Posted by seahunt on August 07, 2001 at 14:20:20:
In Reply to: Question for Seahunt posted by Steve on August 04, 2001 at 15:22:51:
This is rich Steve. The brachiation works great. I
pull myself a lot of places and was able to use it
a lot this weekend up north through the laminarias.
It works a lot of places, perhaps the best in wide
open places like Cortez Banks, Nic, or Talcott where
you have to deal with a current and there is a lot
to hang on to. Also, moving against something solid
instead of something fluid, you can get going much
faster than any person just swimming and with less
energy. Be rythimic and you can go at an incredible
speed or in currents that would be impossible to
resist.
As for the gyro method, what you said is correct and
can be used to a limited extent. What I suggest you
do is go in a pool with no fins, put your hands above
your head and do a twisting spin. You will find that
oddly enough (as you said) you can spin extremely
fast around your center (err butt). With fins on you
can slide push even better, but in the real water, it's
only so practical. You don't often need it and it's hard
to keep your tank from messing up your central pivot
point past about 180 degrees.
Really, if you want to learn about movement over the
reef, I suggest you watch how an otter moves, though
they swim with their 'hands' more... Hmmm. not sure
where you find that film and it's unusual to see them
close-up in the wild... though I got to at Monterey.
They do a move like a racing swimmer reaching the end
of a pool where they rotate 180 degrees and reverse
direction at the same time. Seals also twist to change
direction... more like a plane than a helicopter. You
tuck your head in and your body follows. It is the fastest
turn you can do underwater.
There is no doubt that there are more ways to move through
the water than most people learn. Some are weird and
impractical, but worth testing to show you what you can
do. I definately use my entire body as a glide plane to
'fly' over the reef.
Now the really funny part. In a post long ago to Mr. Kane,
I compared my swimming style to him swimming straight
in the water column. I said he swam sorta like an
airplane and my style would be more like a helicopter...
meaning I follow the reef and go side to side or back and
forth, over and through the reef. I never mentioned 'gyro'.
That was just something Mr. Kane added in his ongoing
attempts to ridicule me. He did embellished it some since,
but I am hoping that he will avoid such activities in the
future.
Oh well. Enjoy the diving, seahunt