Has anyone tried these new suits? They seem to be called Aqua Skins or Swim Skins, depending on where you look.
Aqua Sphere claims that the 1.0 mm suit will keep you warm in 50-60 degree water. (http://www.aquasphereusa.com/products/swim_skin_wt50.html) Is this likely?
Can anyone speak to their durability and/or buoyancy?
Thanks!
I don’t know. I was told that they were not very bouyant. I am curious if anyone has any experience. I also wondered about using the shorty john, or the long john, in warmer water races.
Wow, those are really thin! I’ve been waiting for something like this. I don’t need buoyancy, my body position is already good. In fact, the leg buoyancy of most wetsuits screws up my position. And I’ve never been comfortable in sleeves – T1, QR, you name it. This could be the ticket.
Let us know when you try it.
Just ordered one. I was in the Pacific today… brr! About 58 Fahrenheit. I was OK with my sleeveless QR, and I’ve typically just not liked fullsuits. But this will be an interesting experiment.
First report.
The suit arrived yesterday. A large part of it (the gray part) is this teflon/lycra/neoprene mix. It’s more stretchy than plain neoprene. I bought the winter (1 mil thickness) size Medium. They spec that for up to 5’10" and 180 pounds. I’m 5’9" and 130 pounds, so I thought the fit was a little loose. Not baggy, no major wrinkles anywhere, just not as tight as I would expect a swimming (as opposed to surfing) wetsuit. I think that’s more a reflection of their sizing than the intrinsic potential of this design.
The zipper on the back is fairly short: from the shoulders to just about mid-back. When you open the zipper you see an additional “fan” of material behind it, rather than the wetsuit just opening up. Not clear what the advantage is there.
Overall it feels good, quite comfortable and I’d guess it would still be even if it were a lot tighter (i.e. if the wearer were bigger). Of course this is the point: 1 mil is pretty thin. Great shoulder flexibility. So the question is does it still hold the thin layer of water, and insulate enough to keep me warm?
Haven’t taken it in the water yet, will continue report when I do.
Andrew
Seems like a great design. I couldn’t find prices listed on their site. What does one of those 0.5 or 1.0 mm suits sell for?
As far as availability goes, try http://www.swimoutlet.com/search.asp?7=skin+suit&1=Go.
I gave mine a try in the ocean for about half an hour this noon. The water temp was about 57 degrees. As soon as I waded in, and before any water came in, I could feel the cold straight through the material. That’s expected – it’s very thin. But the point of a wetsuit, of course, is that once a thin layer of water comes in, it warms up and insulates you.
Well it took several minutes for my face to stop burning, but the rest of me got warm and stayed that way. I did notice that the wrists weren’t tight enough to prevent a little shiver of fresh cold water coming in every so often when my arm entered the water. I think I’m just not quite the right size for this suit. (See earlier post on sizing.)
Thermally the skin suit performs 100% up to expectations. I can’t remember ever being so comfortable in water this cold. In addition, the shoulder pain that always materializes in a full suit (consequences of a dislocation many years ago) never appeared.
I was definitely less buoyant than in my racing wetsuits, but that’s not an issue for me really, as I have decades of pool and naked (i.e. no wetsuit) open-water experience with no wetsuit and my form and body position are already good. I was able to get a comfortable two-beat kick going, without the usual problem of my legs just floating behind me way too high like corks.
The one real fly in the ointment is the rubbing from exposed stitched seams on the inside of the neck. These were chafing after just ten minutes. However, the neck doesn’t fit as tightly as it could (back to that fit issue, a little loose on me) and perhaps if it were tighter there would be less rubbing. But really those stitches should be somehow moved.
Overall consensus: for its purpose – keeping people warm while they recreate (as opposed to compete) in the water – it’s a compete success. I think that if it were really intended to be a racing wetsuit there would be more fit options. (E.g. it’s unisex now.) And that neck seam was a real downer, although I suppose a little BodyGlide, a neck rash guard, or other device would help.
If there were pre-race swim warmup at Ralph’s next weekend I’d seriously consider using it, because it would keep me warmer after the warmup and before the race than would my sleeveless QR. However there is no pre-race swim warmup so it’s a toss-up. I may use it anyway, just to get a little more experience with it. I predict that the concept, as apart from the implementation, has a real future for racing suits.