The forerunners of today’s Navy SEALs in the United States military were Frogman of World War II. The Frogman of the U.S. Navy’s Underwater Demolition Teams were called the Naked Warriors per the history compiled by The National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum (read here). These commandos cleared the beaches of Normandy and the Pacific Islands wearing nothing more than their swim trunks, mask and fins.

The Museum exhibit explains, “During their early missions, Navy combat swimmers were completely clothed in combat uniforms, boots and metal helmets. That changed during a mission in preparation for the invasion of the Japanese held atoll of Kwajalein in January 1944. Ordered to conduct a reconnaissance mission to assess beach conditions in advance of the planned assault, the two man team of Ensign Lewis F. Luehrs and Chief Petty Officer Bill Acheson [shown below on left] could not get close enough to shore because of a coral reef. They stripped to their underwear and swam over the reef to complete the mission undetected, becoming the first “Naked Warriors.” Following the success of that mission, training emphasized strong swimming skills and operating without the use of lifelines, wearing only face masks, swim trunks and fins.”

Dial forward 80 years and that military lore has entered the lexicon of the sport of open water swimming:

Naked swimming: the act of swimming in open bodies of water without a wetsuit, rash guard, techsuit, or neoprene swim cap. In the open water swimming community, a naked swim is not skinny-dipping (i.e., swimming without clothes); rather it is performed with a porous swimsuit, goggles, and possibly, a swim cap and ear plugs.

Skin swimming: the act of swimming in open bodies of water without a wetsuit, rash guard, techsuit, or any neoprene swim cap. It can also refer to the division or category in an open water swimming competition where athletes compete only with a porous swimsuit, goggles, and possibly, a swim cap and ear plugs.

Froggy: rough water marine conditions when waves, surface chop, currents, tidal flows, wind, lightning, fog, or cold weather causes open bodies of water to become rough, disturbed, choppy, cold(er), turbulent, or lumpy and bumpy with whitecaps (or white horses).

Photo above shows 7-time world professional marathon swimming champion Shelley Taylor-Smith swimming in froggy conditions with handler Nancy Schnarr in a rowboat racing in the Atlantic City Around the Island Swim held in New Jersey, USA.

Ger Kennedy swimming in froggy conditions at Myrtleville Beach in Ireland. Photo by Siobhan Russell.

© 2024 Daily News of Open Water Swimming

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