ark swimrun

Welcome to episode 135 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!

This week we have the final edition of our “Countdown to ÖTILLÖ” show where we discuss our journey to the start line of the 2022 ÖTILLÖ, The Swimrun World Championship. In our quest to leave no stone unturned, we have Helen Wikmar, CEO of ARK Sports to talk about all things gear (one of our favorite topics) for the big day. 

But first…

We want to give a big thank you to our supporters Ödyssey Swimrun, Frank Paddle, and Precision Fuel and Hydration for helping make this show series possible. Make sure to use the code “LOWTIDE22” to save 15% off of your first order from Precision Fuel and Hydration. Use the code “LOWTIDEBOYZ” that is good for 15% off of your registration for any and all of Odyssey Swimrun’s 2022 events. Finally, Frank Paddle’s new “PRO” paddles are out now! 

How’s the Body? How’s the Mind?

We are both feeling good heading into our last month of training for the WC. We’ve been putting in some big days in the pool and on the trails and we’re getting our kits dialed in for the race. 

Mentally we are both in a good place. Nervous for the unknown because there’s no denying that it is a big day but we’re looking forward to the amazing experience, come what may.

Helen Wikmar

It was great to have Helen back on the show to talk about gear considerations for the World Championship. She’s raced the event 2.5 times (one DNF) and has a ton of experience as both a Swimrunner and as the CEO of Ark Sports. She shared with us her best thinking on how to approach gear selection for the race and gave us her recommendations of what to wear. In the end, it’s a very individual decision but over indexing on not being cold seems like the best advice.

Just like that, we’re only a month away from a race that we’ve been dreaming about for many years. Thank you to everyone that is rooting for us!

That’s it for this week’s show. If you are enjoying the Löw Tide Böyz, be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast player and leave us a five-star review. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast, and on YouTube. You can also follow our meme page on Instagram. Email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback and/or suggestions. Finally, you can support our efforts on Patreon…if you feel so inclined.

Thanks for listening and see you out there!

-  Chip and Chris

Welcome to episode ninety-two of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!

On the show this week we have Matthieu Poullian and Hugo Tormento of Team Ark Swimrun France. These guys finished third in this year’s ÖTILLÖ, The Swimrun World Championship and they share their intense race story with us (spoiler alert: broken bones were involved). This was a great conversation and we can’t wait to share it with you.

But first... 

Training Update

Ödyssey Swimrun’s Orcas Island is in the rearview mirror and we are looking forward to Ödyssey Swimrun Austin in five weeks. We took this week chill but will start our last training block of the year on Monday!

Shoutouts

This week we’re shouting out Brandon Nelson. We met Brandon at Orcas Island and his enthusiasm for Swimrun was very apparent, a.k.a., he’s super stoked. So apparent in fact, that he signed up with his buddies to go race Ödyssey Swimrun Ludington and sent us a really nice message while he was enjoying a well-earned post-race beer with his crew. 

BTW, if you’re looking for real estate in the Bellingham Washington area, Brandon is your guy!

Feats of Endurance

The award this week goes to everyone that was running up and down sand dunes on Sunday at Ödyssey Swimrun Ludington in Michigan. Strong work everyone! Legend has it that folks are still finding sand in their kits.

Check out and join our Strava Club and join Swimrunners from around the world as they train for Swimruns and stuff.

This Week in Swimrun

All the news that we could find on the internet contained herein.

Starting out with something from the bummer news department, ÖTILLÖ announced that November’s Catalina race has been postponed to March 19-20 citing uncertainty for travel given the continued disruptions caused by COVID-19.

This means that for Swimrunners seeking to accumulate ranking points for the Swimrun World Championship in the Western Hemisphere, the sole remaining ÖTILLÖ Merit Race will be Swimrun NC on November 7th. There are some spots still available for that race so make sure to get on top of that if you have aspirations to qualify for ÖTILLÖ, The Swimrun World Championship.

