Whitewater fin swimming world championships, Master category (over 40 years old), Carry-le-Rouet (Bouches-du-Rhône), September 2024. Impossible to miss the opportunity to measure yourself, in France, against the 500 best international events for the swimmers of the Morlaix-Plouezoc’h Underwater Group (GSMP)! Among them, Philippe Messager, 71 years old, around a hundred competitors in the fins, and four other swimmers from the club, who competed for the first time in this world meeting, near Marseille. In water at 14°C – the fault of the mistral – then returned to 21°C: it is still the Mediterranean, “without the constraint of the tides”.
For this first, the GSMP has nothing to be ashamed of. The mixed relay team, French champion in the discipline since June, finished at the foot of the podium, “with a chocolate medal, but that’s already extraordinary”. And individually, everyone ranked in the first twelve places.
Philippe, Dorothée, Ronan and Michèle, swimmers in the mixed 4×1000 m swimming relay with fins, have a combined age of 250 years between them: this is what determines the competition category for these reigning 2024 French champions, who came 4th at the Worlds. (Photo GSMP)
“The older you get, the fewer competitors there are!” »
But it was in Master 5 (over 70 years old) that Philippe Messager distinguished himself by becoming double monofin world champion over 1,000 and 3,000 m. “These are races where, even by swimming at the cleat without seeing the competitors,” he explains, “you finish in a sprint with only a few seconds of difference, because the resistance of the water increases with speed: the more you swim faster, the more you are slowed down. »
“But the older you get, and therefore in category, the fewer competitors there are: it’s obviously easier to win a title! », laughs the double world champion. Who was “alone of [sa] category in the 1,000 m therefore automatically winner, and first of two in the 3,000 m.” Which does not detract from the performance: all categories combined, the Pleyberian is positioned in the middle of the ranking, among swimmers thirty years younger than him.
Monofin pioneers
It was after his meeting in Térénez, in 1979, with Jean Le Bihan, founder of the GSPM, that Philippe Messager who, “as a kid, didn’t like sport” found his way into whitewater swimming at the age of 25 . Since then, in parallel with his work as a veterinarian in Pleyber-Christ, he has “always practiced swimming with fins continuously”. First with bifins, until he discovered monofins at the age of 35 thanks to freediving. “It was an extraordinary tool for the sensation of gliding and economy of movement: only the pelvis moves in an undulating movement to move forward. »
We made our monofins by cutting printed circuit boards from which we had removed the components, before gluing slippers from other fins on them.
“At the beginning,” he remembers, “we were pioneers, we couldn’t find the equipment. So we made our monofins by cutting printed circuit boards from which we had removed the components, before gluing slippers from other fins on them. »
The times and the equipment have changed, but not the passion to share. As an instructor within the club, Philippe Messager takes care of “beginners, rather adults, and those who need corrective action to progress in their style, their efficiency: it’s a challenge that fascinates me. The monofin is very technical, but we see it as a supervisor: if it’s beautiful, supple and fluid, and there are no waves, then it’s effective! »
A gentle sport, ideal for aging well
He also praises, “to those who have lost contact with sport”, the benefits of swimming with fins, accessible to all, which is practiced in a swimming pool or outdoors with accessible equipment (fins and snorkel for less than 100 €). “It’s interesting as a health sport, because it works your cardio and muscles. And the lift of the water makes it a gentle sport, without joint trauma: ideal for maintaining flexibility and aging well, he analyzes. Especially since from the age of 50, swim long distances. distance allows performance to be maintained. This summer I toured Bréhat on a monofin: swimming for two hours and twenty minutes was still a pleasure. »
To train in the open sea, outside the swimming pool slots at La Boissière, the swimmers have as their playground the Barnénez cove, where they have demarcated by three yellow buoys a nautical stadium, “essential in a natural environment to have distance markers”. And “every Sunday, all year round, even in hail or snow”, there are between two and fifteen swimmers, from 14 to 80 years old, who meet for their daily hike in the bay. “In summer, we often swim at Guerzit, but our favorite circuit is the Barnénez loop, which goes around Stérec island from Térénez: it’s our second nautical stadium, our Olympic pool! » It is there, within reach of the palm fronds, their happiness!
Practical
Created in 1961, le GSMP, located in Barnénez in old oyster buildings made available by the town hall of Plouezoc’h, has a fin swimming section, the scuba diving school and the freediving school.
