ZenTriBrett wrote:
dyarab wrote:
Damn. That's nuts.
This may be a stupid question, and the answer is probably obvious... but how does she sight at night? A lead vessel?
You can put glowsticks on the kayak and then swim well off to the side of it. Give the Kayak the bearing and then the swimmer just stays X feet off to the side. We did this swimming across Tahoe starting at 4 am and it worked great. Told the kayak to paddle pretty much due north and I just tracked off the side of the kayak.
Interesting to see the new wetsuit rule. I'm glad for it. As a triathlete, we try to keep our weight down and then suffer in the long cold water swims. But dedicated channel swimmers just fatten up and are essentially wearing a wetsuit anyway. I never liked being penalized for eating healthy and keeping weight down. I'm not quite sure I believe that new rule is real though until I see it in print... "no wetsuits, no matter what" is pretty entrenched in their culture.
Totally agree that OW purists will never accept FINA's new ruling but here is their memo on wetsuits from 11 Jan 2017. I've put the most relevant parts in
bold text for faster reading. FINA only allows wetsuits at temps below 20*C (68*F), which is still pretty cold IMO.
CORNEL MARCULESCU
FINA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
FINA - Avenue de l’Avant-Poste 4
1005 Lausanne, SWITZERLAND
Phone:
Fax:
Email:
+41 21 310 47 10
+41 21 312 66 10
sportsdep@fina.org
MEMORANDUM
TO: All FINA Member Federations
FROM: FINA Office – Lausanne
DATE: 11th January 2017
RE: Wetsuits for Open Water Swimming FINA BL 8.4 & BL 8.5
Dear Sirs,
Reference is made to the latest edition of the FINA rule BL 8, in
particular the rules applicable to the use of wetsuits at FINA Open
Water Swimming Competitions. Please find below the text of related
clauses BL 8.4 and BL 8.5 as approved by the FINA Bureau on August
5th, 2016:
BL 8.4 For open water swimming competitions, with water temperature from 20 C,
swimsuits for both men and women shall not cover the neck, nor extend past the
shoulder, nor extend below the ankle. Subject to these specific shape
specifications, swimsuits for open water swimming competitions shall further
comply with all other requirements applicable to swimsuits for pool swimming
competition.
BL 8.5 From the 1st of January 2017, for open water swimming competitions in
water with temperature below 20 C, men and women may use either swimsuits (BL 8.4) or wetsuits. When the water temperature is below 18 C, the use of wetsuits is compulsory. For the purpose of these rules, wetsuits are swimsuits made of material providing thermal insulation. Wetsuits for both men and women shall completely cover torso, back, shoulders and knees. They shall not extend beyond the neck, wrists and ankles. To comply with the FINA rule GR 5.4, at the end of 2016 the Swimwear
Approval Committee (SAC) had an additional submission for swimwear
approval, organised specially for the homologation of wetsuits to be
included in the FINA list of Approved swimwear 2017. During the
submission, only a few models of wetsuits were duly approved, and
CORNEL MARCULESCU
FINA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
FINA - Avenue de l’Avant-Poste 4
1005 Lausanne, SWITZERLAND
Phone:
Fax:
Email:
+41 21 310 47 10
+41 21 312 66 10
sportsdep@fina.org
unfortunately, this number does not provide adequate opportunity of
choice for the athletes and teams.
According to our observations, the market of wetsuits exists and there
are quite many variations of wetsuits produced and commercially
released worldwide. However in order to have a sufficient list of duly
approved products additional time is required.
Therefore during 2017, control of wetsuits at the Open Water
Swimming competition will be done directly by the Technical Officials
prior to the competition.
The wetsuits should meet minimum requirements for coverage - wetsuit
must completely cover torso, back, shoulders and knees, and shall not
extend beyond the neck, wrists and ankles. In addition, the outer
surface of the used wetsuits shall not include outstanding shapes, such
as ridges, fins etc.
Details on exact procedure for control and confirmation of wetsuits at
the FINA competition will be available from the official FINA Technical
Delegate prior to the competition.
During the year, the SAC will carry out several official submissions, and
consider that by the end of 2017 there will be a list of duly approved
wetsuits with sufficient number of garments produced by a good variety
of swimwear manufacturers.
From the 1st of January 2018, control of the wetsuits at the Open Water
swimming competitions will be done by verification of respective “FINA
Approved logo” to be printed on a garment as confirmation of approval.
We remain at your disposal should you have any questions on this
matter.
Yours sincerely,
Cornel Marculescu
Executive Director
"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."