She’s flipping brilliant! - 09.07.2010

Young Cassandra is making a big splash

IT’S the sort of question that would probably stump even the most knowledgeable of pub quiz teams: “What is finswimming?”

It sounds as though it concerns “swimming with dolphins”, which is a popular recreation at theme parks around the world.

But finswimming is actually a little-known water sport, competed in all over the world and taken seriously by contestants, from juniors upwards.

Swimmers don a monofin (like a giant, single flipper)and travel through or below the water as if they were dolphins, using a butterfly-stroke action with the feet.

It is actually regarded as the Formula One of water sports and is the fastest way to travel through water without mechanical help.

In fact, a finswimmer in top form can reach more than 6.8mph in the water, which is almost 1.9mph faster than the speed of a top freestyle swimmer. And just like the swimmer, the finswimmer uses only his/her own body power.

The difference in speed doesn’t sound a lot, in terms of car travel, say. But when you look at it realistically, you realise that in one hour, the finswimmer would be 1.9 miles ahead of the traditional swimmer!

One youngster already making a big splash in the sport is 14-year-old British title-holder Cassandra Graikowski-Hainsworth, who has been competing at the current World Championships in Mallorca.

Cassandra, who lives with her family in Los Realejos, has honed her skills in local, regional and national events and is making a big impression.

Her father, Jens, who introduced her to the sport four years ago, said: “She’s too young to be a serious competitor in the Worlds this time, But she has gained valuable experience, and we’re hoping she will make a big impact when they come around again in two years.”

Jens, 42, added: “She is a pretty good classical swimmer, too, but her strength lies with the monofin. As soon as she puts it on, she converts into a dolphin.

“At our last sports gala, in May, she received a medal from the Mayor of Puerto de la Cruz and was named “Best Finswimmer”.

“Now, because of her success, I’ve started to get involved again and have set up Fin City, a community website for the sport.”

Right now, Cassandra’s feet are hardly touching the ground because of all her finswimming commitments. After leaving the World Championships on Sunday, she and her father travelled to Torrevieja, on the Costa Blanca, for next week’s Spanish Junior/Senior Championships

Again, she knows it will simply be a learning curve for her, even though she qualified for the championships.

The main problem she and her family have at the moment is the cost of travelling to so many events. To that aim, her mum and dad have set up a fund-raising blog http://sponsor-cassandra.blogspot.com/ to help their talented daughter along the way.

Her mother, Samantha, said: “We’ve had donations from all over the world, and we would appreciate any further help, coverage or sponsors we can get. You can find out more about her on the blog, and follow her water adventures along the way.”

If finswimming sounds as though it could be for you ‒ and you don’t have to be a good swimmer ‒ there are three clubs (or swimming clubs with a finswimming department) on the Island.

Here in the south, Los Cristianos Swimming Club have a finswimming section.

There’s also a small club in Santa Cruz and Cassandra’s own club, CN Océano, in Puerto de la Cruz, where her father trains the small finswimming department.  

For more details about Cassandra and the sport of finswimming, contact Jens Graikowski on 922 340 723, mobile: 628 102 345, or email: samje@web.de