Dolphin Dives

Dolphin Dives, sometimes called Porpoise Dives, are a fast way to get through shallow water and into deeper water where you can start to swim.

To practice these at the pool, you need a zero-entry situation...

...or a shallow end that’s 3 to 5 feet deep.

When Sara dolphin dives, she uses the bottom of the pool in two ways. She uses it to propel herself forward with her hands... and uses it to push off with her feet.

As she pushes off the bottom with her feet, Sara gets her head between her arms, then arcs up and over the surface, keeping her arms almost in streamline as she aims forward and down.

When her hands touch the bottom, Sara uses the flat surface to launch herself forward. It’s as if she was doing a butterfly pull, using the bottom of the pool to give her some extra propulsion.

As the hands push back, Sara tucks up her legs and gets ready to push off again with her feet. As the feet push off, the arms swing out of the water and over the surface. It’s as if she was swimming butterfly with her arms, using her feet to help launch the arms out of the water and forward into the next dive.

Here’s another view where you can see how Sara uses the bottom to pull herself forward and then uses it as a launching pad to spring up and forward over the water.

When done correctly, dolphin dives are faster than swimming or walking through shallow water, and are a good way to start your race if the bottom conditions allow it.

Like so many open-water techniques, it’s best to practice this in the controlled environment of a pool before taking it to open water, which is what we’ll do in the next part of this video.