Men's Journal

Photo credit: Michael Pirrocco

The Lunocet fin makes mere mortals faster than Olympic swimmers.

By Steve Mazzucchi

In 2000, after reading Navy-Funded research that found a flapping foil could be 15 percent more efficient than a propeller, inventor Ted Ciamillo began tinkering. The result became the Lunocet fin, which lets him swim at up to eight miles per hour—about 40 percent faster than Michael Phelps. But Ciamillo eyes a loftier prize. “I will jump completely out of the water this summer,” he says. “I only have inches to go.” [$975; lunocet.com

DETAILS:

• Swimmers wear cycling shoes that bolt to the fin’s foot deck
• The Carbon and silicone fin weighs only 3.8 pounds
• The Lunocet makes 140 pounds of thrust; normal fins make 40.

This article originally appeared in the June 2009 issue of Men’s Journal.

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