What Is A Rip Entry? (Why There's No Splash)

What Is A Rip Entry? (Why There's No Splash)

Short Answer

A rip entry is an entry that makes no splash and has a distinct ripping sound.

The name comes from the sound because depending on the diver it makes a short tearing noise, like ripping a sheet of paper, a loud popping noise or a sound similar to a suction/vacuum. 

How A Rip Works

Splash isn't really about how hard you hit. It's about how much water you displace and how violently it comes back together.

When you enter vertically with your arms locked and your body in one narrow line, you make a small hole and the water parts cleanly around you. When you come in at an angle, or with your body wide, you're shoving a much larger volume of water out of the way and it crashes back in behind you.

That's the splash.

But with that said, here's what a good diver is doing above the water:

  • Hands flat and stacked, wrists slightly turned so the palms lead
  • Elbows locked out hard, which takes tricep strength
  • Arms squeezed tight against the head with no space between the ears and the arms
  • Shoulders shrugged up as much as possible
  • Whole body tight and hollow (for front entries), toes pointed.

All of these things either decrease the air you bring down with you, or make your body shape better to keep a smaller initial hole in the water.

The underwater work nobody sees

So no matter what, you're bringing air underwater with you. it would be impossible not to.

And if that air doesn't get spread out quickly, that air sits in one cavity and the surrounding water collapses in on it, which is the main splash.

So the instant the hands hit, a diver breaks them apart and sweeps the arms out sideways, hard and wide, elbows still locked. That pushes the air out to the sides instead of letting it sit in one space. It's called the swim and pike save, and the timing is very difficult to get right.

Watch elite divers on underwater footage and their hands are already apart in the first frame they're under.

At the same time, the hips get pulled down so the feet follow through the same narrow hole the hands made rather than flopping over past it. This is the pike save part.

I go through all of this in detail, including the acronym my old coach used to teach it, in how to get a better diving entry.

How long does it take to learn?

This is a very difficult skill. I go over it in this video below:

Most divers can produce an occasional rip, but getting them consistently, on every dive, from every board, is a years-long project. It takes strength in the shoulders and triceps, timing that has to become automatic, and a lot of drills to get better over time.

That last one is the tip I'd give anyone working on it. the more you practice lineups, and improve your form, the faster you will improve 

You cannot feel your entry accurately from the inside. Get someone to film from under the water and you'll fix things in a week that you'd otherwise chase for a year.

Other things you're probably wondering

- DG

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