Swimming and finning standards?

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The swim has to be unaided - if you wear a suit you need to wear lead to cancel out its buoyancy.
Goggles are fine - any sort of floatation (ie suit) or method to increase propulsion (fins) are banned.
If its a pool then just a swim suit and goggles. If its the sea, a wetsuit,lead and goggles.
Any stroke is allowed - provided you don't actually touch the bottom or side you can get from A-B using whatever combination you want although i suspect you'd struggle to make the time if you just did breast or back stroke.

Snorkel also no buoyancy aid as above but its mask, fins and snorkel.

The drag effect make shave some seconds off if at competition pace but i cant see a suit vs no suit making any real difference to a normal swimmer.

The 800m snorkel i found very easy after months of 3 dives a day, 7 days a week. The 400m swim damn near killed me and i scraped a 3 score by 2 seconds.

 

[fisherdvm]

There is no time limit for the swim, so in theory, you can be a divemaster just doing the doggy paddle. But you'd have to earn at least 4's on the 3 other skills - which is very doable.

 

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Its just about impossible not to get 5 on the float. If you can dive at all a 4 or 5 on snorkel should be easy.
Diver tow isnt hard either - its not exactly far.

When i did my DM my instructor (wrongly) informed us you needed a 3 on every skill to pass so i near killed myself getting it. Ive since found out i could have taken my time and done it in 20 mins or whatever without any real effort and still passed with more than the required points.

 

[fisherdvm]

I've read the 3 on every skill at some places, too. Actually, not a bad idea. It took me about 15 months to go from essentially a nonswimmer to passing with a 3 on swimming. It is doable for a middle aged man, but I imagine it would be alot harder to do in the 5th decade.

I've read about an elderly woman who was a non swimmer. She learned how to swim, and completed the iron man contest in Hawaii.... I guess if you have the genes, anything is possible.

 

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The only times ive had to do any sort of long distance rescue/assistance from a dive boat ive ALWAYS grabbed my fins and put those on. I can swim twice as fast with fins than with none so in a way i can see the snorkel being of more use than a straight swim speed test.

 

[ClayJar]

Okay, pulling the PADI information from an old thread (since I don't have PADI materials here):

Scoring:

400 yard swim:
Less than 6 minutes - 5 points
6-8 minutes - 4 points
8-10 minutes - 3 points
10-12 minutes - 2 points
more than 12 minutes - 1 point

800 yard snorkle swim
Less than 13 minutes - 5 points
13-15 minutes - 4 points
15-17 minutes - 3 points
17-19 minutes - 2 points
more than 19 minutes - 1 point

15 minute tread
Hands out last 2 minutes - 5 points
Hands not out last 2 minues - 3 points
Touched bottom no more than twice - 1 point

100 yards tired diver tow
Less than 2 minutes - 5 points
2-3 minutes - 4 points
3-4 minutes - 3 points
4-5 minutes - 2 points
more than 5 minutes - 1 point

The equivalent NAUI skills are swimming 450 yards in 10 minutes, snorkeling 900 yards in 18 minutes, and 100 yards of scuba tow in 4 minutes. If you assume constant speed, that would be equivalent to 400 yards in 8:52 (call it 9 minutes) and 800 yards in 16 minutes. (The tow is the same, of course.)

So, you basically need a PADI "3.5" in the swim and snorkel and a PADI 3 in the scuba tow if you're using the minimum NAUI standards (which are allowed to be raised by your instructor, as long as they let you know ahead of time).

(Just to see where I'd fall, although it really doesn't matter to anyone, I had to run my numbers. I did 8:45 on the 450-yard swim and 15:59 on the 900-yard snorkel. Assuming constant speed, that would translate to 7:47 for the 400, yielding 4 points, and 14:12 for the 800, yielding 4 points. The tread was trivial (even with ours being 20 minutes), so there's another 5 points. If I were PADI, I'd be at 13 points already, so I'd just have to finish the tow, but in NAUI-land, we don't use points, so I still have to score a PADI 3 on it. :biggrin

 

[fisherdvm]

Good for you, Clayman. I'd have to work alot harder to get the NAUI swim requirement. But since I would never have the time or desire to do more training, it wouldn't be an issue.

I've followed the advise of someone in the fitness section, and working on speed instead of distance. It really get my heart rate going, and make my 1 mile swim more entertaining. Had 3 cute chicks in the lane next to me today, and that also got my heart rate going faster.

 

[ClayJar]

I've followed the advise of someone in the fitness section, and working on speed instead of distance. It really get my heart rate going, and make my 1 mile swim more entertaining.

I did 0 to 1650 in Six Weeks, which I recommend to any DM (or above) candidate who falls in the "novice swimmer" category. By the time you get to the end of week four, even the NAUI swims are well within your grasp. That's how I did it, and it worked even though my goggles flooded (I chunked them on the side at the second lap) and I inhaled about a quart of water (coughing, swimming, and breathing... what a combination!).

(As for the snorkel, I just did that cold turkey. I learned from hiking that as long as you keep breathing, you can go quite a bit farther than you feel you can. I just set a pace and a breathing pattern, and that was that. The key is to stare at the pool tiles on the bottom, as nothing saps your strength like seeing how far to the next turn. )

Had 3 cute chicks in the lane next to me today, and that also got my heart rate going faster.

I've done all my practicing in a local Y. Let's just say that you learn to swim with your eyes closed almost the entire time. :biggrin:

 

[fisherdvm]

Clayman, I was reading through your link. "The feeling of not having adequate rest is necessary to improve." That seems to be the key. Most of the last year, I just simply swim 1 mile at a leasurely pace... Hardly short of breath. Just continuous and steady without rest.

Now I can see the advantage of pushing the anaerobic metabolism. Taking rest between short bursts of speed. I am pretty sure I can do 450 in 10 minute or less, as I have done 400 in 9.5 minutes. But your training program seems to make more sense. I'll have to print it up and try it.

 

[ClayJar]

Do let us know how it goes. I was quite pleased with how I could feel myself progress week by week. Going from "Well, at least I can *float* a 450..." to "What's the big deal about a measly 450?" in less than six weeks was rather fun.

(Oh, and while I've mentioned it elsewhere, any swimming coach alive would agree that my form is *atrocious*, but form wasn't required. )