As an open water swimmer, I would love to see the following products developed in the future:
1. Swimsuit Sans Strings: It would be great for men’s swimsuits to stay on tightly without chafing and no need for traditional string ties.
2. Glow-in-the-Dark Swimsuits: It would be ideal for swimsuits to glow in the dark – in a dull red or green shade so as to not attract venomous or aggressive marine life – for marathon and channel swimmers who challenge themselves across lakes, seas, rivers, and channel at night and during low-light, foggy or cloudy conditions. The first version was developed by Luke Nicholas in 2013 (see photo above and story below). It has a complimentary product…
3. Photosensitive Swim Cap: The photosensitive swim cap changes colors and shades dependent on the amount of brightness of the day, glare of the sun, and darkness of the night. In the bright sunshine, the photosensitive swim cap becomes dark. In the darkness of night, the photosensitive swim cap becomes illuminated. It is the complementary product to the Glow-in-the-Dark Swimsuits.
4. Hypothermia Helper: For those who do not like or cannot tolerate certain water temperatures, the Hypothermia Helper is an invasive tool, pharmaceutical or topical application (e.g., chewing gum, pills, or skin ointments) that enable swimmers adverse to cooler waters or warmer waters to be able to swim comfortably anywhere at any temperature at any time. Of course, the issue to be confirmed is if this Hypothermia Helper requires a marathon swim to be defined as an assisted swim.
5. Sensory Force Field: Similar to the Hypothermia Helper, the Force Field enable those who are not comfortable with water or air temperatures (that are either too warm or too cold) to be able to swim comfortably anywhere anytime.
6. Travel Transporter: The teleportation tool converts open water swimmers into an energy field via dematerialization that beams them to an open body of water of their choice around the world where they are later re-converted into matter, enabling them to swim anywhere anytime.
7. Telescope Goggles (also called Aquatic Scopes): Open water swimming goggles with special optic properties that enables swimmers to see further and with more accuracy from far distances. The goggles have capabilities similar to a telescope or pair of binoculars.
8. Photosensitive Goggles: The lenses on photosensitive goggles change their levels of darkness and color in response to the amount of brightness of the day, glare of the sun, and darkness of the night. It eliminates the need for open water swimmers to change their goggles (from clear to dark or dark to clear) when they swim during different times of the day or night.
9. Aqua Eyes: Instead of the Aquatic Scopes, these customized thin lenses are placed directly on the surface of the eye of open water swimmers, effectively eliminating the need for goggles in both freshwater and saltwater, effectively eliminating the problem of fogging problems or misfitting goggles.
10. Fluffy Towel Warmer: Get out of the water and the Fluffy Towel Warmer makes terry cloth towels nice and warm, soft and fresh every time you get out of the water, especially when the water and conditions are colder than open water swimmers prefers. Its polar opposite would be nice too…
11. Cooling Wrap: Get out of the water and wrap the Cooling Wrap around the shoulders, head, torso, or legs of open water swimmers to help immediately cool them down when the water and conditions are warmer than they prefer or that are safe.
11. Swimming Superhydrophobic Skin: A superhydrophobic, nanotechnology skin coating that completely repels water and enables open water swimmers to become immediately dry after every swim. It comes in various form factors including lotions, sprays, and gels. The property of hydrophobia repels water from a surface.
12. Sunscreen Skin: A superhydrophobic sunscreen is rubbed on and adheres to the skin of swimmers, not only protecting them from the rays of the sun, but also concurrently repels water and perspiration while staying on their skin for the entire length of their swim or all day on land or while on an escort boat. Sunscreen Skin comes in various form factors including lotions, sprays, and gels that absorbs or reflects the sun’s ultraviolet radiation to protect against sunburn, raccoon eyes, goggle tans, panda eyes, and swim cap tans.
13. Sponsor Swim Cap: Similar to electronic billboards along a highway, the Sponsor Swim Cap shows brightly lit names and logos of different brands and sponsors.
