Foot-Fins Allow Humans to Leap Dolphin-Like From the Water

Quote :

"The Lunocet is a hydrofoil for your feet, a kind of swishing fishtail that will propel you through the water like Aquaman. The device clamps on to the feet, which are kept together, and when you kick, the tail flexes. Instead of just relying on your legs to push the water out of the way and thereby provide propulsion, the Lunocet acts more like an airplane wing and actually provides an airfoil-style "lift" which pushes you along. This carbon-fiber and silicone toy is fast, too. In top gear (there are six speeds, adjustable while you swim) a strong swimmer should be able to leap from the water and clear the surface. That sounds awesome. Just how fast is it? According to the "LunoFAQS", you can hit 8 mph. That's almost double the speed of Michael Phelps at full tilt. The Lunocet sounds like amazing fun, but it comes at a price. The basic configuration is a rather steep $1250 so, like Jetskis, this might be best rented by the day from your local beach club."

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/08/foot-fins-allow.html

A little absurd to own one, but it would be fun to try one out and leap out of the water.

8/19/2008 10:03:28 AM

haha, cool.

8/19/2008 10:07:08 AM

They should get Phelps to be their spokesperson

8/19/2008 10:08:30 AM

that's really cool. i want to try it.

8/19/2008 10:21:00 AM

I wonder how fast Phelps could get wearing one of these things.

8/19/2008 10:48:29 AM

i think i could prob beat phelps with a regular pair of full length fins on

8/19/2008 10:52:02 AM

Tim Duncan swam before he played basketball, but when the Olympic pool was destroyed in his area growing up, he had no where else to swim because he was to terrified of the ocean.


The more you know......

8/19/2008 10:53:56 AM

Quote :

"i think i could prob beat phelps with a regular pair of full length fins on"

i was thinking the same thing...i won't pretend like i'd be able to even remotely keep up on my own, but give me some full fins and i think i could do it

8/19/2008 10:54:35 AM

^^ didnt turn out too bad for him

8/19/2008 10:55:44 AM

NBA Star or Olympic Swimmer... hmm tens of millions of dollars or short lived popularity, yea I think he lucked out.

8/19/2008 10:58:24 AM

^ I doubt phelps will have a short lived popularity.

8/19/2008 11:08:43 AM

Duncan is not Phelps

At best he would be a Jason Lezak or Ryan Lochte.

He lucked out.

8/19/2008 11:13:46 AM

need to get 'em, gills

8/19/2008 12:16:21 PM

8/19/2008 12:17:48 PM

Quote :

"^ I doubt phelps will have a short lived popularity."

Are you kidding me? a month from now people won't even remember he existed. What is he gonna do to keep in the spotlight for 4 more years? Yeah, he'll get another 15 minutes in London in 2012, and yeah people will always remember "that swimmer guy that won all those metals" when they're thinking about the olympics for years to come, but as an everyday celebrity...People won't be able to pick him out of a lineup by Christmastime. This guy's got Celebrity de jour written all over him.

[Edited on August 19, 2008 at 12:32 PM. Reason : It means "of the day"]

8/19/2008 12:25:11 PM

^thats dumb.

8/19/2008 12:35:38 PM

excellent retort.

Were you on the debate team?

8/19/2008 12:39:23 PM

El Nacho: name a single accomplishment of yours

8/19/2008 12:42:48 PM

Considering this wasn't his first Olympics and we remember his name, I'm pretty sure we'll remember it after the performance he did this time.

8/19/2008 12:43:03 PM

I didn't remember him from Athens

8/19/2008 12:45:17 PM

Did the average american actually know his name or be able to pick him out of a lineup 3 months ago? I seriously doubt it. Once the olympics came on everybody was all..."oh yeah, I remember that guy, go phelps, USA #1" but you're telling me that he'll still have all those millions of facebook friends this time next year? No way. Once the olympics are over with and he's gone back to training again people will forget about him until 2012.

, them.

8/19/2008 12:47:47 PM

Well I sure did!

Clearly you are not important.

8/19/2008 12:48:19 PM

Quote :

"Did the average american actually know his name or be able to pick him out of a lineup 3 months ago? I seriously doubt it. Once the olympics came on everybody was all..."oh yeah, I remember that guy, go phelps, USA #1" but you're telling me that he'll still have all those millions of facebook friends this time next year? No way. Once the olympics are over with and he's gone back to training again people will forget about him until 2012."

Who fucking cares about this nonsense -- you're talking about a group of people where young earth creationism is still a viable worldview.

8/19/2008 12:49:18 PM

Oh sorry. I thought the topic of conversation was popularity in modern culture.

My bad.

durr durr durr Michael Phelps is the man!

8/19/2008 12:50:31 PM

Dude did get $50 million in endorsements. We're gonna be seeing a lot more of him.

8/19/2008 12:50:39 PM

Quote :

"Oh sorry. I thought the topic of conversation was popularity in modern culture. My bad. durr durr durr Michael Phelps is the man! "

Fat internet nerd flies into rage over the popularity of olympic record-holder

How many Cheetos did you spray onto your screen in jealous rage as he won his 8th gold and got all of those sweet endorsements?

8/19/2008 12:53:39 PM

however long Mark Spitz was in the spotlight will be about the length of time Phelps is, unless there is some extra drama on the side...fact is, people don't really care about good athletes - they want to see a damn soap-opera

8/19/2008 12:54:01 PM

Quote :

"I wonder how fast Phelps could get wearing one of these things."

12mph

Quote :

"Dude did get $50 million in endorsements. We're gonna be seeing a lot more of him."

automatic 1 mil from omega after his 8th medal.

8/19/2008 12:55:11 PM

Quote :

"Dude did get $50 million in endorsements."

