season 2 of “The Family Stallone,” which premieres on Feb. 21. “Sophia and I got our asses whooped by these guys. They were the real deal,” she said.

That's fatherly love for you.  From JTN, Crowd boos Israeli medallist in swimming World Championships

The crowd at the Doha World Championships on Sunday booed an Israeli medallist who won silver in the women's 400-meter medley.

"I'm just so happy to be here and represent my country in this hard time, being here with the Israeli flag means a lot to me and to my country, so that's the best I can do," Israeli Anastasia Gorbenko said in a post-race interview as loud boos could be heard in the background.

Hollywood it Toto yet again, hears  Whitney Cummings Got Busted By HR for Saying One Simple Phrase “I got in trouble for saying, ‘Merry Christmas’ on the set of ‘Roseanne,’”  

“When HR called me to say I was in trouble for saying, ‘Merry Christmas,’ They were like, ‘Hey, um, so … ‘ They thought it was ridiculous, too,” Cummings recalled. She didn’t stop there, though. “I confronted the person and I basically was like, ‘You’re dangerous to everybody in this office.’”

“That’s a good story, and I’m glad it came out that way for you, but I am not as sanguine as you are about the idea that the ridiculous don’t have fans – the other people who are ridiculous,” Maher said. “Ridiculous stuff does land sometimes … and no one ever gets in trouble for being too woke.”

At Da Mail,  American ballerina Ksenia Karelina is detained for 'high treason' in Russia by Putin's feared FSB security accused of raising $51 for the Ukrainian army and could face 20 years in jail if found guilty  

Vladimir Putin's secretive Federal Security Service has arrested a dual Russian-American ballerina on treason charges, officials confirmed Tuesday.

Videos posted by a Russian news agency shows 32-year-old Ksenia Karelina being led into a courtroom in handcuffs and with her eyes blindfolded. It's not clear when the video was recorded.

Karelina is a resident of Los Angeles who became a US citizen in 2021. Her social media pages are littered with photos of her smiling, loving life in the US.

Can't we trade her for Kamala Harris or AOC or somebody? 

Hollywood in Toto yet again, with  ‘Drugstore June’ Delivers Dizzying Millennial Satire (With a Twist)  

Think Austin Powers, Capt. Jack Sparrow and Derek Zoolander. These larger-than-life types are played by actors who never step out of character for a nanosecond.

Esther Povitsky’s character in “Drugstore June” is cut from similar cloth. June defies pat labels, providing a fresh source of laughter in this 90-minute treat. Chances are you’ll want to see her again as soon as possible.

Povitsky’s June works at a drugstore and still lives at home with her dysfunctional Ma and Pa (Beverly D’Angelo and James Remar, both rock solid). Her life revolves around live streaming every inane thought that pops into her head and fleeing “trauma” in the form of mild insults and observations.

At OutKick,  Sydney Sweeney Nukes Dietitian Allegedly Lying About Relationship With Actress

An Instagram account with the handle @colostrum.lover claimed she "was Sydney Sweeney's dietican [sic] for 5 years" and "helped her get her dream role with 5 easy food swaps."

It's a social media template we've seen before. There's just one problem. Sweeney hopped on the reel to let people know she had no idea who this woman was, according to multiple reports. 

"I don't know you and kraft mac n cheese is for life," a viral screenshot shows Sweeney commenting. The Instagram page appears to have been deleted as of publication.

You can see the screenshots below, and let me know your thoughts at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.

And no "celebrity'" post would be complete without Taylor Swift.  The Peacock dourly worries the  Economic boost from Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour could be overstated, Nomura warns

The devil’s in the details, but local economies have a friend in Taylor Swift.

The American pop star has spent nearly a year crossing the U.S. and the globe with her high-flying Eras Tour. The economic effect of the “Karma” singer’s show has caught the attention of everyone from the Federal Reserve to Wall Street.

Her tour undoubtedly helped the local economies she visited, according to a new report out from Japanese investment bank Nomura. But the firm questions how much of an imprint it made on national data.

“Her boost to consumption has certainly enchanted US economic analysts, but we believe the total macroeconomic effect is probably overstated,” Nomura global economist Si Ying Toh wrote to clients last week.

Between the first and third quarter of 2023, Swift’s venture alone lifted nominal U.S. retail sales by 0.03%, and real gross domestic product, a measure of economic output, by 0.02%, Nomura estimates show.