14. Telepathic Swim Cap: Using the same technology as the Sponsor Swim Cap, the Telepathic Swim Cap vicariously transmits information (thoughts or wishes) from the open water swimmer’s mind to their Telepathic Swim Cap so their pilot, coach, observer and support crew on their escort boat know what they are thinking or what they want (e.g., “gel pack on my next stop“, “cup of tea please“, “my shoulder hurts“, “feeling good“, “how much further?“, “what time is it?“). It has a complementary product for escort kayakers…
15. Telepathic Sun Hat: Using the same technology as the Telepathic Swim Cap, the Telepathic Sun Hat vicariously transmits information (thoughts or wishes) from the escort kayaker’s mind to their Telepathic Sun Hat so the open water swimmer can see, read, and know information or enables the escort kayaker to ask questions directly to the swimmer while they continue to paddle (e.g., “do you need anything“, “do you want to rest?“, “you are looking good“, “one kilometer to go?“, “dolphins to your right“).
15. Mini Lap Counter: A small handheld lap counter can be held up by an escort kayaker or pace swimmer to give information to marathon swimmers or channel swimmers. As examples, the numbers on the Mini Lap Counter can indicate the number of minutes or number of kilometers to go.
16. Aquatic Acoustic Ear Plugs: Audio electro-acoustic ear plugs that not only keep the water out of the ears of an open water swimmer, but also are designed to amplify ambient sound both in and out of the water. It helps swimmers hear voices more clearly from their escort boat and pick up various sounds in the marine environment.
17. Mini Gimbal GoPro: A Mini Gimbal GoPro camera is placed on the goggle straps or swim cap in order to capture the first-person views of an open water swimmer. Views of channel swimmers approaching the shoreline, views of professional marathon swimmers approaching a feeding station or finish touchpad, views of open water swimmers running down the beach or rounding a turn buoy in a mass participation swim can be spliced into highlight reels. Instead of shaky, jittery images, the Mini Gimbal GoPro camera offers smooth panoramic underwater or on-the-water-surface cinematic shots.
18. Underwater Movement Sensor: A bone conduction audio sensor that picks up and tracks movement within 100 meters of mammals (e.g., orca or dolphin), pods, or marine life that are larger than 1 meter (e.g., shark or stingray). The audio sensor transmits information of the presence of marine life and its location and direction to a swimmer in an open body of water.
19. Extreme Warning Swimsuit: A porous, channel-legal or IISA-sanctioned swimsuit that includes a body temperature sensor in the core area that enables an accurate estimate of the core body temperature to warn of the swimmer and support team of the swimmer’s potential hypothermic or hyperthermic condition.
The Open Water History of Glow-in-the-Dark Swimsuits
When a father is passionately up to something and does so successfully, the chances increase that a young child follows suit. If a father cheers for a particular sports team, it is highly likely that junior does also. If a father is courageously trying to achieve something, the little man of the house many times also wants to be supportive.
So it was with the S.C.A.R. Swim Challenge founder Kent Nicholas and his 9-year-old son Luke Nicholas back in 2013. When dad was training for his English Channel crossing, Luke was 9 years old and was doing a 4th grade science fair project at the Mesa Academy in Arizona.
“Luke came up with the idea of a glow-in-the-dark swimsuit, thinking it was fun to swim in our pool with glow sticks at night,” recalls Kent. “He also knew that marathon swimmers, at times, swim at night and need to pin glow sticks to their swimsuits.”
So being an open water swimmer himself, the young inventor went to work. The first step was to find a premium grade photoluminescent pigment. Bingo, the pigment derived from rare earth mineral crystals, was procured from New Zealand. Kent explains, “It is basically a powder that when exposed to a light source will emit a glow for up to 12 hours. The powder was mixed with an acrylic fabric medium available from Martha Stewart and then applied to a white swimsuit with several applications.”
Now it was time to test his science project. “My role was to put the glow-in-the-dark swimsuit on and swim in our backyard pool,” recalled Kent. The test was a success and documented with photography, making his family justifiably proud. “He worked very hard on it and I’ll treasure his science notes on the project forever. The glow-in-the-dark suit performed well and was very visible.”
One Last Bonus Thought: Underwater Open Water Swimming Coverage on Dryland
If World Aquatics or the International Olympic Committee asked its television partners to capture underwater footage of the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim or future World Championship race – or the International Ice Swimming Association or International Winter Swimming Association could capture underwater footage of ice swimming and winter swimming championship races, then this footage could be used as incredibly vibrant, uniquely promotional, beautiful dynamic images shown on the ceilings of major locations (e.g., Grand Central Station in New York City or Singapore International Airport terminal).
© 2024 Daily News of Open Water Swimming
“to educate, enthuse, and entertain all those who venture beyond the shoreline“