In happier news, the inaugural Ödyssey Swimrun Ludington took place over the weekend and looked like an amazing sand-filled adventure. Ödyssey’s final race of the season will be taking place on Sunday, November 7 in Austin, Texas. New for this year are the addition of two events on Saturday November 6: a Kids Swimrun and a 5k trail run. We encourage everyone to join us at the start line for this race. (Make sure to use the code LOWTIDE15 to save 15% off of your solo or team registration.)

In other Swimrun news, Swimrun Portugal’s Madeira Swimrun presented by HEAD is taking place this weekend. We can’t wait to be able to get out to race one of Bruno Safara’s events! Make sure to check out our interview with Bruno to learn more why you too should be jonesing to Swimrun in Portugal.

Finally, As Keen as Mustard Events recently announced that they have opened registration for all their 2022 Swimrun events. If you live in the UK (or are planning to visit) make sure to check out one of their fun and welcoming events. You can learn more about this race series and the mother/daughter duo Nicky and Chelsey on Episode 56 of the podcast.

That’s it for this week. Be sure to tip us off if there’s any news that you would like for us to share on the show.

Updates

New hats are coming! Stay tuned for more details soon. In the meantime, check out our online store if you’re looking to show some Low Tide Pride.

Team Ark Swimrun France

It was great to chat with Matthieu and Hugo. We discussed the growing Swimrun scene in France, how they discovered Swimrun, how they are such fast swimmers, and got an exclusive race report from their 3rd Place finish at ÖTILLÖ, The Swimrun World Championship. This was a great conversation and it’s hard not to root for Team Ark Swimrun France as they will try to climb atop the podium again in 2022. Enjoy!

That’s it for this week’s show. If you are enjoying the Löw Tide Böyz, be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast player and leave us a five-star review. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast, and on YouTube. You can also follow our meme page on Instagram. Email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback and/or suggestions. Finally, you can support our efforts on Patreon…if you feel so inclined.

Thanks for listening and see you out there!

-  Chip and Chris

Ark Sports KORP Wetsuit Review

Welcome to Gear Talk! As always, this show is co-hosted by our friends Annie and Brooke from Swimrun Labs.

In this episode we do a deep dive into the Ark Sports KORP Wetsuit. This suit has gotten a lot of attention lately due to Ark deeply discounting the suit by 50% for a week that caused the corner of the internet that cares about Swimrun to freak out. We know that a lot of people purchased these suits so we breakdown all of our thoughts on this amazing piece of kit.

But first, we are unveiling a new segment...

Untethered Thoughts

We got a great email from Jasper from Belgium with some feedback about our winter open water swimming AND our swim paddles episodes. We really appreciated him taking the time to write to us and that inspired us to create this segment.

Jasper (who has a PhD in physiology) wrote to us to clear up that the reason that people tend to pee more when it’s cold is that kidneys are flushing fluid out in order to release pressure from your system to send blood to your core to keep your organs warm. Hence, you can get more dehydrated in cold water so make sure that you’re on top of your hydration all the time, but definitely during cold events.

Jasper also had some feedback on some swim paddle testing that he did and had some interesting findings. He found that if he shortened the distance from the tip of the swim paddle to the tip of his fingers that this made his swim times be faster with less shoulder strain. It totally makes sense that if you shorten the lever arm (length of the arm with paddles) that this reduces the torque on the shoulder. If your paddles have extra holes for straps, try to moving them so that your fingertips are closer to the edge of the paddles and see if that works for you. 

Thank you again Jasper!

Reach out to us if you have anything that you’d like to share with us to be part of this new segment. 

New Gear First Impressions

We have two items to discuss this week. 

Chipper and Chris got the NU Orza Pull Buoy courtesy of The Swimrun Labs. This pull buoy is comparable in size with the new Ark Sport Keel s and comes with a pre-drilled hole and a yellow paracord for mounting. We’re excited to check it out and do a full review on a future episode.

Chipper and Chris also got a special delivery from Frank Paddle a few weeks back with two sets of carbon fiber swim paddles to test. Their first impressions are that these things are incredible! A full review will be coming out soon. If you want to learn more about these paddles in the meantime, check out episode 50 of the podcast with Frank Paddle’s founder, Fredrik Bengtsson.

