Long distance underwater monofin swim

[goochi]

Hi Guys

just updating those members who were interested in the 19km underwater open water swim I was attempting.

On Saturday the 17th of March I swam 19km to the Island off our coast (Rottnest) entirely underwater propelled by a Leaderfins "Flyer" Monofin with the aid of a boat mounted air compressor. I covered the distance in 6 hours and 40minutes.

It was a beautiful swim and was the realisation of 10 months training, learning the monofin technique (I still have a way to go) and getting miles under my belt. Thank you for all your input to my questions, ranging from what mono to buy and technique qustions.

I still cannot find any details as to what the world record underwater distance is. I know Neal Watson did 66 miles, but how did he do it? was it non-stop?

Someone mentioned a German military diver that had done it. Any ideas?

Cheers

Gooch

 

[trux]

I still cannot find any details as to what the world record underwater distance is. I know Neal Watson did 66 miles, but how did he do it? was it non-stop?

Congrats Gooch! Amazing performance! As for Neal, you can find some information on his website. According to it he did the 66 miles nonstop underwater without surfacing. There is also his email address where you can contact him for more details. And you should be able to find it in the Guinness Book of Records, since it was certified by them.

I know also that there were some underwater crossings of the English Channel. The first successful underwater swim was done by Fred Baldasare in 1962 (after several failed attempt of his own wife). I do not know what the distance was, but since the shortest distance is 34 km, it was at least that. See some details here.

 

[X-Fins]

Awesome swimming, congrats!!! please tell us more about what do you see inside water !!!

One technical question...Flyer Or Flyer PRO ???

Bye!! and thanks

 

[goochi]

Thanks Trux for the info, I can't get the guiness book of recods figures up. They don't keep some of their records on the webpage so I assume this one is one of those kept on file. It is amazing both these records (Channel and Neal Watson) were done in the 60's when Scuba was quite young.

X-fins, the water was beautiful. Unfortunately no marine life the whole way. West Australia is suffering a fish shortage at present, I didn't realise it was this bad! Aside from that the bottom was a kalidoscope of blue colours, the current pushed the sea grass in a steady rythm over a light blue canvas and the light danced and spun in that 'wagon wheel' shape it does when you are underwater. Coming into Rottnest there are few reefs, we swam alongside these due to obvious reasons. The ocean floor was otherwise quite sparse (you can only see the bottom half way across!

I used a "Flyer", not a flyer pro. The mono with the blade angle between the foootpockets and the blade. It was my 3rd mono from Leaderfins and they were fantastic to deal with. I would train in the pool between 5-8km a session (20 km a week) with a front mounted snorkel and use the air compressor once a week. The fin is slightly heavy, but that worked in my favour in the ocean as I had problems with my buoyancy (when in my wetsuit) and the weight of the fin helped sink my legs. I further helped this situation by sliding 2 long, lead shot, soft 2.5kg wts inside my wetsuit along my thighs. This gave me close to neutral buoyancy, but I wanted to avoid wearing a weight belt as it affected my dolphin kick technique.

Cheers

 

[demasoni]

Goochi,

Wow, what an accomplishment, congrats!

What stiffness mono did you have and what is your height and weight if you don't mind me asking...

Did you ever think about sharks beforehand or while out there?

 

[goochi]

Hi Demasoni

I am 191cm and 86kg. I used a medium stiffness mono. You can see it on the video link below:

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Tried not to think about sharks!