I always thought the pulling rule was a little too much.
In my opinion, rules should serve to a) ensure safety during an event and b) create fairness.
The pulling rule in the context of (a) does not increase safety, it actually decreases it. Sometimes you need to grab on to something to secure your airway above water. Granted, if nothing's available you should be able to support your airway above the surface alone (although given current AIDA rules and practices there is supposed to be some kind of flotation or firm object to hang onto after static,dynamic or constant weight).
As far as fairness goes, I really fail to see how the advantages gained by pulling yourself along the bottom or with the pool edge makes things unfair for others. There is a natural disincentive to usiing the pool bottom or edge for propulsion and that is because it is really hard to do (over a long distance). I don't think we'll see any dynamic world records made by crawling on the bottom of the pool (or I could be wrong
)
Since the distance of the dynamic is measured from where the airway surfaces and not the hand, I also see no need to penalize people for grabbing a lane marker or pool edge when coming up. In fact, I would encourage it for safety. I always see it as difficult for competitors to program their hands to grasp a flotation aid milliseconds after they surface when their natural instinct is to find a way to be safe and keep their airway above water.
On the other thread, someone mentioned losing points from surfacing during dynamic apnea. In my mind that is also a silly rule. Yes, it is an underwater event with apnea. But the athlete only loses distance on the surface as we all know that drag is much, much higher on the surface vs. underwater. So they are penalizing themselves anyway. No need to add insult to injury. If someone, a beginner for example, wants to attempt a dynamic with some portion of it face down on the surface of the water in order to feel safer or more comfortable, we should let them. High performance freedivers will be underwater. I think it is unfortunate when a competitor loses points because their heels momentarily break the surface of the water - so what!
That's their own fault for not managing their buoyancy better.
Yes, it is the athlete's responsibility to know the rules. But it is IMHO the responsibility of athletes, coaches, judges, AIDA members, AIDA chapter members to influence the development of rules in a democratic way so that they are conducive to exciting and rewarding competitions for both athletes and spectators.
Yes, I fully agree with KISSS:
Keep
It
Safe
and
Simple
Stupid
(and Fun)
