To flip or not to flip? (Page 2)

To imply that breathing is the same for swimming as it is for other types of training seems inaccurate to me.  The breathing is one of the hardest parts for new swimmers.  You do have to learn how to breath differently when your face is in the water and your window of opportunity for oxygen is not wide open as it is for training outside water.  Maybe you're not "holding" your breath, but you do need to learn how to control the length of the inhale/exhale.  My point was just that flipping is another way to learn how to control that aspect of the breathing.

You're not breathing freely though. It's very controlled, so you could probably argue it either way. But in our sport that control comes in very handy when we get bumped, swam over, or turn our heads into a wave. Then it's definitely breath holding.

I disagree. My flip turn is joe average for sure, with no special training or refinement (it's probably on the below-average, actually), and I am consistently and significantly faster than people my swim ability who do open turns in masters. It's not just by a hair as well - it's by a full second, so by the time we're through 200 yds (4 lengths), I've opened up several body lengths on them just through the flip turns alone. One the fatigue starts kicking in as well, it becomes an even bigger gap since you can't get too lazy on a flip turn by hanging on the wall compared to an open turn.

Now if you're just starting out and have a horrible and awkward flip turn, yes, that'll definitely be slower than a good open turn, but that's to be expected with newbs to the technique.

It's not crucial, but imo, if you're going 1:50/100yds or below, you would likely find benefits in the flip turn, mainly because you'll be able to keep up with faster swimmers in masters and other group swims. I will admit though that I've swam with speedsters going sub 1:20/100yds for distance who still did open turns. 

I misread - you are (as usual) quite correct.