Seems like the topic lately are wetsuits. What I would like to know, for those who are “in the know”, is when do the wetsuit manufacturers start introducing their new products and what can we look forward too?
I’ve seen some of the new stuff from a couple manufacturers. I’m not excited. Yet.
Most of what I’ve seen has struck me as a classic case of change for change’s sake. Now, I haven’t swam in any of the new suits with “flow strakes” and new fabrics (not neoprene) in the sleeves, but I am cynical.
I’ve learned a lot about wetsuit perfromance in the past few months and over the last two years. Most of it boils down to this:
Buy a completely smoothskin neoprene outer suit. Less is more: The smoother the outer surface, the faster it generally is. Make sure it fits darn tight. Make even more sure you get the thing on right. While fullsuits may not be faster for everyone, they are consistently faster for me. More flexible does not necessarily equal faster. More expensive almost *never *equals faster. Sometimes stiffer *is *faster. Did I mention make sure it is *tight enough *and that you have it on right?
I can appreciate what you say. Getting the right fit specific to the individual is critical (even downsizing). My issue is race specific. I love my Desoto T1. It is flexible and I seem to swim effortless in it, but I hate dealing with the two pieces in transition. I’m not getting rid of my T1, but I’m going to look into a new single, fullsuit for next year. I know there will be some who think that it isn’t an issue, but I’ve done several races in it and I keep wanting to get back in a single piece wetsuit.
Hmmm. Well, my initial reaction here might be to suggest some more transition practice with your T1. Once you work with it the suit may actually come off faster than a full suit.
Here’s a sequence we shot a few years ago with a friend of mine removing a T1. This ithe very first time she every attempted it and you may notice this is the older T1 without the zipper:
Here is our wetsuit time trial removal test results and a link to our article on this:
Top Only From Waist Total
QR Superfull 1 Piece Removal.
Four removal trials with suit wet. 1 11.58 12.37 23.95 2 09.47 11.53 21.00 3 10.01 11.36 21.37 4 11.27 10.04 21.31 Average 10.58 11.32 21.90
DeSoto T1 2 Piece Removal.
Four removal trials with suit wet. 1 06.30 13.76 20.06 2 07.84 11.14 18.98 3 05.35 10.10 15.45 4 06.19 10.39 16.58 Average 06.42 11.34 17.76
The link:
I’ve done it many times. It might just be me, but I hate dealing with the two pieces. I’m going still to use it for my open water swim competitions, but for tri’s I’m going to get a new one piece. I used to have a Ironman Reaction fullsuit, so I’m interested in Blue Seventy & 2XU.
I LOVE having the T1 as a 2 piece. I do not have to put the top on until just before I get ready to hit the water. I can get it totally
on without ANYONE having to help me? HUGE PLUS
I love being able to get the top off right out of the water. And then start the bib off, while running full speed. I could never
do this easily with my one piece suits since I had the arms going all over the place.
Like everything else we use, each of us has to find the best stuff that meets our needs.
Dave