And we know economists are never wrong, after all, they correctly predicted the last 21 of 7 recessions. 

The Wombat has Rule 5 Sunday: Poolside open and ready for business.

Some Random Celebrity News

For some interpretations of "Random," "Celebrity" and "News"

OutKick has TWO from Paige Spiranac. First Paige Spiranac Moved Her 'Sexier Content' To OnlyPaige Because Pro Golfers Judged Her 

Paige Spiranac, the world’s undisputed No. 1 ranked influencer, created her OnlyPaige account because a couple losers in the pro golf world judged her.

Thanks for ruining the fun, Karens.

Spiranac dropped the bomb during her regular Instagram Q&A session Monday when one fan asked if pro golfers/courses treat her “rudely” now since creating the OnlyFans spinoff.

“I think when I first came out with it people were interested and a little bit confused on what OP would be and, although I have some very fun and sexy content, there is no nudity and I will never do any nudity,” she said.

Second,  Paige Spiranac Transforms Herself Into 'Golf Barbie' To Promote Her New Pink Shafts 

Dealing with social media trolls and the shadow bans all come with the territory when you’re the world’s No. 1 golf influencer. So do brand deals and working with those brands on creating new and improved products.

That brings us to what Paige rolled out on Friday as she referred to herself as “Golf Barbie.” The golf influencer worked with LA Golf to develop a new golf club shaft.

Paige, aka Golf Barbie, made the announcement in a pink outfit in time to ride a little of the wave created by the Barbie movie. 

“I’ve always loved the color pink and asked @lagolf if they could make me pink shafts. They delivered and now you can get them too! They just came out with their Paige Signature Pink Series!,” she announced.

From Fox, Olympic gold medalist disqualified from World Championships after refusing handshake with Russian opponent

Ukrainian fencer Olga Kharlan, a four-time Olympic medalist and four-time individual world champion, was disqualified from this year’s championships in Milan after she refused to shake hands with her Russian opponent Thursday.

The decorated fencer defeated Russian Anna Smirnova, who was competing as a neutral athlete, 15-7, in the women’s individual sabre.

Kharlan, 32, did not shake Smirnova’s hand as is mandated by the International Fencing Federation (FIE), but instead offered her blade, a gesture which replaced the handshake rule during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Smirnova, 23, offered her hand, and after a brief standoff, Kharlan walked off to celebrate her victory.

Yahoo, Katie Ledecky breaks Michael Phelps' individual world championship gold medal record. No she didn't outswim Michael, but she might have out lasted him.

Katie Ledecky is now the solo record-holder for most individual gold medals at the world championships.

The American swimmer won her 16th title Saturday in the women's 800-meter freestyle in Fukuoka, Japan. That surpassed fellow American Michael Phelps' record, which Ledecky tied Tuesday when she won the 1,500-meter women's freestyle on Tuesday.

Ledecky's win also marked her sixth world championship in the event. She led from start to finish and cruised to victory with a time of 8:08.87 — four seconds slower than her 2016 world record — and beat the second-place finisher by 4.44 seconds.

At the NYPo,  Allison Williams: I was ‘bullied, vilified’ after ESPN vaccine firing

Former ESPN reporter Allison Williams testified in Congress on Thursday about losing her job at the network for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine.

Williams was fired from ESPN in 2021, having cited fertility treatments as the reason she was avoiding the vaccine.

She joined Fox Sports as a college football sideline reporter last year.

Williams appeared before the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, chaired by Ohio Rep. Brad Wenstrup, to detail her experience.

Ebanie Bridges

And also from OutKick,  Ebanie Bridges Wants To Make Content With Paige VanZant 

Ebanie Bridges hasn’t stepped in the ring since last December when she suffered a hand injury successfully defending her IBF bantamweight title against Shannon O’Connell. She’s been training, but isn’t quite ready for another fight yet.

Without a fight to prepare for the Blonde Bomber isn’t sitting around doing nothing between training sessions. She’s out creating content and working on putting collaborations together. Shortly after fellow boxer Mikaela Mayer joined OnlyFans, she showed interest in teaming up with her.

Paige VanZant

 

During an interaction this week with her followers on Instagram, Bridges revealed another fighter and content creator she’d like to collab with. None other than Paige VanZant. In fact, the two had been trying to put something together before the champion moved.

