I might opt for a sleeveless (which are also always slower) at Waco70.3 in a few weeks because the air temp could be close to 80 with high humidity and the swim is down stream. //
Ya, downstream swims are a whole different animal. I would probably opt for sleeveless to if I had one, they test only about a second a 100 slower, so much less than that downstream. But I certainly would not give up 5 to 7 seconds using just floaty pants, unless it was a trifondo!
I did a river swim in Germany one year, and I came out 10 seconds behind an off the front guy that usually beat me by a minute and half. But then I looked over in transition, and there was Jurgen Zack and others that I would usually beat by a minute+. Went from super stoked to ahhh shit in about 20 seconds…(-;