At this point, you start gliding through the water with the splendid, gracious ease of a cruising dugong with an outboard up its bum.
Pulitzer candidate right there.
So Swiss-Army-Man fast.
I can’t tell how fast it is, is there a comparison of someone using this vs. a regular swimmer?
The real comparison will be this thing vs a set of basic swim flippers.
I’d still go with the flippers. The sacrifice to articulation seems like a deal breaker.
I don’t really have a good gauge of how fast you can typically go with swim slippers though. Comparing to a person swimming without any aides would be much more useful for getting an idea of what “superhuman speed” means.
If an average joe with an hour of practice could match or outpace Michael Phelps, I would consider that superhuman speed.
Some videos in the article show a guy cruising while barely using his arms, and then SCUBA divers only pedaling with their feet but they were pedaling slower
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They don’t discuss specific speeds, but this is from the last paragraph:
This jigger, according to the manufacturers, makes you handily quicker than an equivalent swimmer with fins on.
I’m very skeptical about that. It’s an expensive augmented swimming device that says it’s faster than fins but doesn’t prove it with stats or even just a side-by-side video…?
Yeah. I’m just gonna say it’s not quicker, and certainly not more efficient.
This is a really cool idea and I’d try it. But also the video was kind of underwhelming and they look like huge nerds.
Yep, that doesn’t look faster than a pair of fins or even a monofin.
I don’t think they really understand that there isn’t much market for swimming fast, but there is a good market for swimming/snorkeling lazy, which is where this may actually exist as a product.
So … with that central rod up your butt (for stability) … the land bike counterpart is this:
it beats dealing with the airline companies.
Way better seating too.
Seabike says the prop turns slowly enough that you can safely use it at the local pool – although you’ll certainly cop some dirty looks from the Speedo brigade in the fast lane.
You’re going to get dirty looks because you can’t do a flip turn and block the rest of us. This is cool in the open water but not for lap swimming in a pool.
This needs to be cross posted to “Fuck Cars”.
It actually does look relatively faster. This might have given me an idea…
Are you a script writer for James Bond?
No, but I am a script writer for a video game.
Looking forward to the next 007 game 🙂
Not a James Bond game! However, it does have water levels. We know how damned infuriating water levels are… unless you get a little creative.
Well I haven’t swam in over a decade but I want one.
I feel like this is how you get chased by sharks and killer whales
seems a little bit scary being clipped into the contraption. maybe not as bad if scuba is involved. but what if the mechanism fails or gets snagged while you’re clipped to it?
You unclip, same as with a bicycle.
What bicycles require you to be strapped into them?
Clipping into pedals is pretty common actually (which is actually called clipless despite having clips), at least with road bikes and racing. The idea is clipping your shoe to the pedal makes your pedaling more efficient.
Personally, I prefer flats in case I need to hop off quickly, like if I’m about to get hit by some dipshit in an SUV.
Mountain biking too.
I prefer flats too but most pro downhill and enduro riders use clipless.
That’s why I asked, I’ve never seen anyone do it before. Pretty much for exactly that reason.
It’s definitely common among more hardcore/serious cyclists.
I rode clipless pedals for mountain bike racing (cross country). It is so much more efficient and they have shoes with thicker soles and deep treads which makes them more comfortable to walk in.
They also make jumping over small obstacles and rocks easier and safer.
Yep. I just use the clips with the smallest degree of pop out…works great and I never noticed being “delayed” to get my foot out and onto the ground if I need it. Even in some VERY time sensitive situations
I would never ride without being clipped in, maybe 100 yards to the shop and back but other then that clipless is much much better. Used then for about 20 yeaes now. Took about 2 weeks to get used to from memory.
Any bike with clipped pedals???
I’ve never seen one???
hard to imagine it’s truly the same. would be interested to see the process
They probably rotate their foot 45° to lock and unlock.
aha i just saw the “seat”. guess thats what makes it possible
You thought the thing was just entirely untethered?
i hadn’t seen the seat, just the clipped-in feet.
when its underway i guess the “seat” lets you steer (with your thighs) a bit and gives a point of leverage for the unclipping (especially when its the singleton clip/unclip).
not sure why, but it all seems a bit inelegant. but if it multiplies effort anywhere near what a bike can do, that’s a big achievement.
There’s a clip of a swimmer doing it without shoes/clips so maybe they’re optional.