“We were trying to organize it but she got really busy and I moved, so many things,” Bridges told her followers. “Hopefully we can get back on track because I would love to collab with Paige VanZant.”

“That would be f*cking sexy.”

The Wombat has Rule 5 Monday: Public Benefactors up and awaiting your digital delight.

No Sport for the Faint of Heart

The Sun, Swimmer Anita Alvarez BANNED from world championships after fainting in pool for second time and being saved by coach

American synchronised swimmer Anita Alvarez, 25, was hoping to take part in team finals following her dramatic pool rescue on Wednesday.

The heroic Spanish coach who saved her from drowning stated on Thursday she was confident Anita would continue to represent her country following tests.

But the International Swimming Federation decided she should not compete.

 

Andrea Fuentes was filmed diving into the pool to drag Anita out as lifeguards watched on after she passed out in the water during a solo performance.

She said: “She doesn’t want to leave here with the photo of her unconscious at the bottom of the pool.

“In any case in the team events Anita does a lot of pirouettes and very few apneas so she will almost certainly compete.”

Reports on Friday in Spain said FINA officials had told the American synchronised swimming team Anita could take no further part in the World Championships.

The decision was made just hours ahead of the team event this afternoon.

They should let her compete, it's not like she's not surrounded by competent swimmers who could pull her out. 

No, Just No!

The Wombat has Rule 5 Sunday: Maisie Williams up at the Other McCain.

This Would be Better If His Name was Jonah

Swallowed by a whale! But PE tour operator lives to tell the tale

A tour operator in Port Elizabeth narrowly escaped being eaten by a whale.

Rainer Schimpf, 51, who takes tourists whalewatching in Algoa Bay, was filmed with his legs hanging out of a Bryde's whale's mouth.

Schimpf's wife, Silke, watched in horror as her husband's head and torso disappeared into the whale's mouth as he was filming a bait ball of sardines in February.

After several seconds, the whale spat out the wetsuited snorkeller, who said he held his breath while expecting the whale to dive.

Videos of the drama, which happened about 46km offshore during the sardine run, are racking up views on YouTube.

Schimpf said he was filming dolphins, dusky sharks, gannets, penguins, cormorants and gulls feeding on the sardines, with two security snorkellers swimming alongside him, when the whale rocketed up through the bait ball.

"Suddenly the whole world around me got dark and I felt enormous pressure around my waist, in the area of my weight belt," he told mype.co.za.

"I knew instantly what had happened – a Bryde's whale had accidentally included me in its mouth with its meal of the day. Comforting to me was the knowledge that the whale would be unable to completely swallow me into its stomach.

"My hard-won experience kicked in and I instantly held my breath, thinking that the whale would instinctively dive down again before spitting me out somewhere in the depths of the Indian Ocean.

"I felt the pressure increase around my waist, which is when I guess the whale realised his mistake as he turned sideways, opened his mouth slightly to release me and I was washed out, together with what felt like tons of water."

Nice Gannet storm!

Terrible Choices Tuesday

It does resonate at odd moments.

Safiya Nygaard does have a history of wearing odd clothes. On the bright side, she did quit Buzzfeed before the purges, to become an independent YouTuber.

Wombat-socho has Rule Five Sunday: Post-Valentine’s Day Pinup up and running.

Free Swim Friday

Linked at The Right Way in Rule 5 Saturday LinkOrama. Wombat-socho has Rule 5 Sunday: Happy Birthday, Fan Bingbing, Wherever You Are and FMJRA 2.0: A Day Late & A Dollar Short ready for action.

2500 Bare Naked Ladies Can't Be All Bad

Women bare all in record-breaking charity skinny dip in Ireland

Thousands of Irish women shed their inhibitions and their clothes on a secluded beach fifty kilometres south of Dublin on Saturday for a world-record setting "skinny dip" to raise funds for a children’s cancer charity.

Lucia Sinigagliesi, the Guinness World Records official that adjudicated the naked swim, said that 2505 women spent at least five minutes in the sea to set a new world record.

The previous record was set in Western Australia in 2015 when 786 participants swam naked to promote a positive body image near the regional capital Perth, in waters that are usually around 23 degrees centigrade at that time of year.

On Saturday, the sea temperature off Magheramore beach, where the Irish swim was held, was a bracing 12 degrees, despite a recent spell of warm weather.