Finally, Annie was recently contacted by a couple of companies that are designing Swimrun-specific undergarments for women. Handful (that’s the name of the company) sent over some prototypes for the ladies to test and Innovenia reached out for some customer feedback. Here is the survey link for the Innovenia research. 

Announcements

Chipper and Chris were in the garage where most of the show ideas seem to be born and they came up with the idea to create a “Swimrun Swapmeet” on FB. This is a forum for people that are looking for Swimrun gear to buy, sell or trade. So if anyone got one of the KORP suits on faith but the sizing didn’t work out, we have a place for you to try to trade it. Join the Swimru Swap Meet today! 

The Wetsuit Details from Ark Sports

Ark Sports describes the KORP as “the optimal all-round” wetsuit. Their website states that “the suit is designed to cover the whole spectra of swimrun races, from shorter sprints to longer full-day adventures. This suit is designed for the athlete who prefers a lightweight and flexible suit where comfort is key.”

The KORP is Ark’s entry-level option but the suit is packed with tech. The suit has the following features:

• Premium Yamamoto LIMESTONE neoprene
• Low weight
• Scratch-resistant surface
• Running+
• Master buoyancy belt - 3 mm
• Anti-leak neck
• UltraFlex inner liner
• Back pocket with zipper closure
• Separate arm sleeves included

A medium-size suit weighs in at a ridiculously light 550 grams (19.4 ounces).

Running Impressions

Running in the KORP is a dream! This “Gen2” wetsuit (a wetsuit little to no neoprene below the waist) like the rest of the Ark Sports suits designed by Daniel Sand, is optimized for running. You can learn more about Daniel on episode 53 of the podcast. The bottom of the suit uses Ark’s Running + fabric that is great to run in and comparable to the Running ++ fabric that Ark uses on the UTÖ and the VIGG. The neoprene on the top of the suit is thin and comfortable to run in.

Chipper and Chris took the KORP on a hilly trail run. Cabbing up and down was not a problem at all. Chris thought that the neckline wasn’t as comfortable as the VIGG suit.

Swimming Impressions

Chris and Chipper tested a suit in the pool. They both thought that the suit was comfortable to swim in. There was some water that got in through the neck closure and pooled in the lower back but that might be mitigated by making sure that the neckline is sealed right. More testing is required.

Brooke tested the suit in open water and did have an issue with the neck seal and had some water pool in her lower back while swimming. She didn’t have any discomfort with the neck closure that Chris and Chipper experienced.

This suit felt a little more durable than other Ark Suits that we’ve tested. (Check out our review of the Ark Sports ORNÖ)

Transition Impressions

The KORP cabs down and up easily and transitions shouldn’t be an issue with this suit. We did have some questions about the placement of the zipper on the back pocket. We thought that it could have been better to either move the zipper to one side or the other or stick to the flap pockets that other Ark suits employ.

Pull Buoy Rankings Rankings

Brooke 4 Pull Buoys

Brooke thought that there is some room for improvement with the suit. She plans on racing in the suit this year. She knocked off some points for the neckline seal issues and for Ark’s “no returns” policy.

Chipper 4.5 Pull Buoys

Chipper thought that for the price point, this suit is good for everyone from beginners to advanced. The suit is durable, comes with separate arm sleeves, and versatile enough to be used in most races.

Chris 4 Pull Buoys

Chris gave the KORP 4 pull buoys but wants to give it 4.5 buoys if he can solve the neckline discomfort. Overall, this is an amazing suit that checks off a lot of boxes. He plans on training in it and maybe racing in it depending on the event.

Overall Impressions

If you’re looking for an entry-level wetsuit to use in a variety of training and racing conditions then look no further than the Ark Sport KORP. This suit packs in a lot of tech for the price point and won’t be obsolete anytime soon.

That’s it for this week’s Gear Talk show. If you are enjoying the Löw Tide Böyz, please be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast player. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, and Google Podcast. You can also follow our meme page on Instagram. Email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback, suggestions, and/or meme ideas. Finally, you can also support us on Patreon…if you feel so inclined. 

