compass board

[SanDiego1]

I wanted to know how you use kicks to tell how far youve gone.Please answer important.

[MOOSE_SEAL]

During the thousands of hours of training spent swimming with mask/fins, SEALs learn to estimate how many flutter kicks it takes to travel a given distance. Starting with the length of a pool, and then during open water swims, a man becomes more familiar with how far a specific number of kicks takes him... and learns the sort of effects are made upon his progress by water currents - frontal, rear, lateral, or diagonal. If a swim is made during daylight hours, and the bottom is visible, a sense of speed and progress are readily available. Flutter kicks may be counted for shorter distances, but elapsed time is often more reliable for longer distances.

Knowing that steady swimming with no hindering current will take you a certain distance in ten minutes, a swimmer may then use that knowledge when swims are made at night and the bottom is not visible. Flutter boards have a compass, a depth gauge, and a timepiece. Near the start of a swim, a swimmer and his swim buddy surface briefly to evaluate their progress and calculate any loss of headway or error in heading due to current. This information is then used to compensate "on the fly" for those effects.

There is a very real use of "Kentucky windage" on such swims... compensation by the swimmer based upon his intimate knowledge of his own swimming tendencies combined with the tendencies of his swim buddy. If their combined swimming efforts tend to veer to the left of a given target line, then the man who is "driving" takes that effect into consideration in making his steering calculations. Depth must be constantly monitored and adjusted, compass heading is vital, and constant attention regarding elapsed time is crucial during compass swims. All in all, it takes a LOT of practice to execute the tactic with consistent accuracy.