For those of you more comfortable with the more biologically useful Fahrenheit scale, that's a bone chilling 53.6 F

The swim has been an annual event since it was started by Dubliner Dee Featherstone in 2013, just weeks after her own mastectomy. The events have raised more than 153,000 euro, not including what will be raised this year.

"Oh my god it was amazing. I have never been naked in front of anybody before, except my husband, and it was brilliant and bracing. It was great craic," Deirdre Betson from Dunboyne told a Reuters reporter after leaving the water.

"We are all different shapes and sizes and ages and it was just super."

However, it's pretty well apparent that most of these Irish lasses are getting their fair share of bangers and mash and Guinness.

Wombat-socho has "Rule 5 Monday: Shakira Law And The Rock Sharky" ready for your digital pleasure.

Post-Memorial Day Swimsuit Post

Some highly impractical ideas for beach wear here.



Kindly linked at Wombat-socho's "Rule 5 Sunday: Overall Beauty".

Swimming into Monday Morning

Kindly linked at Wombat-socho's "Rule 5 Sunday: Overall Beauty".

Continuing Rio Coverage

Isabelle Forrer and Anouk Verge-Depre

I don't know, the Olympics seemed kind of flat last night. Sure, that pock marked aquatic ape Michael Phelps won his semifinal in some medley or another, but it's only news when loses. To paraphrase Preznit Obama, "At some point, you have enough gold."

Isabelle Forrer

Anouk Verge-Depre

The most exciting thing we watched was the US beach volley ball babes girls women (Kerri-Walsh Jennings and April Ross, already featured here), actually lost a set to a good looking Swiss team, Isabelle Forrer and Anouk Verge-Depre. However, in the final set, Isabelle hit the sand hard trying to dig the ball, needed a time out to recover, and never quite got it going again.

The US women's swimming team, anchored by Katie Ledecky, with Maya Dirado, Allison Schmitt, and Leah Smith blew away the competition in the 4x200-meter relay, with Ledecky, as expected, carrying most of the burden. She is on track to become the female Michael Phelps, God help her.

Allison Schmitt

Leah Smith

And now, by way of Wombat-socho' s "In The Mailbox: 08.10.16", the unusually sensible Megan McArdle explains how to handle it when someone proposes to bring the Olympics to your city:

The reality, as the Economist says, is that “prudent city governments should avoid the contests at all costs.” This does not really capture it. Prudent city governments should run screaming from any proposals to host the Olympics, and napalm the spot where the proposals were found, just to be safe.

I'm kind of looking forward to watching Michael Phelps dodge sea nettles in the St. Leonard Olympics.

Wombat-socho has a plain vanilla "Rule 5 Sunday" and "FMJRA 2.0: Operation Chromite" ready at The Other McCain.

Rio Update: Lilly King Gave Her Finger for You

The highlight of last night's Olympic coverage IMHO, was the grudge match between the US's Lilly King and Russia's Yulia Efimova. Yulia had been caught up previously in the  Russian team's widepread doping scandal, and almost banned from the Rio Olympics. HuffPo has the before the race action: 

The American swimmer became the latest to call out drug-penalized athletes at the Rio Olympics, and she did it in style. When Russian swimmer Yulia Efimova waved a No. 1 sign with her finger after winning her 100m breaststroke semifinal on Sunday, King went one better.

Watching the Russian gloat, King wagged her finger at Efimova, who previously served a 16-month suspension for doping and recently had an Olympics ban overturned.

King later confirmed the gesture, telling NBC, “You’re shaking your finger No. 1, and you’ve been caught for drug cheating. I’m just not a fan.”

After winning the Gold by a wide half second, Lilly rubbed it in again by shaking her finger at Yulia.

Now, I'm not really into all the nationalism at the Olympics. I would have like to have thought that the Olympic ideal was athletes against athletes, without the sheen of interstate rivalry, but no:

During the celebration of the games, an Olympic Truce was enacted so that athletes could travel from their cities to the games in safety. The prizes for the victors were olive leaf wreaths or crowns. The games became a political tool used by city-states to assert dominance over their rivals. Politicians would announce political alliances at the games, and in times of war, priests would offer sacrifices to the gods for victory. The games were also used to help spread Hellenistic culture throughout the Mediterranean. The Olympics also featured religious celebrations and artistic competitions. The statue of Zeus at Olympia was counted as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Sculptors and poets would congregate each olympiad to display their works of art to would-be patrons.