Welcome to episode fifty-five of the Low Tide Boyz - A Swimrun Podcast!

We have one of the legends of the sport on the show this week. We are super stoked to share our interview with 5-time ÖTILLÖ World Champion Annika Ericsson. We loved having this conversation and think that you’ll enjoy listening to it.

More on this important conversation later in the show.

Shoutouts

This week we’re shouting out a newish listener, Tad Derrick. He’s been going through our back catalog of shows and we really appreciated this feedback on the show. Hope to see you at a Swimrun at some point dude!

Adventure Time/Training Updates

We’re going back out to Lake Sonoma soon with our suits on to literally test the waters so we’ll hopefully have one Swimrun loop course mapped out before exploring other parts of the lake for maybe a longer point-to-point style course.

In training news, Chipper has been loving his Peloton treadmill and has been putting in some good work on that thing. Chris is still on his bullshit and putting in a lot of volume.

Feats of Endurance

The Feats are back! That means that everyone in our Strava Club is eligible to win a very prestigious weekly award (of a bumper sticker) and our enduring adoration. This week’s winner is Christian Gotz of Munich Germany. Last week he did not one, not two, but three frigid open water swims in the Karlsfelder Lake outside of Munich. We were definitely impressed! Keep up the good work Christian and try not to lose any appendages out there. 

This Week in Swimrun (Powered by Raceid.com)

We have a few race updates to share this week.

Breca Swimrun’s Jersey race is set for September 4, 2021. They’ve only opened up registration for the Sprint Course and plan to open the full course at a later date based on the progress of the UK vaccination programs and easing of restrictions for group events. This course looks awesome and we’re definitely going to make it out to that event at some point. Listeners can check out Breca Swimrun’s provisional 2021 race calendar for the rest of their events.

Another race on our long bucket list, Swimrun Costa Brava, has announced its 2021 race date for April 24, 2021. If you’re in Spain or can travel to Spain we would definitely recommend this race just from the photos alone.

That’s it for this week. Feel free to email us to tip us off to any events or Swimrun news that you’d like for us to share on the show.

Updates

We urge everyone to check out Adam Skolnick’s new story in the New York Times about how a group of Nepalese Sherpas climbed K2, one of the most treacherous climbs in the world. Adam was our guest on Episode 28 of the show and an all-around awesome dude.

We’ve been thinking about making some hats for our swag shop. Let us know if that’s something that you might be interested in since our wives are already flush with LTBz gear and we don’t think that they want 10 hats to wear. Send us a DM with a thumbs up or down vote. 

This Week’s Interview

As we mentioned at the beginning of the show, we were super stoked to be able to chat with Annika Ericsson and share her story with our listeners. It’s safe to say that she’s in the pantheon of Swimrun legends and we really enjoyed getting to know her a bit in this interview. 

In this conversation, we chatted about her elite athletic background, how she competed in the Swedish Classics events, and ultimately found Swimrun. We discussed her first experience racing the ÖTILLÖ World Championship and how she fell in love with the race, and what it’s like to not only have won ÖTILLÖ 5 times in both the mixed and women’s category but also owns the record for the fastest Women’s finishing time with her partner Kristin Larsson set in 2016. Finally, we chatted about the importance of having a good race partner and how to train for something like the World Championship while balancing family, work, and life in general.

We covered a lot of ground in this interview and really appreciate Annika taking the time to speak with us. You can follow Annika on Instagram here.

That’s it for this week’s show. If you are enjoying the Löw Tide Böyz, please be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast player and leave us a five-star review. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, and Google Podcast. You can also follow our meme page on Instagram. Email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback and/or suggestions. Finally, you can support us on Patreon…if you feel so inclined.

Welcome to episode forty-nine of the Low Tide Boyz - A Swimrun Podcast!

In this week’s episode, we have a long-time friend of the show who we were lucky enough to meet in Catalina: Helen Wikmar. She was a previous guest way back on Episode 9 of the podcast and then again on our ÖTILLÖ Engadin Course Preview episode. It was great to have her back on the show to talk about her story and how she’s perpetually building community in her hometown of Gothenburg, Sweden. 

