morning all. to be clear - i work at blueseventy and we've been as busy as bees here at rubber towers and missed this thread. so, to get going here:
- sizes: the suits are fairly tight but true to size. we don't have the T sizes. fyi norman stadler and bryan rhodes were SM's. desiree ficker was a WS. simon lessing wears an M given his height. if you're on the taller side you'll stretch the fabric a bit tighter width ways and since an SMT is an SM width with an M height, i'd probably trend toward an M. ideally...go to a store and try one on
- approvals: the pointzero3 is approved by the USAT and some other national bodies. races that fall under USAT juristiction or adopt their rules, like most WTC races, allow use of the pointzero3. we did not seek appoval from the ITU because of the rulings about racing the the suit the whole way - it's the same rule that means fastskins aren't as helpful. the pointzero3 is a swimskin only and as jamie says, you'll cook in it out of water. fyian example of an exception would be ironman japan with falls under the JTU, which defers to the ITU.
- buoyancy: the speed of the swimskin comes from 3 things;
1) the surface coating is the same that's on a wetsuit and it's very slick. it has a lower coefficient of friction than swim and other swimskins which means it cuts through the water with less resistance
2) it doesn't sink. it's not buoyant either but it's right on the limit. simply, it wont make you float but wont make you sink
3) the cut of the suit is based of our wetsuit technology, and this is often overlooked as a big factor on the suit performance. a swimskin is swimwear...not clothing, and the seamlines that work are different from those in clothing. we don't have to worry about how the suit feels or pulls when walking, but dial it in for swimming. the pointzero3 is based off the award winning helix whereas the zoot swimskin that was also at hawaii had some seamline placements that looked great for clothing...but we questioned for swimming. the 2XU suit is a combo suit and operates as clothing as well as a skin, but it's using a much stretchier fabric for the most part. if a suit is all (or nearly all) mod-tec, then those seamlines have to be right
- we've said this before, but a lot of our testing is real world. that means we give pointzero3's to karen smyers and dede griesbauer before hawaii and they go to the pool, swim, time and choose what works. of all the athletes out there, we're happy to get them a pointzero3 and get them to work out if it's the fastest thing out there. it's a safe bet on our part. but...it's only for swimming. for usage all day in the race...see jamie and 2XU
- back to races; it's frustrating that there's no general rule that most people adopt like "if it doesn't float or act as a propulsion device, then it's fine" - it would make things a lot easier. FINA's rules are very unclear and say that if a suit acts as a buoyancy aid or improves your speed then it's not allowed. if that's the case...then ALL fastskins break the rules as they all make you faster. there needs to be an update in the rules and hopefully we'll lobby hard enough to see that. as for which race does/doesn't allow the suits....call the race director and ask. it's the safest way.
lastly - slowtwitch is great. we get quiet times and trawl through sometimes. but if there are questions out there...call us. or email. or pop in. we're in seattle, it's actually sunny (and supposedly hitting 78 today!!!) +1 206 632 1994 is the number and ihaveaquestion@blueseventy.com is a good mail address to use.
hope that helps
tim
Tim
blue seventy / nuun / digitaltriathlon.com
- sizes: the suits are fairly tight but true to size. we don't have the T sizes. fyi norman stadler and bryan rhodes were SM's. desiree ficker was a WS. simon lessing wears an M given his height. if you're on the taller side you'll stretch the fabric a bit tighter width ways and since an SMT is an SM width with an M height, i'd probably trend toward an M. ideally...go to a store and try one on
- approvals: the pointzero3 is approved by the USAT and some other national bodies. races that fall under USAT juristiction or adopt their rules, like most WTC races, allow use of the pointzero3. we did not seek appoval from the ITU because of the rulings about racing the the suit the whole way - it's the same rule that means fastskins aren't as helpful. the pointzero3 is a swimskin only and as jamie says, you'll cook in it out of water. fyian example of an exception would be ironman japan with falls under the JTU, which defers to the ITU.
- buoyancy: the speed of the swimskin comes from 3 things;
1) the surface coating is the same that's on a wetsuit and it's very slick. it has a lower coefficient of friction than swim and other swimskins which means it cuts through the water with less resistance
2) it doesn't sink. it's not buoyant either but it's right on the limit. simply, it wont make you float but wont make you sink
3) the cut of the suit is based of our wetsuit technology, and this is often overlooked as a big factor on the suit performance. a swimskin is swimwear...not clothing, and the seamlines that work are different from those in clothing. we don't have to worry about how the suit feels or pulls when walking, but dial it in for swimming. the pointzero3 is based off the award winning helix whereas the zoot swimskin that was also at hawaii had some seamline placements that looked great for clothing...but we questioned for swimming. the 2XU suit is a combo suit and operates as clothing as well as a skin, but it's using a much stretchier fabric for the most part. if a suit is all (or nearly all) mod-tec, then those seamlines have to be right
- we've said this before, but a lot of our testing is real world. that means we give pointzero3's to karen smyers and dede griesbauer before hawaii and they go to the pool, swim, time and choose what works. of all the athletes out there, we're happy to get them a pointzero3 and get them to work out if it's the fastest thing out there. it's a safe bet on our part. but...it's only for swimming. for usage all day in the race...see jamie and 2XU
- back to races; it's frustrating that there's no general rule that most people adopt like "if it doesn't float or act as a propulsion device, then it's fine" - it would make things a lot easier. FINA's rules are very unclear and say that if a suit acts as a buoyancy aid or improves your speed then it's not allowed. if that's the case...then ALL fastskins break the rules as they all make you faster. there needs to be an update in the rules and hopefully we'll lobby hard enough to see that. as for which race does/doesn't allow the suits....call the race director and ask. it's the safest way.
lastly - slowtwitch is great. we get quiet times and trawl through sometimes. but if there are questions out there...call us. or email. or pop in. we're in seattle, it's actually sunny (and supposedly hitting 78 today!!!) +1 206 632 1994 is the number and ihaveaquestion@blueseventy.com is a good mail address to use.
hope that helps
tim
Tim
blue seventy / nuun / digitaltriathlon.com