I’ve seen all these threads on wetsuits and how they aid bad swimmers. Well, what about nice warm Hawaii saltwater? How much does that “help” a bad swimmer?
I want to know about this too.
I have admitted to being a wetsuit slut (for the speed, not for the safety) but I am doing my first half at St. Croix in May and I am curious to know how much faster I might be in the non-wetsuit salt water swim there compared to a non-wetsuit swim in a warm freshwater lake.
I’ll tell you something, it doesn’t help a fresh body shave! YOW!
I imagine a wetsuit provides more gain. Not only more flotation, but the skin of a suit is slicker than human skin and most likely all those hi-tech speed suits.
I would guess that a wetsuit helps a poor swimmer more than saltwater. Most wetsuits have thicker rubber in the legs so they’ll help with balance for someone whose legs tend to drop.
That said, my best time for 1.5K in saltwater w/o wetsuit is faster than my best time 1.5K in freshwater w/wetsuit. But drafting and currents may have had something to do with that.
Neither helps the swimmer as much as learning proper body position
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Thanks for the tip, DD. I get that.
I’m mostly thinking about for a guy who can barrrrrrrrrrely make the swim (not that I can even do that yet). A wetsuit can make a huge diff, but I’m wondering how much the salty stuff helps.
Salt water will give you about 2.9% more buoyancy. I don’t have wetsuit density data, but clearly wetsuits give you more than that in terms of buoyancy (you float better in freshwater with a wetsuit on than in salt water without one). However, another advantage of the wet suit is that it will give you relatively more buoyancy in the legs due to thicker neoprene. So in addition to making you more buoyant, the wetsuit will help correcting poor body position, something salt water cannot do.
I would guess that saltwater helps everyone and does not overly favour weaker swimmers over faster ones. Wetsuits however really help the weaker swimmer more, as has often been discussed before.
Francois in Montreal
Not worth worrying about.
It’s good for a couple of minutes over no salt water for me, as a MOP swimmer over 1.2M’s. Also great for the confidence as I find I don’t get that “if I stop I’m going to sink” feeling in warm salt water like in lakes when I start getting tired.
I don’t know this for a fact, but my theory is that the salt water works both for you and against you. You float better in salt water because it is denser than fresh water. But if it is denser, then it is also harder to propel you body through it. Net effect is not much gain. Not to mention that if you drink any it is pretty gross.
On the other hand, the wetsuit is all upside. You not only float better, but the surface is smoother.
Personally I don’t think salt water makes any difference, I seem to swim just as fast in fresh water. But a wetsuit makes a big difference. I swam 1.00 in IM Switzerland with a wetsuit in the fresh water lake, then a couple of months later 1.13 at Hawaii in the salt water with no wetsuit.
There was a report, somewhere that someone checked the density theory. They added a substance to a pool that made it thick enough to be, well, like jello. Competitive swimmers were invited to swim in it. Guess what… no difference. They swam just as fast. Apparently, density works both ways. You get some resistance, but you also get more of your effort propelling you forward. If I can find the report, I’ll post the link.
Learning its importance and being able to do it are two different things.
Like everything in life, there is no one right answer that will fit everyone. The worse you float, the more advantage salt water is. The density thing in a non issue, since everyone has to swim through it. It only matters if you compare it with a seperate, fresh water situation. It doesn’t compare to the wetsuit advantage, but it is the same principal, float higher, swim faster. So your good floaters will get less advantage than your swimming rocks. Other advantage or disadvantage, is that salt water is warmer at the same tempeture as fresh water. This is a hard one for people to follow, because 75 degrees should be 75 degrees, fresh or salt, right?. But ponder this for a minute. Remember being in a 75 degree pool, what did it feel like?? Very cold I would guess, your average pool is always 80+, and feels ok. Now remember being in a hawaiian or Florida ocean at 75. Balmy to say the least. How can that be you say…It’s the salt. It is an insulating factor somehow, and I figure it skews the tempeture from 7 to 10 degrees, depending on the salt content. My point here is that people also swim faster or slower depending on tempetures. Some like it hot, and others(me) love it ice cold. So what is your advantage to salt water, no one can tell you here on this forum, but with a little thought about your own personal situation, it’s not hard to figure out…Monty