About Finswimming
Finswimming is the progression of a swimmer using monofins or normal swimfins (called bifins or stereofins within the sport) either on the water surface or underwater, using only muscle strength. It is a discipline of underwater sports. The competition distances are same as for swimming (as described below). Continental and World Championships are organized by CMAS. Finswimming is also an action that looks like a mermaid swimming
Disciplines and Distances
Finswimming differs from swimming in the use of swimfins and other equipment. The equipment used is dictated by the disciplines that the competitor is racing. These disciplines reflect finswimming's origins and development from SCUBA and snorkelling.
There are four disciplines in international finswimming (in swimming pools):
Surface: 50, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1500, 4 × 100 relay and 4 × 200 relay (metres)
Surface bifins (stereofins): 50, 100 and 200 (metres)
Apnea: 50 (metres)
Immersion: 100, 400, 800 (metres)
All open water events are raced on the surface and are held over 1,500, 3,000, 6,000 and 25,000 metres. Open water immersion is known as underwater orienteering.
In many countries there are races over other distances (especially in open water finswimming; often dictated by a historical racing course - across a bay, for example). In the United States of America there are events in 25 yard pools, including:
Surface: 25, 50, 100, 200, 500, 1000, 1650; 4 × 50, 4 × 100, and 4 × 200 relays (yards)
Apnea: 25, 50; 200 relay (yards)
Immersion: 50, 100, 200, 500, 1000 (yards)
In many countries, additional distances are raced in "short course" programmes (25 metre (length) swimming pools) or are added to their "long course" (50 metre (length) swimming pool) programmes; these often include:
Surface: 25; 4 × 50 relay (metres)
Apnea: 25; 4 × 50 relay (metres)
In many countries that historically used imperial units, there are many, often older pools that were built to match fractions of a mile (usually 27.5, 36⅔ or 55 yards). In these pools, there are often some unusual distance events, such as 55 or 73⅓ yards surface. This can cause some complications in converting times (110 yards = 100.584 metres).
Historically, the distance of 1,850 metres (approximately an imperial unit nautical mile) was raced at international events (an official World Record still stands). Other distances were also raced, including:
Immersion: 1,000 (metres)
Apnea: 40 (metres)
Descriptions of disciplines
In surface races, competitors have to surface before the 15 m after the start and any turns. Competitors use a centre-mounted snorkel to breathe. Apnea races take place under or at the surface with no breathing allowed, even at a turn (should one be necessary). The immersion discipline involves the use of a scuba tank and a simplified regulator. Many finswimmers use heavily modified regulators, often stripping away any unnecessary parts. In both apnea and immersion races, turn and technique judges often disqualify competitors if their faces can be seen, as this indicates that they might be breathing above the surface.
History
There has been a lot written about the first finswimming championships and the origins of swimfins. There were competitions held in France in the early 1920s, Italy in the 1930s and 1940s and in the United Kingdom in the 1950s.
World and Continental Championships are organised under CMAS rules and regulations. The European Championships have run since 1967 (held in Italy). World Championships have been held since 1976 (held in Germany). The World Championships are held every two years (on every odd year) and Continental Championships held in the intervening years. There have been twenty one European Championships. The Asian Finswimming Championships have been held 10 times, having started in 1989, the last being held in 2007 (in Hong Kong). There have been three Pan-American Championships, starting in 1993, with the last being held in 2001 (in Cali, Colombia). There have also been five "Arab Zone" Championships, the last was held in 2003 (in Beirut, Lebanon). Recently, CMAS has amalgamated all of the World Championships for the sports that it governs into one event, the World Underwater Games. The First World Underwater Games were held in 2007 in Bari, Italy. Most of the results for these Championships can be found on the CMAS website.
The sport is also one of those included in the World Games, South East Asia Games and in several multi-sport and military international events. Since 1988 (San Francisco, California, USA), the sport had been included in the World Corporate Games but has not been included since the 1992 Games in London, United Kingdom. Sadly, little is available on the Games, other than a short "history list" on the Australian Corporate Games website and a brief mention on the Underwater Society of America website.
Distribution
It is a fairly widespread sport around the world; Russia, China, France, Greece, Germany and Italy are the main players. However, it can be found in over one hundred countries around the world. Finswimming is found in many Commonwealth countries (see Commonwealth of Nations) including the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Singapore (see Commonwealth Finswimming Records).
Most countries hold National Championships, many of which are open to international competitors (including the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium).
In the United Kingdom there are around ten finswimming clubs, mostly in Kent. There is an annual National Short Course (25 m pool) Finswimming Championships in the United Kingdom, which are traditionally held at the Edenbridge Leisure Centre, Edenbridge, Kent in November. As of 2007, the annual National Long Course (50 m pool) Finswimming Championships have been held; the first being held in Aldershot, Hampshire.
In the United States it is very small but gaining competitors. The major areas of finswimming in the United States include Texas (Houston, including the suburbs of Pasadena and Deer Park), which has the largest concentration of finswimmers in the USA, California (around San Francisco, which is the location of the national headquarters for USA Fin Swimming), Rhode Island (around Providence), and scattered individuals in Florida. The United States has competed at the World Championships sporadically since the early 1980s, achieving very limited success on the international scene. A few competitions are held in the United States, with the last US National Championships being held in California in 1998. Texas hosts three to four meets a year, with participation consisting of Texas finswimmers and those from other countries who live in the southeast Texas area and still train and compete in the sport. They have hosted the majority of the finswimming competitions in the USA for the past 6–8 years. Texas hosts the Texas Open Finswimming Invitational, the Gulf Coast International Finswimming Invitational, along with the Texas State Finswimming Championships every year. All of these events are hosted and organized by the Texas Finswimming Association. In addition they also host 2-3 high school finswimming meets a year. The World Scholar-Athlete Games and the United States Scholar-Athlete Games at the University of Rhode Island have included finswimming competition as a part of their Games program since 1999. The sport is growing in the United States with scattered pockets around the country popping up. However Texas leads the country in the number of finswimmers and competitions. Most finswimming training outside of Texas and California consists of cross training for swimming.
Sporting appeal and training
Appeal
The main appeal of finswimming is the speed that a competitor can reach. The World record for the 50 m freestyle, Long Course (see World records in swimming), is 20.91 seconds (by Cesar CIELO FILHO of Brazil). In finswimming it is 14.10 seconds (for 50 m Apnea by Pavel Kabanov of Russia) (see World finswimming records). This is a 48% increase in speed over conventional swimming.
One of the great appeals of finswimming is that finswimmers do not need to be good swimmers. Indeed, there is some evidence that top flight swimmers may make poorer finswimmers than well trained finswimmers.
Training
Unlike most swimming training programmes, finswimming training tends to be far more specific and more like systems used for track running in athletics. In addition, finswimmers tend to do far more dry-side work, including a huge amount of core stability (as core strength), plyometrics and weight training. Again, this is carried out on a specific basis.
The sport will continue to develop and move forward. Some people consider that this will only happen if more swimmers become involved and knowledgeable about the benefits of training with monofins. However, this assumption has become controversial; most fin based sports have established that athletes that develop through the sport are more adept at them. The debate has been mostly within the finswimming community and still-water lifesaving, being a popular discussion point at meets. The "swimming side" appears to be strongest in countries where the sport is poorly represented. It has been recorded that swimmers tend to approach the sport with preconceptions on technique, which can limit their success.