Total Immersion

Total Immersion is a bit of a triathlon cult - it's a swim style that is supposed to be super-efficient and save your legs, which is clearly attractive if you're using those legs for other stuff shortly afterwards. I've seen TI lying around at Elaine's and heavily recommended by the folk at tritalk.co.uk, and hell, any style is good for a sinking eggbeater like me, so praise the interweb for doling out a copy of the Bok second-hand for a few quid. Mooching through the introductory guff, I like the approach.

I really enjoy watching good swimmers. I love the efficiency of the movements - watching Sam breaststroke underwater is particularly pleasing. It sets off all my biomechanical kinetic sculpture aesthetic buttons and maketh me smile. So I'm please to see that the author's interested in producing an efficient, easy, beautiful, mindful stroke - he even compares it to T'ai chi as a moving meditation. Mind you, I was a terribly slow T'ai chi learner and got frustrated a lot, but the ticking clock is a powerful training aid.

Of course, the weather has seen me packing my spanky new wetsuit and turned to teenager-devouring gales. Don't know who I feel more sorry for: the kid, or the rescue people who could only watch him drown. Let's not be taking the sea for granted, neh?