Let's Re-Brand "Snorkeling"

[freediver]

Then again we could go back to naming it after the device like snorkeling is named after the snorkel. Tube-underwater respiratory reconasaince device. It's got about as much chance of getting adopted as wasserwandern

Let's hear it for TURRD!!

 

[FishOutUvH2O]

. . . Snorkeling won out over finning for no reason I can see: it has three syllables and the base of "snork," which is a word only Lewis Carroll could love. I wanted for the activity a name that flows, that has a little rhythm, a poetic name. "Wasserwandern" (remember the v's! remember the v's!) has it all. I love that name for it, especially as I often wasserwander with my hands clasped behind my back. I hope that, in the unlikely event that there is an afterlife, should someone there ask me about my previous existence, I will be able to say, "It was a walk in the park." That's just what wasserwandern, or snorkeling if you must, is to me.

I'm sure that this also hasn't helped the image of snorkeling. . .

But, I hesitate wanting to call it finning. Since I often use that term to mean a different activity. I use it when I'm just going to grab my fins and go kick around for a while with no real purpose. As in;
Wife- "Where are you going?"
Me- (in a low, almost inaudible voice) "Stay out of my business woman!"
Wife- "What did you just say?!"
Me- "Nothing sweetie. Would it be alright if I go finning?"

There's also the fact that, technically, you don't need fins to snorkel.

 

[PerformanceFreediving]

What an interesting post! I will say I've had what I do for a living called "advanced snorkeling" many times! I say, be proud to be a snorkeler!

 

[smile47]

Alot of people just haven't free-dive,they just like to snorkell,like Dave and fishout.thats cool.

 

[David Wilson]

Smile47:

Why assume that all snorkellers would rather be doing something different, such as scuba diving, spearfishing or freediving? I'm passionate about snorkelling, a simple, spontaneous and fulfilling activity which I've enjoyed in different parts of the world for half a century and I can assure you that I really don't spend my snorkelling time wishing I was freediving or scuba diving instead. I have nothing against freediving and scuba diving as pastimes: after all, snorkelling shares a subforum with freediving here on Scubaboard, which is itself dedicated to scuba diving. If you prefer freediving, that's great, but don't expect everybody to follow your lead. Consider accepting people for what they are, and do, not what for what you want them to be and do.

 

[FishOutUvH2O]

Smile47:
Why assume that all snorkellers would rather be doing something different, such as scuba diving, spearfishing or freediving?

David, be patient with smile47. Some people have a hard time coming to terms with their snorkeling desires. They wonder how it is that they can feel such an intense yearning toward something they have always felt was for children or the weak, meek, and those unable to participate in "real" activities. Often, people with these "strange" yearnings will act out by belittling the very activity that they so long to be a part of. Patience must be shown to these folks, they'll "come out" when they're ready.












Just kidding with you smile47. But seriously, as one person put it earlier in the thread, snorkeling is not a gateway activity to something "real", it's an activity unto itself.

 

[chadpeddy]

Just as a note, SCUBA is also by previous posts, should I say it, NOT A SPORT, but an activity

"That is, it's not a physical activity that can be judged competitively and may push the human body to extremes."

If you push your body "to extreames" durring the SCUBA diving activity you will end up a headline. SCUBA is controled, relaxed, and designed to stay out of the extremes. Hence the safety stop.

 

[ickis]

i love free diving, but for some reason im not a big fan of snorkelling- i like going to the sea and just swim underwater (with or without fins) without breathing but the snorkel kinda messes that up for me: it keeps me connected to the surface..
the image on snorkelling became as such due to the fact its a widely spread leisure activity that anyone can do and there is no competitive side to it so people regard it (and wrongly) as a somewhat "inferior" aquatic activity.
sadly theres no way to change that (or there is but i cant really think of one).
i think its wrong that people belittle snorkelling (though ive never really seen it my country.go figure...its actually kinda popular ) and they shouldnt....though i dont think thats entirely true (unless you count some morons in this board...).

 

[surfsol]

kirkconnell is a pro snorkeler

 

[daniel1948]

Just wanted to add my two cents: I like the word "snorkeling." I think the word "snorkel" is cool. The coincidence that the word shares three letters with "dork" does not bother me. And the activity of snorkeling is super-cool: all the stuff I get to see.

Free diving and snorkeling are two different activities that can merge together without a clear line between them. You can snorkel without diving at all, or free dive without a snorkel, but you can dive down three feet, ten feet, or fifty feet while snorkeling if you are able.

I've been snorkeling for years, but scuba diving for less than two years, and I would not voluntarily give up either: Snorkeling allows me to be more active and push my (very modest) limits for depth and breath-hold time; scuba encumbers me with a lot of heavy and restrictive gear, but allows me a more relaxed experience while under.

So I vote for keeping the word "snorkeling" to describe one of my favorite activities.