More on this later in the show.

Adventure Time!

With COVID restrictions about to be reinstituted in Northern California, we are a bit worried that state parks will be officially “closed.” Chris has come up with a rough map for the first test exploration at Lake Sonoma and hopefully, we will be able to get out there and see what happens.

Shoutouts

This week we’re shouting out Joseph Dickinson. He’s been a listener of the show for a while and he’s always been great about giving us feedback which we really appreciate. We hope to see you out a race in 2021.

This Week in Swimrun (Powered by Raceid.com)

We didn’t hear about any new events taking place this past week other than another cold day at the Hellas Frostbite Swimrun. It doesn’t look like it was any warmer this week.

In other news, if you’re interested in checking out Finland and score some ÖTILLÖ merit points in the process, the Folkhälsan Swimrun just opened registration (on Raceid.com) for next year’s event to be held on September 18, 2021. The race looks dope with three distances available and team and solo categories for those interested in that sort of thing.

Our friends Fanny and Desirée’s Champions Christmas Challenge is on its second week. The social media photo theme for this week is animals so post up your workout pics in your best leopard print tights, bunny ears, butterfly wings, or whatever to have a chance to win some awesome prizes.

Updates

Our latest episode of Gear Talk where we chat with the ladies from The Swimrun Labs about the essentials for cold open water swimming is out now! We recommend checking it out while sipping on some hot tea or cocoa.

No other big updates this week, just a programming alert. We will be taking a week off from the show (we mean it this time!) the last week in December and will be back with our normal schedule programming in 2021. We may throw in some bonus content that week but that’s TBD.

This Week’s Interview

It was great to get to chat with Helen Wikmar to hear her story. For those who don’t know who she is, Helen is a mother of 3, Head of Operations at Ark Sports, and just happens to be a bad ass Swimrunner and one of the sport’s best ambassadors. She’s also super cool so there’s that.

In this interview we chatted with her about her athletic origin story after starting a family, how she met and teamed up with her racing partner Isabella Hedberg, and how she builds community wherever she goes. This was a fun one and we think that you will enjoy this conversation.

You can (and should) follow Helen on Instagram.

That’s it for this week’s show. If you are enjoying the Löw Tide Böyz, please be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast player and leave us a five-star review. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, and Google Podcast. You can also follow our meme page on Instagram. Email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback and/or suggestions. Finally, you can support us on Patreon…if you feel so inclined.

Welcome to the (newly named) Gear Talk: The Löw Tide Böyz and Swimrun Labs review show!

In this episode, we do a deep dive into the Ark Sports ORNÖ 02 Swimrun wetsuit.

We’ve talked about Ark Sports a lot on Gear Talk and we’re stoked to take a closer look at the ORNÖ 02 suit. Both Chipper and Annie have used the ORNÖ 02 in training and racing so we get their perspective on the suit while Brooke and Chris peppered them with questions. We were first introduced to Ark Sports when we interviewed the co-founder, Christofer Sundberg for the podcast back in February 2020.

Wetsuit Details from Ark Sports

The ORNÖ is Ark Sport’s “flagship suit” and it has been tested and trusted by the world’s best swimrun athletes since they launched it in 2017. Ark Sports describes the suit as “a stripped racer with no unnecessary additions. Designed with the single purpose of making you move as smoothly and quickly as possible even through the hardest conditions.” 

The suit boasts the following features: 

• Premium Yamamoto LIMESTONE neoprene 
• Low weight
• Running+ (the material of the bottom half of the suit)
• Master buoyancy belt - 4 mm AIR
• Anti-leak construction - total
• UltraFlex inner liner
• Glide skin coating

The suit comes in Men’s and Women’s specific cuts and costs $480. It includes removable arm sleeves and a whistle can be purchased separately. The size chart on the Ark Sports site is very detailed and both Annie and Chipper we’re able to dial in the right size easily.

Swimming Impressions

Annie loved swimming in the suit. She was expecting it to not be a cold-water suit but because the suit locks out water so well it worked well in a variety of conditions. The removable sleeves also worked really well despite how thin the neoprene was. Similarly, Chipper loved swimming in the suit and echoed Annie’s experience of the suit sealing out water.

