Swimming by Other Methods

Abstract

Eight primitive but fundamental ways of locomotion, paddling, whipping, jetting, sweeping, beating, sailing, skating, and wave riding are presented and analyzed in this chapter. These swimming methods can be performed with simple swimming devices and mechanics, which accounts for their prevalence among swimming animals. The animals studied in this chapter are limited to those considered large enough for the inertial force to be positively utilized. Like the pressure drag, the inertial force is a reaction force of fluid motion but it is accompanying the acceleration or unsteady motion of swimming devices. Thus, paddling, whipping, and jetting are more effective for sudden starts from rest than for continuous propulsion. Sweeping is a mode of locomotion in which a wing or blade is swept in its own plane, whereas beating, as described earlier in Chap. 4, is a mode of locomotion in which a wing is flapped up and down, out of its own plane.