I guess they've always been politicized. I guess you can't eliminate politics or politicians. Anyway as noted by the boys at Coed The World Is Very Lucky Russian Swimmer Yulia Efimova Was Allowed To Compete At The Olympics

Wombat-socho has a plain vanilla "Rule 5 Sunday" ready at The Other McCain.

Rio Update

I watched this race last night  and it was amazing to see how she beat the other competitors: Katie Ledecky dominates to win 400 freestyle in record fashion

. . .for those who watch world-class swimming only on a four-year cycle, the 19-year-old from Bethesda offered a Sunday revelation in her first individual final of these 2016 Olympics.

Ledecky left the rest of the field far in her wake in the 400-meter freestyle, winning her second of an expected five medals at these Games and shattering her own world record in the process.

She clocked in at 3:56.46, beating Great Britain's Jazmin Carlin and American Leah Smith by roughly five seconds apiece for the top spot on the medal stand.

 Going into Sunday night's final, she owned 9 of the 10 best times in history in the 400 freestyle and the 10 best times ever in the 800 freestyle. More recently, she's become the best in the world at 200 meters. And as she demonstrated in her silver-medal relay swims on the first day of competition here, the 100 meters might be her next horizon to conquer.

No swimmer has ever been so good across such a range of distances.

The last lap really tells the story:



Wombat-socho has a plain vanilla "Rule 5 Sunday" and "FMJRA 2.0: Operation Chromite" ready at The Other McCain.

Put This Away for Next Summer

10 Rules for the Pool:



Linked at Pirate's Cove in the Weekly "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup" and links. Wombat-socho links this in "Rule 5 Sunday: Monkey Boy Don’t Care."

The Shark Lady

A Huffpo article found through Insty.

Wombat-socho snuck in under the wire with "Rule 5 Sunday: Fightin’ Words" after a bout with trolls.

To Swim Like a Fish

Is This New Swim Stroke the Fastest Yet?

The surprising performance and physics of the fish kick.

Basically, the "dolphin" kick turned sideways.

. . .Once perfected, the fish kick may be hard to beat.

Although these ideas remain debated to this day, the fish kick has continued to gather fans. Luc Collard, a professor of sports science who has experimented with many different ways of swimming underwater—including swimming the fish kick with the arms down, along the swimmer’s side—says it may just be the fastest. “Its potential is impressive.” Raúl Arellano, a professor of physical education and sports at the University of Granada, agrees. “Lateral kicking is found to be quicker in some swimmers,” he says. “The hypothesis is that these vortices are not perturbed by the water surface and the pool bottom.”

Vortices are an inevitable consequence of moving through water. Some are counterproductive, impeding the swimmer’s motion. Others help propel the swimmer forward. “Vortices represent the transfer of momentum from a body into the water and vice versa,” says Atkison, “and thus can both propel swimmers forward and also slow them down.” The dolphin kick is more likely to send helpful vortices up to the pool surface, where they dissipate into waves, and down to the pool floor, where they create turbulence. The fish kick, by comparison, is more likely to send these vortices sideways, parallel to the water’s surface, where there are no obstructions. “Anything that makes waves on the surface is detrimental to swimming efficiently,” says Rajat Mittal, a computational scientist at Johns Hopkins University. “If you are swimming within a foot of the surface, there is a bigger chance that [you] will create waves on the surface than by kicking sideways.”

Atkison also believes that the fish kick is able to produce larger and more propulsive vortices when the swimmer finds herself in shallow waters. While the dolphin kicker draws in the water for her stroke from the volumes above and below her body, which are limited by the pool surface and floor, the fish kicker draws in water laterally and relatively without restriction.

However, the dolphin kick does not always suffer from these disadvantages. Swimming at a depth below 1 meter greatly reduces any surface turbulence and any difference in the volumes of water drawn, and Olympic and World Championship pools now are at least 2 meters deep. The fish kick is also inherently more difficult. “The problem is that the swimmer cannot control its swimming direction and body position as compared with ventral underwater undulatory swimming,” says Arellano. All that being said, though, once perfected, the fish kick may be hard to beat.

I wonder what happens when multiple people in a race start using the "fish" kick. Will the vortices from the leading swimmers interfere with the adjacent, and slightly behind swimmers, or will the vortices be like drafting cars; allowing the swimmers not setting the pace to use the energy left behind and save energy for a final push?

Not Your Average Water Slide

Wombat-socho checks in with "Rule 5 Sunday: Force It".