The shoulder material in the suit is very thin and allows for full range of motion. Chipper felt like the suit was like a second skin in the water. The lower half of suit which is a different material that the top half didn’t result in feeling cold and was a non-issue.

One negative of the suit is how delicate it is. Annie has been using the suit a lot (over 17 times) and she’s gotten several holes in the suit in the anterior shoulders, on the hip seam and in the back of the neck. Chipper’s suit is just starting to get some small tears in the armpit area. 

Annie and Chipper both recommended pairing it with a large swimrun pull buoy to address the lack of buoyancy in the lower half of the suit, which is very minimal and designed for ultimate running mobility…which we will discuss below. They weren’t sure if buoyancy would be an issue if swimrunners are not using a large pull buoy.

Overall, the suit performs exceptionally well in the water. The suit looks great but it has a low safety score because of the color. The suit doesn’t come with a whistle but you can get one for an extra $10. While durability is an issue, it is a very well-engineered wetsuit designed specifically for Swimrun.

Running Impressions

The ORNÖ 02 performed amazingly during runs. As mentioned above, the lower half of the suit uses a material that Ark Sports calls “Running+” that is a spandex material with some thin neoprene with nylon backing that doesn’t absorb water.

Running in this suit was “hands down the best running suit” that Chipper has used. The suit doesn’t hold water and is super light. Annie also felt that the suit was great for running. Chipper hasn’t cabbed down (lowered the top half of the suit for runs) as often as Annie has and it appears that the tearing issues started as a result of excessive cabbing down and up.

One potential negative is that the suit has zero storage. While the new Utö suit, Korp and Vigg suits have a back pocket, the ORNÖ 02 requires you to either wear an undershirt with storage or have some other external storage solution. This might be okay for a race with ample energy stations but it’s an issue for longer self-supported Swimrun adventures.

Annie’s Pull Buoy Ranking

For racing, Annie gave the ORNÖ 4.5 pull buoys. It works exceptionally well for racing and she docked a half a pull buoy for lack of any storage. For “everyday” or overall use, she gave it 4 pull buoys mostly because of the lack of durability.

Chipper’s Pull Buoy Ranking

Chipper thought this was the best suit that he’s tried and even seen. He gave it 4.5 pull buoys because of the lack of durability and storage.

Overall Impressions

Annie and Chipper both agree that this suit will result in a performance advantage for anyone that uses it. This is a great race suit but given how delicate the suit is, it’s not be the best suit for everyday training and potentially worth have another suit that is primarily for training and save the ORNÖ 02 for race day. Annie recommends getting some Aquaseal + Neo Neoprene Contact Cement to fix any tears that might happen from training or racing in the suit. 

Chipper’s favorite feature of the suits are the running+ leg material and the flexibility in the shoulders coupled with the removeable arm sleeves. Annie’s favorite feature was the running+ material and the fit of the suit along with how great the suit looks. Some suggestions for improvement that Chipper and Annie had would be to include some sort of pocket for storage and include the whistle. They would also like to see better material for the Velcro to seal the neck of the suit.

Overall, Ark Sports really changed the game by creating a suit that is now imitated by several of the other brands in the sport. It’s an amazing piece of technology. It’s also very cool that Ark Sports has a demo/rental program in collaboration with Ötillö events.

That’s it for this week’s Gear Talk show. If you are enjoying the Löw Tide Böyz, please be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast player. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify and Google Podcast. You can also follow our meme page on Instagram and on Twitter. Email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback, suggestions and/or meme suggestions. Finally, you can also support us on Patreon…if you feel so inclined. 

Welcome to our second Low Tide Boyz swrimrun gear review show! This week we are reviewing the Ark Sports Keel Pull Buoy. This review was co-hosted by our friends at Swimrun Labs and we think that you will enjoy this review as we left no stone unturned for this one.

