Swimmer's Snorkel Tips
The Finis Center Mount Snorkel is without a doubt one of the best swim training products on the market today. Not only do the fastest swimmers, and best coaches in the world use it every day every practice, but the people who may benefit from it most are people with poor swimming skills. The reason elite swimmers use the snorkel is two fold, (one). It allows them to swim as perfectly as they are capable of doing and (two) There is a training effect that occurs from breathing air through a tube, instead of right at the source. This document will attempt to trouble shoot a couple of very common difficulties a novice or recreational swimmer may experience with the snorkel. I have personally worked with children as young as 5 years old, and elite college swimmers with a very small learning curve. The people that seem to have the most problems are again, people who generally do not have a competitive background, and are just swimming for fitness.
One very common remark is that I love your snorkel but it leaks. They will go on to further explain that when they first got the snorkel it did not leak, but a week or two later it started to leak. Some customers will then put the snorkel through a series of tests, upon which they will later claim proves that the snorkel leaks at the black swivel connector. Unfortunately I’ve been assured by our engineers that it is virtually impossible for the snorkel to leak at that spot. That’s not to say a defective snorkel has never been made, however I have never (in six and a half years) tested a returned snorkel that has leaked, and we get them returned for leaking every day.
So what up? I know water gets in my snorkel. Yes you are not crazy, small amounts of water can get in the snorkel, and it does it in two ways. One is through the swimmer’s mouth, and secondly water can get in the snorkel through the purge valve.
If you’ve ever been in a scuba class or on a snorkel boat, you’ll recall the instructor mentioning to make a good seal between your mouth and the mouth piece. The trouble with a somewhat slow fitness swimmer who wants to get lost in their thoughts and the zen like experience of a nice swim is that not only does their body relax, but so does their jaw, face and mouth. You see at it’s most basic level the snorkel allows a person of any ability to relax in the water, and as I mentioned that can lead to a relaxed seal on the mouth piece, so to combat this a conscious flexion of the cheeks, lips and mouth is necessary. Which leads us to the biggest culprit….the purge valve.
The reason the purge valve was even engineered into the snorkel is because this device was primarily designed for competitive swimmers, and when competitive swimmers come off the wall in a streamlined position they may be several feet underwater for as long as 15 meters, and the purge valve makes it possible to expel the water in the completely submerged snorkel. However, this also leads to our experiencing of water and sometimes build up of water if not adequately purged. You see the purge valve consists of a circular plastic housing about the same diameter of a nickel and maybe a half inch tall. Housed in the purge valve is a thin silicon nipple which vibrates during the exhalation. This allows air and water to blow out, one way and keep water out the other. Well, as we know not all the water. I find that I really only get water in my snorkel when my exhalations are very powerful, as this causes more vibration. Now what to do? This might sound silly, but I’ve had about 98% success rate with this little tip. As soon as you are cognitive of a little bit of water coming in the snorkel, you should stick your tongue in the opening of the tube when you exhale, almost completely obstructing water or air flow. What happens is akin to watering your lawn with a hose, and then wanting to increase the pressure by putting your thumb over the opening. The only trick is moving your tongue when you inhale. Just make it a conscious thought to exhale that way and you will be able to keep the snorkel bone dry, and the more you use it the more comfortable you will get with being able to control a small amount of water in your snorkel. I cannot recall ever having a snorkel returned by a competitive swim team because it leaks. For most competitive swimmers the learning curve is anywhere from two minutes to half and hour. Try these little tips and hopefully you’ll be able to continue to use the snorkel and greatly enhance the quality and enjoyment of your swimming.
Tim Elson
Vice President of Sales, Finis Inc.
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