Swim Goggles

Now, I'm no swimmer. I can swim, but it's not my sport of choice - in fact, when I took my PADI test last year in the Red Sea, I had to practice for a few weeks beforehand, just to make sure I could confidently swim the 200metres required to pass the test. I know that for me it's technique, not aerobic fitness that constrains me, but I just can't seem to get the breathing right, and it all seems like a hell of a lot of hard work. It always amazes me how some quite large people (euphemism for obese wobblers), who puff and blow just walking upstairs can swim a half mile comfortably, and yet I can run a half marathon, but struggle to complete 8 lengths in one hit.

So I quite admire those who can get down the pool, and knock out 30-50 lengths as a training session. And I'm obviously a bit jealous too. I read in this article from the BBC web site about a new set of goggles that have been developed for swimmers. The goggles show a lap count and elapsed time on the lenses themselves, so that swimmers don't have to watch the pool clock, or use their wristwatches. Which means of course they can continue to swim throughout without breaking their rhythm. Invented by industrial design student Katie Williams, the goggles use an in-built compass to spot when swimmers complete lengths. Genius.