We first learned about the Keel while researching swimrun brands to interview for show and quickly became obsessed with this pull buoy once we bought one a put it through its paces. Ark Sports is a great company that we are really rooting for. If you want to learn more about Ark Sports, check out Episode 7 on our podcast where we interview the co-founder of Ark Sports, Christofer Sundberg. 

The Pull Buoy

By way of introduction, Ötillö rules state that the maximum size that a pull buoy can be to be “legal” for any race is 32 cm x 30 cm x 15 cm. You can even use more than one pull buoy but the total size needs to be the same.

The Ark Sports Keel Pull Buoy comes in at 28 cm x 26 cm x 12 cm. It costs 45 Euros or 50 dollars plus shipping to the U.S. from Sweden. (Ark Sports is currently working on setting up U.S. distribution so the shipping costs will come down in the near future.)

According to the Ark Sports website, the Keel was developed and optimized by the world’s best swimrun athletes and the swimrun community. Its distinctive shape claims to minimize drag and maximize floatation in order for you to move as fast as possible through water. 

The pull buoy is made of EVA foam provides massive floatation with a rating of 46.1 Newtons. (The force of gravity on Planet Earth is only 9.8 Newtons.) Needless to say…this pull buoy really floats!

The Test

We all tested the buoy extensively in training and raced with the Keel.

The Swim Review 

Have we mentioned that this pull buoy is super buoyant? So buoyant that you want to be careful in the water because if you’re not bracing yourself, you could flip over in the water. The Low Tide Boyz tested the Keel with other pull buoys in the pool it was pretty clear that the Keel was faster than the Ark Sports Pontoon, the Roka Pro Swim pull buoy and a TYR Swim Float buoy by about 5 seconds per 100 yards (this was not a super scientific study). 

The ladies of Swimrun Labs also put the Keel to the test in a much more controlled trial…that took five days…where they tested 4 types of pull buoys and 1 calf flotation device and found that the Keel was the fastest option. (You can see the results of their study here.) They also found that the Keel was a great leveling agent because it put you in an optimal position for swimming. They experienced some chaffing from the shape of the buoy and the girth of the buoy did require some adductor work to keep the buoy in place. This appeared to be mitigated by using the lasso system to keep the pull buoy in place.

The Transition Review

Swim to Run: 

This was mostly a non-issue with the Keel. Due to the massive floatation we all recommended making sure your bracing yourself as you come out of the water because the Keel will explode out of the water to the surface and that can be interesting if you’re not ready for it. The shape of the buoy was also conducive to placing it on the hip or back depending on a swimrunner’s preference. 

Run to Swim: 

This transition was a bit more complicated. Given the buoyancy of the Keel, it was important to make sure that we were ready to enter the water and start swimming because if not the pull buoy would affect entry into the water. In effect, you have to drown the pull buoy to place it between your thighs if you already waded into the water before being set to swim. Getting horizontal immediately is the best way to get going without having the buoyancy affect you. One point of note is that since the pull buoy is asymmetrical you want to make sure that it’s point the right direction.

The big zoom out is to get to know how the pull buoy acts in the water because it requires a bit of practice to understand how it works.

The Run Review

Running with the Keel takes some forethought. If you’re using the thigh attachment method, it could cause problems on really technical trails getting caught on branches and brush. The lasso/back method resolves that problem, but It takes some getting used to as well. The material of the pull buoy doesn’t slide around and stays in place which is nice.

Low Tide Boyz’z Rankings

Chipper: 4.5 Pull Buoys

Chipper thinks that the Keel is the gold standard of swimrun pull buoys. It looks good and it durable. He docked some points for the cost and for training with the Keel to make sure that you know how to wield it by the time race day comes around.

Chris: 4.5 Pull Buoys

Chris loved the Keel but docked some points for the cost and the fit. It’s not as comfortable as it could be due to the design. That being said, this pull buoy does make you faster. Similar to how the Nike 4% running shoes essentially make you faster (if you know how to run in them) over the marathon distance due to the technology on board, the Keel pull buoy will make you faster in the water. 

Swimrun Labs’s Rankings

Annie: 4.5 Pull Buoys

Annie thought that the Keel is a super powerful pull buoy, that looks cool and increases performance. She docked it .5 pull buoys because of those slightly overdesigned elements that could lead to some discomfort for certain body types.

