Swimming tips

Exchange the techniques and skills needed to walk the shadows. Post your guides and how-tos here.
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stealththief
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Swimming tips

Post by stealththief » Mon Jan 07, 2008 11:26 pm

Just some tips because I felt like it:
Using a snorkel is much louder than most people think, from about 3-5 meters/yards into the water people can hear you breathing from the shore.
Two best strokes are the side stroke and the breast stroke in terms of stealth. Fastest I think is the freestyle or maybe butterfly...
An underwater flashlight will probably be visible from the surface, especially at night.
If you plan on swimming with clothes add extra time to your op, they will slow you down significantly. Also let yourself dry off a bit after exiting the water, so that you don't drip and you don't squeak when you walk (instant towels in water proof bags are good for this).
Attaching vegetation to your head and swimming slowly will probably make you invisible to most people at night, and allow you to catch ducks by the feet...
Thats it add or criticize as you see fit.
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Captain Winky
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Post by Captain Winky » Tue Jan 08, 2008 7:26 pm

the side stroke is indeed a good one, I don't find breast stroke as stealthy to be honest, that is if we're thinking about the same breast stroke. Another stealthy way of swimming is 'wrikken' as we call it in dutch (literally translated: Prying). You do it by making 8's with your hands in order to move. It's Ungodly slow but the only body part you move is your wrists, and we all know that the least movement you make, is the best.
I agree, A snorkel is quite loud, but a diving gear produces bubbles, so we kinda have to choose, sound or bubbles?
Light is allmost allways visible on the surface, especially if you're used to dive in dark water (the most sight I've ever had in Holland is 11m, and that's a max, the least is 2cm, most of the time there's about 2 to 4 m sight here). Since that'll cause you to use huge underwater lamps (UK D8 Lamps, Greenforce, you know the stuff).

If you want to swim fast I suggest the combined back stroke too (literal translation). It's a fairly unknown stroke so I'll try to explain it...

1. You make the typical Frog-Legs movement with your legs, while swimming on your back.
2. While making this Frog-legs movement, you raise your arms above your head.
3. When you are starting to slow down from the movement with your feet, now use your hands to propel yourself forward, just move them down sideways.

that's all there is to it, It might sound odd, and I don't know if I explained it right, but it beats the crawls for me. the trick to get this to the fastest is to float out (literal translation again.) don't rush the movements, but take time to float, and only use the next movement when you're done floating (you almost stop moving).

I have to criticize the butterfly part, you are right that it's damn fast when you are able to use the butterfly. but a lot of people can't do the butterfly or can't hold it out long enough to actually make use of the speed (and we all know what speed is used for...).

and if you're gonna use a wet suit make sure it's not an all to new one, they get hella hot and the newest wet suits have zippers on the back wich you cannot open yourself, they're hella heavy and they're used to
1. Isolate the zipper so it doesn't cause a 'leak'
2. Make sure YOU can't open it since you'll break the zipper if you open it to much your self.
that's why roger podactor was murdered,
HE FOUND CAPTAIN WINKY!

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stealththief
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Post by stealththief » Tue Jan 08, 2008 11:12 pm

I know the back stroke you're talking about, but I don't know the name. I personally can't do the butterfly but my friend goes super fast when he does, but he's a life guard.
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Post by Captain Winky » Wed Jan 09, 2008 7:27 pm

stealththief wrote:I know the back stroke you're talking about, but I don't know the name. I personally can't do the butterfly but my friend goes super fast when he does, but he's a life guard.
that explains a lot :P

*edit (didn't want to flood posts)*

I've been thinking about the wetsuit Idea, my old wetsuit had a zipper on the front wich I could open myself, that would make it better for us night oppers, but there's 2 problems.
1) Wetsuits need to get you wet, it's true that you won't be soaked, but all the water will get into your clothing causing it to become heavy, and it doesn't dry that quick.

2) Wetsuits don't have Ideal colours for night ops. They have most of the time very bright colours to, for example, prevent shark attacks, It's true that sharks are not all that agressive (we're not counting the bull shark for a second) but they could mistake you for lunch, this happened in the past to people who were swimming on bodyboards or divers wearing all black wetsuits and all black fins, for that reason, black fins are forbidden in some countries.

so, Wetsuits are not that much of a succes if you count these, that's I started thinking about Drysuits, they keep you dry, so your clothing won't get drenched, and they come in a lot more favourable colours (god knows why it is allowed in Drysuits, we'll never know).

