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In 1951, when the only fins available were those with straps that hurt your heels terribly, Ferraro organised the first fin-swimming competition in the sea. This involved crossing the coast off Genoa from the Lido to Nervi in four legs, with the last leg taking place at night. Each participant had a waterproof electric torch attached to their rubber cap and the finishing line was a sea cliff that was entirely lit by fire fighters' floodlights.
A few years later, in 1955, he organised an event in collaboration with Ancona's International Fishing Fair. This was called "100 Km along the Adriatic Sea". It was similar to the Giro d'Italia, but instead of having the cyclists' bicycles we had the swimmers' fins. It was a relay race with different stages, which took place along the shore between Rimini and Ancona and lasted eight days. The average distance between each stage was 10 Kilometres. The last stage, which was only one Kilometre long, involved all athletes competing at once and took place during the night in the water mirror facing the Fair, lit up like daylight by reflectors.
The same competition took place on 6 different occasions. However, the "100 Km along the Adriatic Sea" gradually acquired more popularity with the media who were attracted by the great ensemble of boats and ships that followed the swimmers in the sea and by the crowd that was crammed on the departing and arrival piers and along the beaches.
By the time that the“100 Km" competition was abandoned due to organisational issues, Fin-swimming gained enough popularity and the maturity required to be considered a sports' speciality in every respect, as Ferraro predicted.
In the meanwhile, the first Italian Championship was organised in 1957 and, in 1960 the first World Championship took place in Palermo, in the sea. Nowadays, Fin-swimming is recognised as a sport by the CIO.
In 1971, there was a veritable revolution in Fin-swimming, brought about by the introduction of a new swimming device: the monofin. This is a single fin made of various materials, which enables improved performance compared to the traditional bi-fins. After only a few years since its existence, in 1979 all world records were broken with the use of the monofin.
However, this caused a socio-economic issue: in order to enter a competition a fin-swimmer had to use the monofin, which, despite its benefits, was particularly expensive and was not accessible to everyone. As a result, many skilled athletes did not take part in the races as they did not have the appropriate equipment. From 2006 the CMAS, on the initiative of Achille Ferrero, added a "bi-fins" category to the competitive disciplines of Fin-swimming, so that less wealthy swimmers could compete using more economical equipment. This was named the “Luigi Ferraro Cup", in honour of the man who devoted himself to the affirmation of the fin and to its development.
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