Quote:
Originally Posted by Hack&Lube
Hey so in swimming, what are the advantages to getting the middle versus outside lanes?
In the relay today, they said the french swimmer made the mistake of going toward the line and the American dragged on him like an extra 200 pounds to the finish. What is this? Is this like drafting? How does it work?
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It's exactly that, drafting.
As for how it works, think of a bridge pier in the river. Notice the eddy that forms in behind it? Well, parts of it are actually flowing back upstream for a few feet, right? Same thing for a swimmer. A stationary object in a moving body of water can be considered the same thing as a moving object in a stationary body of water. The object-water interactions are virtually the same, or at least analogous.
Since the French swimmer moved over, it allowed the American to move more into his eddy. This meant way less water resistance, almost to the point of a "downstream current" to swim with.