I’m wondering if there’s any significant advantage to wearing a Jammer over a regular brief speedo in a 5k open water swim. Can’t find anything conclusive online- anyone have the experience/knowledge to answer that? Is there a real advantage, or is it just another “getting paranoid because race day is approaching” thing. If there’s a real advantage then I’ll go buy a jammer, but if not, I’ll just stick with my speedo.
It’s my first 5k OWS race- my background is in triathlon, I’ve been racing hard for two years now. Right now I’m swimming ~18k/week to train for it. In the pool I usually average about 1:20 per hundred meters.
Well hey, if it’s a tech suit like one of the Speedo Fastskin jammers, there definitely is a significant advantage in wearing that suit over your regular draggy speedo practice briefs.
Curious as to what is a good website one would go to in order to find ows events. I live in Louisiana and as far as I know we don’t have any but maybe I don’t know where to look for them.
Are there reasonably priced tech suit jammers? looks like most of them are priced $150-300. Probably not worth buying as I don’t plan on doing too many OWS races.
I’d say look for older generation suits, like Aquablades or the original Fastskin. I know Metroswimship and Swimoutlet carry them, and will probably run you $40-$50 nowadays. You may be able to find them cheaper on closeout sites with only certain sizes/colors, or on eBay/Amazon.
You’re right, the new tech suits are all very expensive despite the FINA/USAS ban on the “supersuits” that we all hoped would drive prices back down.
Are there reasonably priced tech suit jammers? looks like most of them are priced $150-300. Probably not worth buying as I don’t plan on doing too many OWS races.
We offer our “training suit” at $99.95. The suit is the same material we use for our textile speedsuit, which is a nearly 100% hydrophobic material. It is a suit with light compression, silicone grippers, and a tight fit. The material meets FINA regulations and is approved.
We are seeing great success with this suit in the masters swimming ranks, as the suit performs like a tech suit does, but has slightly more stretch, is easier to get in and out of, is slightly more comfortable, and the price is much lower.
I think it’s mostly in the head but have always felt better in the jammers in races, sort like race wheels, you feel a bit blinged up. The Speedo aquablade ones are pretty cheap and feel nice and tight.
If the jammer gives you a little compression around your quads it will be noticeably faster than a brief regardless of material. In college we always sized down for the final championship meet, meaning after a season of wearing a size 28 I would finish in a size 26. Advantage to briefs is that you don’t get ridiculous tan lines…