I got interested in Dry suits a while ago and that's when I stumbled upon a small folder of DUI Drysuits. the Drysuit company DUI has been fabricating drysuits for the US army (!) Including underwater Radio Bags or Gun Bags. DUI Drysuits are not equipped with the traditional shoulder-to shoulder back zippers (wich you once again, can't open yourself) but with the shoulder-to-hip zippers, especially designed for comfort, self-service and sealing. the problem is, they're hella expansive and we need some lead to be able to sink, then we come to diving, wich isn't really the topic...
that's why roger podactor was murdered,
HE FOUND CAPTAIN WINKY!

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Post by Pentagonal_Iris » Tue Feb 12, 2008 4:45 am

The combined backstroke is also known as elementary backstroke, often taught to young children (not downing on it effectiveness at all). I'd agree its pretty efficient and doesn't disturb the water too much. If your concerned about that though, the main thing you want to work on is diving skills. no not jumping off a board into the water ( not that thats not helpful to know) but underwater techniques for moving around. Things like learning to hold your breathe for a long time, learning how to move your body in all direction while submerged in the water, how to walk on the floor underwater, what kind of movements are the best for covering distance. All those things that someone can't just tell you, you actually have to go out and play around with it to discover whats best for you.

Freestyle is definitely the fastest in terms of speed and efficiency. In my opinion it's better than backstroke because people tend to hyperventilate while doing backstroke fast, why freestyle forces you to think about your breathing pattern.


I wonder if red light goes the same in water as it does in land, being the most concealable that is. Or if a blue'r tint would be better off.

O yea, and I agree with Winky, sculling, or wrikken as he called it, is pretty neat.

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Post by Captain Winky » Wed Feb 13, 2008 3:46 pm

Pentagonal_Iris wrote: O yea, and I agree with Winky, sculling, or wrikken as he called it, is pretty neat.
Ye it is, It's a bytch to learn though. I got angry at my swimming teacher back then because it was stupid anyway. now I can go forward, backward, make a roll, can use it to stay afloat.

concerning diving, the only people that actually walk underwater as divers are the Firemen, and most people in the diving community agree, Firemen can't dive, they can walk underwater and breathe through a regulator, that's it.
((Talking about Diving, there's a small chance there's a mask with a HUD coming my way, totally off topic sorry, but it's pretty neat))

I would also like to post another tip concerning treading water. Most people who teach swimming are telling you to synchronically, don't. when playing water polo I learned to tread separately, so first kick leg 1, then leg 2. It's easier to keep this up, it's a lot less tiring, you can even adjust height (kicking faster means treading higher). I recall being able to tread with my crotch above water level for thirty seconds :D. Also, combined with the side stroke, and small kicks backward, you can be very manouvrable under water.

If you're actually diving (diving, not free diving, so that means you're also carrying gear with you and swimming fins) I suggest using the normal stroke for diving long distances, if you're in a small area, (this doesn't have to be a pipe or a wreck or whatever, it could also be a filled ditch for example, which we have a lot around here :D) You could use something called frogs legs, you aren't actually doing the traditional frogs legs movement from surface swimming, but you're sort of sculling with your feet, this is being used a lot on cave dives and especially wreck dives, you move less so you touch less, this prevents (in wrecks) you of touching rust . If you touch rust, your visibility underwater is decreased to zero. This is also favorable when swimming in filled ditches, which are filled with mud, dredge, and (in select locations, like my home town) peat (used to make turf, an old turf wall, now underwater, once collapsed and buried two divers over here, diving was forbidden after that until recently).

On second thought, the frogs legs could be used when free diving, but I'd prefer just treading water very slowly, and when I need air, just tread a bit faster, and go back down :D

When using lamps I don't know about red light, we barely use red light here since the water is mostly greenish/yellowish or black here. Red light is almost only used when taking pictures or video's in oceans or seas (with the exception of the north sea, which is just as black as all other dutch waters) to improve your picture's quality (color correction).
that's why roger podactor was murdered,
HE FOUND CAPTAIN WINKY!

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