Shambolic wrote:
Always agreed with your theory but always swum with a swim skim as I had bought one and FOMO always stopped me from not wearing it. The first time I couldn't wear a wetsuit in a race was at Kona and me and a girl who both had the same coach pretty much always swum the same times in races we did with wetsuits and our coach being a top swimmer said they were no advantage and advised her not to buy or wear one. At the open water race the week before the race I was wearing my swim skin and she wore her sleeveless tri suit. I think she beat me by around 30 seconds and for the actual race I beat her time by about 30 seconds. This was a couple of years ago before sleeved swim skins and I had my sleeved tri suit rolled down under my swim skin for the race before the rules changed.
Anyways the point I'm trying to make is that over Ironman distance there was no significant gain or proof that a swim skin was faster based on we always swum times with the same sort of difference.
Personally I think the whole hydrophobic material selling point is a load of crap. Someone may correct me but it's my understanding the current swimming rules came in about what dimensions swimmers suits are able to be worn, at the same time swimming suits which had buoyancy and swimmers often wore multiple suits were banned. The advantage was the buoyancy in the suits. As I say feel free to correct me but curious if this was the case and if swim skins are just another con to part a triathlete from their money.
I would love to see people do more research and collect more data so they can make more informed decision instead of just believing everything that is marketed at them. I personally have had conversations with Matt Hanson, Cody Beals, Lionel Sanders, and Trevor Wuertele early last year (April). After Ironman Texas 70.3 and before I really got cemented on the idea that swim skins were slow for me in racing. A few more races really cemented it for me. My science won't pass any sort of peer review, but I dedicated 8 day to it and lots of lots of 800s and for the time being I can't see myself wearing a swim skin that is available today.
The old neoprene skins were fast, my Xterra X.002 is the fastest suit I have ever tested personally. There have been some threads in the last year that touched on why my results may show what they do. Someone mentioned the water between the two layers of fabric. My own personal thought is that a second swim skin at the very least is going to add girth to your body, after all it is material and makes you a bit wider without materially changing your shape. I am not sure what that equates to and I am sure someone could calculate it but that is my theory where some drag exists. Swim skins were faster when I tested a sleeved trisuit that is one of those two piece, one piece suits with the flap at the middle to allow easy number #1.
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