Swim harness

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AnnaK

AnnaK

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Jul 15, 2007
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Eastern Pennsylvania
One of our new members, wsettle, recently posted images of a swim harness he built in this thread. I had never heard of a swim harness but was immediately enamoured by the idea of being able to swim laps in my 33' pool without getting dizzy from the frequent turns. An Internet search produced a number of links to patents pending on a variety of such harnesses as well as an excellent site by a musher who designed something similar for his sled dogs. That page has become part of my permanent library, of course.

The very expensive commercial version of a swim harness is here. Very pricey!

We're going to try and build one for our pool using a tall graphite kite pole we have and the ski belt Bill uses in his construct but lo! I learned that ski belts are illegal in Pennsylvania. Can't buy them. Oh yeah, I love it when the government knows what's best for this little lady, you betcha! Yet another search produced a Website that sells them and they're available on eBay though the shipping there is a bit high.

Thanks for the idea Bill!
 
Thanks Jim. I got one from here. It's a little narrower than Bills and the one in your link but I think it'll offer the right amount of buoyancy. We'll see.

Uh . . . what happened to our spell check feature? Am I just not seeing it? I had to try a variety of combinations to get 'buoyancy' right :)
 
Ok, our construct:

1 pool noodle
1 length of 5/8 PVC pipe, about 6' long
Rope
zip ties

Thread the rope through the noodle and tie it to form an approximate oval.
Drill 2 holes through the top of the PVC pipe about 2" from one end.
Attach the pipe to a fence post or any other stationary object near the pool with as many zip ties as you think you'll want/need.
Thread the other end of the rope through the holes in the pipe.
Slip noodle ring over your head and walk out into the pool to the place you want to swim.
Knot the rope attached to the pipe.
Swim.

The pipe bends just enough to keep you from jerking, no bungee was needed. I'll take some pictures tomorrow and post them.

This is a GREAT piece of equipment! In another life I was a competitive swimmer, won some medals even in national competitions. Although I'm an old lady now old habits die hard and this little home made harness can take my feeble butterfly stroke just fine. I am delighted, and thank you again, Bill, for showing me yours :lol:
 
I am delighted, and thank you again, Bill, for showing me yours :lol:
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Whoa... easy there Anna. Keep that up and folks are going to start talkin' bout us :shock:

I had not seen the swim flex but it's the same basic principle where "something" flexes to reduce the shock while swimming. The PVC pipe is a good idea. Do tell us how it works out and pictures are a must :goodjob:

Only one problem I can see with the PVC is that it gets brittle after being in the sun for months on end so if you can rig it so you can easily remove it after use, it will last a lot longer. But heck, it only cost a few bucks for a new PVC stick if it breaks so it probably won't matter.

Keep us posted,
Bill
 
Good Ideas!

I made one of these a few seasons ago with elastic rope (bought at the hardware store) and a noodle threaded with the rope and tied in an oval. I just put a knot in the two end pieces of chord and ran them under one of the supports on my SPLASHER type AGP. It worked fairly well but I now realize that the noodle gave TOO much floatation (I should have just used a section that would go around my waist to keep the chord from cutting flesh and bathing suits!) AND we all had problems with our legs getting caught in the ropes. I see having the pole (or antenna) and cliping in higher would take care of that problem. I'm thinking that the elastic chord was had TOO much GIVE - maybe a combo of regular chord and bungee is the way to go. I'm going to try this again.

dp
 
You're right about the noodle giving too much boyuancy. I have to position it directly under my arms which is ok in the short term but does get in the way of serious swimming. I expect the ski belt to arrive today which is why I haven't cut the noodle. If the ski belt doesn't work out, i.e., if it, too, is too 'floaty', I'll start whittling away at the noodle length.

@Bill:
You're of course right about the PVC pipe eventually degrading from the sun. I have this image of myself swimming for all I'm worth when it does break, me shooting forward and smacking into the pool steps :) PVC pipe is cheap. Free, in fact - we have a pile of it from when our 450' well was rewired. That's quite a few swim seasons at 6' per setup.
 
Ya! let me know how the ski belt thing works. I think since noodles are so cheap ($1) right now I could get away with just trying that. I know that without the noodle I went straight to the bottom and with the noodle (full length) I felt I could 'walk on water' ! HA!

I never thought about placement under the arms but I could see how that would hinder ones stroke movement. I was able to keep it around my waist but some of the younglings had trouble with 'swimming' out of the loop - I think now I would customize the noodles based on weight and width.

I've also realize that I don't have a HIGH spot that I can clip into by the side of the pool I want to do this. There's a fence - but I don't want to be accused of weaking the support posts. There is a tree - which I think I'll end up shaking out all the baby bird nests ... so ... I do have an old UMBRELLA stand I'm not using. It's the kind you put water in it's base and then put the umbrella post in to keep the umbrella upright. So, I'm wondering if I put the PVC pipe (I might have to go taller like 9' or 12' because I have an AGP and 6 feet is just two feet above the water line) into the base of the umbrellastand?

How do you clip or tie into the top of the PVC pipe.???

Thanks

dp
 
dpool said:
Ya! let me know how the ski belt thing works. I think since noodles are so cheap ($1) right now I could get away with just trying that. I know that without the noodle I went straight to the bottom and with the noodle (full length) I felt I could 'walk on water' ! HA!


You do need some sort of flotation aid to give buoyancy because you're swimming in place. If you were swimming normally in a forward motion the vectors would be different which is why we don't sink when we swim.


I never thought about placement under the arms but I could see how that would hinder ones stroke movement. I was able to keep it around my waist but some of the younglings had trouble with 'swimming' out of the loop - I think now I would customize the noodles based on weight and width.


Uh, younglings? Shouldn't that be spelled 'Yuengling'? Oh, wait, no. That's my favourite beer. Not rug rats :)


... so ... I do have an old UMBRELLA stand I'm not using. It's the kind you put water in it's base and then put the umbrella post in to keep the umbrella upright. So, I'm wondering if I put the PVC pipe (I might have to go taller like 9' or 12' because I have an AGP and 6 feet is just two feet above the water line) into the base of the umbrella stand?


That depends. I put a lot of drag on the PVC pipe because I'm a strong swimmer. Never mind my previous 'little old lady' comment. If you have no deck around the pool, see if you can pound a length of rebar into the ground up close to the pool, then insert the pipe over that. Put another section of noodle between the pipe and where it will touch (and bend over) the top rail.


How do you clip or tie into the top of the PVC pipe.???


You mean the rope? We drilled a hole through the PVC, threaded the rope through it, and knotted it.
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The ski belt arrived from Overton's yesterday. It is superior to the pool noodle, definitely worth the $23 cost incl. shipping.

I have to wear it around my upper chest for proper flotation. Wearing it around my waist raises my hips and legs too much for normal swimming. If I put some power into my strokes and do high energy bursts it's better around my waist.

Works great for the dog as well! I slip the belt over his head so he pulls against it with his chest and put a section of pool noodle under his belly to raise his hips - otherwise his front is too high and he 'walks' with his rear feet. Not good for the liner. I stand in front of him holding his orange bumper and he swims for all he's worth - in place. I give him 5 minutes of controlled swimming, then unhook him and let him play.

The PVC post is holding up very well so far.
 
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