French company Seabike has developed a swimming device that uses your own leg power to accelerate you through the water at superhuman speeds. This crank-driven pusher prop looks a bit like an underwater unicycle... We'd love to take one for a spin!
I don't really have a good gauge of how fast you can typically go with swim slippers though. Comparing to a person swimming without any aides would be much more useful for getting an idea of what "superhuman speed" means.
Some videos in the article show a guy cruising while barely using his arms, and then SCUBA divers only pedaling with their feet but they were pedaling slower
I don't think they really understand that there isn't much market for swimming fast, but there is a good market for swimming/snorkeling lazy, which is where this may actually exist as a product.
Seabike says the prop turns slowly enough that you can safely use it at the local pool – although you'll certainly cop some dirty looks from the Speedo brigade in the fast lane.
You're going to get dirty looks because you can't do a flip turn and block the rest of us. This is cool in the open water but not for lap swimming in a pool.
seems a little bit scary being clipped into the contraption. maybe not as bad if scuba is involved. but what if the mechanism fails or gets snagged while you’re clipped to it?