Brooke: 4 Pull Buoys

Brooke agreed with Annie’s take on the Keel. She arrived at 4 pull buoys by docking .5 pull buoy lost for being overdesigned and another .5 for the cost of the Keel. It’s a little cost prohibitive for people getting first into swimrun when you include shipping from Sweden. All that being said, the performance gains offered by the Keel in the water are undeniable.

Overall Impressions

Overall, we would definitely recommend the Arksports Keel Pull Buoy. It’s pricey but it checks off all the boxes for what a swimrun pull buoy should provide. While it might be slightly overdesigned and not as comfortable as it could be, it’s still an amazing piece of swimming technology. Not only will it literally make you faster in the water, you’re supporting a great brand that is synonymous with the sport of swimrun.

Welcome to episode seven of the Low Tide Boyz,a Swimrun Podcast!

We are beyond thrilled to have Christofer Sundberg, a swimrunner and Co-founder of Ark Sports on the show this week. More on this later!

We’re just a few days away from the Ötillö Catalina race and we’re ready for some fun! Our training went as well as could be expected but we’re definitely stoked to finally race an Ötillö event and meet so many people that have become fans of the show.

We also wanted to give a special shout out to @westcoastswimrun, @swimrunlabs and @this_is_trista for sharing DIY pro-tips for pull buoys and swim paddles. We love getting and sharing this content so tag us and we’ll make sure to spread the word.

Now back to this week’s interview! This is the first time that we’ve had a gear and apparel manufacturer on the show and we think that you’ll enjoy this interview about Christopher’s personal journey and how swimrun literally changed his life for the better. He worked in the video game space since 92 and started his own company, Avalanche Studios in 2003. He co-founded Ark Sports with Dennis Blomberg and Daniel Sand in 2017. Ark Sports is a title sponsor of Ötillö and they just recently announced their entrance into the U.S. market. You can read the press release here. 

After a near-drowning accident as a child and a slew of swimming schools later, Christofer signed up for a swimrun event in 2014 and was hooked on the sport ever since. It was only a few years later that he co-founded Ark Sports. As swimrun became his obsession, he learned that Dennis and Daniel were leaving Head Swimming in Sweden and they started getting their heads together in 2017 with the idea of why there wasn’t any swimrun equipment being manufacturered in Sweden using feedback from the athletes. After they developed their first prototype suits and the two teams that wore the new suits won the World Championship that year! The men’s team of Jesper Svensson and Daniel Hansson won AND broke the world record and the women’s team of Kristin Larsson and Annika Ericsson won by over 45 minutes over the next women’s team. Overnight the Ark Sports became “a company.”

Every product that Ark Sports goes through many levels of iteration and they are working to try to be as environmentally-friendly as they can, including the use of Yamamoto limestone-based neoprene. There is still a long way to go but Ark is constantly looking into new materials that could work for swimrun. For example, the Ark Pontoon pull buoy and hand paddles are made from recycled plastic and manufactured in Sweden.

When Ark got the opportunity to become a partner of the Ötillö Series, things really took off for the brand. Now they offer a wetsuit rental program at every race in the series where folks can rent a suit and then buy one at a reduced price if they end up loving the suit. This is a great way to reduce the barrier to entry to the sport. (Note: the rental program at the Catalina race is fully subscribed!)

Looking to the future, Christofer wants to grow Ark Sports to take on triathlon and the OCR markets and position the brand to grow both in endurance sports and with lifestyle products. A lot of people want to be associated with the brand and their personal touch when they meet with athletes has developed a lot of trust with their users and it’s become a cool brand to be wearing. (We agree!)

If you are going to be in Catalina for the race, make sure to stop by to meet the Ark Sports crew and check out their line of products and pick up a pull buoy or three.

That’s it for this week’s show. If you are enjoying the 

Low Tide Boyz

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Apple Podcast, Spotify and Google Podcast. You can also follow along on Instagram and Twitter. You can also support us on Patreon, if you are so inclined. If you want to drop us a line, email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com

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