50 million? shit, i thought it was like 5 at most

8/19/2008 12:55:44 PM

McFaggot, you always were a master of trying to make things personal when you were losing internet arguments. Suddenly the topic of conversation is Michael Phelps accomplishments vs mine? Keep on trolling man, I'm not biting. I never said what he did wasn't amazing. I'm not trying to take away from what he's done. I'm just saying that after all this dies down he won't be getting his own tv show, he won't be making daily headlines for the next 4 years, in terms of popularity on a daily basis, he will fall off the map.

But you don't have to take my word for it. Time will tell who's right on this one.

Oh and for the record, I was cheering for him at the top of my lungs every time he swam. For real.

USA #1!

8/19/2008 12:58:09 PM

these are pretty good


2.Michael Phelps is the only species on earth that is on the Danger List.

3.There are no world records only Michael Phelps’ last time.

10.Michael Phelps doesn’t swim through water, water gets out of his way.

3.Jaws beached himself once he heard the Michael Phelps theme music.

8/19/2008 12:58:36 PM

Quote :

"McFaggot, you always were a master of trying to make things personal when you were losing internet arguments. Suddenly the topic of conversation is Michael Phelps accomplishments vs mine? Keep on trolling man, I'm not biting. I never said what he did wasn't amazing. I'm not trying to take away from what he's done. I'm just saying that after all this dies down he won't be getting his own tv show, he won't be making daily headlines for the next 4 years, in terms of popularity on a daily basis, he will fall off the map. But you don't have to take my word for it. Time will tell who's right on this one. Oh and for the record, I was cheering for him at the top of my lungs every time he swam. For real. USA #1!"

livejournal it you bitch nobody wants to read this shit

(didn't read)

8/19/2008 1:02:48 PM

Quote :

"i think i could prob beat phelps with a regular pair of full length fins on"

no, i'm a competitive swimmer and I can't even get his times with full fins on...

(52sec 100yd free without fins)

he can do a 40 flat just about in a regular 25 yard pool (100 yard free)

with fins i can probably get about a 43 or 42 in the same pool

(i swim 6-8 miles a week)

8/19/2008 1:03:30 PM

Quote :

"Didn't you at least to be somewhat intelligent? From : El Nachó To : Str8Foolish Received : Tuesday August 19, 2008 at 1:11 PM Subject : Didn't you at least to be somewhat intelligent? You've returned to TWW to make mindless fat jokes and "I didn't read it" comebacks when you get bested? That's weaksauce McFaggot. I've lost 86 lbs in the past year. How's your life? "

u mad?

8/19/2008 1:13:58 PM

I've seen people in my pool when I was younger swim with this:

8/19/2008 1:15:37 PM

^^^ i dont know, i think with fins you would be surprised how fast you can do. the limiting factor is the flipturns and start, kind of hard to do with fins. but i used to do 22 sec 50 free and about a 48-49 sec 100 free so i think with fins that could be down to a 18 and 40, respectively. i highly doubt he could do a 40sec 100 free in a 25 yard pool, the turns would slow him down

[Edited on August 19, 2008 at 1:17 PM. Reason : ]

8/19/2008 1:17:15 PM

I didn't just win this thread.

I Michael Phelpsed it.

GOLD MEDAL #1 IN THE TWW OLYMPICS!

8/19/2008 1:18:26 PM

8/19/2008 1:20:41 PM

Meh, I remembered who Mark Spitz was, and he made his Olympic history what? 36 years ago?

8/19/2008 1:21:07 PM

I think you'll see a little more swimming on tv now too. A lot of people watched the olympics for Phelps, and if there's a world championship or national or whatever swimmers do when it's not the olympics, it might just be on tv. Every golf event wouldn't usually be on tv, but when people want to see Tiger it gets a ratings boost and people put it on. Could be the same with swimming, although not quite as big.

8/19/2008 1:24:23 PM

Quote :

"Meh, I remembered who Mark Spitz was, and he made his Olympic history what? 36 years ago?"

me too.

along with mary lou retton, kerry strug, nadia comaneci, and dominique moceanu...

8/19/2008 1:25:42 PM

I bet they are really stretching this thing's abilities. I swim with long fins for resistance sometimes and can get going pretty fast, but I'm not even thinking about a dolphin leap.

I bet if anything you can push really really hard and get your upper body out of the water. That wouldn't really be very fun at all.

[Edited on August 19, 2008 at 1:30 PM. Reason : l]

8/19/2008 1:30:40 PM

really you did those times yet you say

Quote :

"the turns would slow him down"

you do know turns make things faster right? I used a converter long course meters to short course yards to get the time, I didn't just pull it out of my ass.

but by all means get a pair of fins and hit the pool see if you can break 50 anymore first.

8/19/2008 2:28:11 PM

you need to have crazy strong (and endurance) leg muscles to really fly (go fast) for an extended amount of time.

8/19/2008 2:38:10 PM

indeed even with this thing going much farther than a 1/4 mile for most will be painful then again it's made just to have fun with.

8/19/2008 2:47:25 PM

I've been swimming on my back using just the fins to propel me and it really is a good workout. I feel like I can almost get on plane. Once you get your breathing cadence down (keep in mind that your head never goes under water this way) you can cover a lot of ground really fast. Your hamstrings will quickly start to burn like you're cycling up a long incline.

8/19/2008 3:19:46 PM

It's like a segway for swimmers.

Meh.

8/19/2008 3:24:25 PM

nice. i wonder if they made a non-motorized one that you can swim with...would be awesome!

8/19/2008 3:30:21 PM

I wonder if someone would manage to drown wearing these

8/19/2008 3:34:11 PM

nm

[Edited on August 19, 2008 at 3:43 PM. Reason : .]

8/19/2008 3:43:01 PM