Just how fast is the average diver

[fjpatrum]

I don't think dives/year matter as much as health. Well unless you factor in horrible fin technique on a 1-2 dives/year diver. I'd say it would be a range excluding the 2 extremes. AKA: no one who's extremely overweight/out of shape, and no one who's borderline professional athlete.

Seems like a fair definition of "average" then. I don't have enough experience diving to know my own speed, as a newb, but I never try to go fast anyway.

If you extrapolate from ground speeds, though, I think anything like 1 knot would be optimistic for any sustained time. Most people walk between 2-3 mph on flat terrain, so I can't imagine they'd be better than half that speed swimming, given we aren't designed to swim. I think the numbers you're getting in this thread may even be optimistic but closer to the reality at a half knot or so.

 

[grouchyturtle]

Same here. I go SLOW.

I'm also more interested in average speed at a comfortable sustained exertion level, not while trying to swim a marathon. Yeah based on all the responses, I'd say .5-.6 is probably about it. While maybe 1.5-2 tops for a very short period of time.

 

[nwgarne]

I don't think dives/year matter as much as health. Well unless you factor in horrible fin technique on a 1-2 dives/year diver. I'd say it would be a range excluding the 2 extremes. AKA: no one who's extremely overweight/out of shape, and no one who's borderline professional athlete.

What if you have an extremely overweight (according to the bmi) professional athlete?

 

[grouchyturtle]

They'll be slower because of more drag?

 

[DA Aquamaster]

It depends on how it distributed. Whales have really poor body mass indexes but are very well streamlined.

 

[nwgarne]

It depends on how it distributed. Whales have really poor body mass indexes but are very well streamlined.

I would like to think that im streamlined.