In my unoffical “Wetsuit Wars” fought on the beaches of Lake Taupo, New Zealand I tested the Orca P-Flex (Excellent!), the older 2001 QR Superfull and the Desoto T1 (my traditional favorite). Herbert from Quintana Roo, among others, correctly pointed out that the Superfull I was testing is obsolete and does not use the new non-absorbent fabric.
Today I bought a new Superfull from QR and am also buying a Metal Cell from Aquaman to complete the trial here in Michigan in the open water. It is only fair I compare the new Superfull with the other current suits.
I’ll keep you guys posted. There is snow on the ground here now but I just found out I may be going to Hawaii for the Olympic Trials race to work so maybe I can bring wetsuits there if that pans out.
Tom, I reply here to keep this thread going (as I am currently trying to decide between a T1 and a Superfull) - bring it brother, what are the results?
I was going to post an inquiry and don’t mean do disrupt this thread- but…
My son is bugging me to do a triathlon that involves what is called a 1500m swim (but it is down current). He will turn 10 before the race and although he is a good swimmer (year round swim team), I am not really comfortable with him being out there. I would feel more comfortable with him in a wetsuit. He has a surf suit but I would like to find a swim suit- he is about 4’8" and 85 lbs. Any ideas?
Tom, is the new (2003 or newer) Ironman Stealth a part of your test? I’m interested in seeing how Ironman’s top-of-the-line wetsuit compares to its competitors.
Not to sound judgemental, but a triathlon with a 1500 yard swim is really no place for a ten year-old. The swim can be a very nasty place when the gun goes off. But what really worries me, is if it has a 1500m swim, what are the other distances? A sprint triathlon, let alone an international is really too much for anyone under age twelve (and even it depends on the kids physical maturity.) I did my first sprint when I was thirteen, I had an awsome time, but had I tried to do it even a year earlier I could have seriously messed myself up. Keep the kid excited about sports, have him compete in just one event, or one of those distances. But a 1500m river swim is really no place for a ten year-old.
I’ll keep you guys posted. There is snow on the ground here now but I just found out I may be going to Hawaii for the Olympic Trials race to work so maybe I can bring wetsuits there if that pans out.
Have fun while you are here, enjoy our state. I don’t think you will really need any wet suit though. :~)
That depends - I know 10 year olds who are on swim teams who would drown before the 1/2 way point and I know a few 10 year olds who could give anyone posting on this board a run for their money in a 1500 m open water swim.
If he is swimming year round he most certainly can cover 1500 meters and he is probably swimming farther than that most days at practice, although I doubt he has gone that far straight. The question is can he do it in open water. Open water swimming can be daunting as we all know. He’ll likely be just fast enough to be in a pretty big pack of relatively bad adult swimmers. Can he handle fighting with adults for position? Is he strong enough to be comfortable? What’s his best 500yd or 400 m time? If he has not seen fit to enter either event in a meet, he may not be psychologically ready for going a mile in open water.
For what it is worth, I have swimmers in the house. My 13 year old is doing a ½ mile open water age group race this summer and I’m trying to talk her into doing the mile (although I am kind of hoping she doesn’t agree since she might beat me). My 11 year old can’t be talked into doing either. (One problem with poolbread swimmers is that dirty cold water really turns them off). They are both strong swimmers whose daily swim workouts regularly exceed what the epic campers are doing in the pool. I would not consider entering my 9 year old in either event even though she can easily do a 1500 m swim a pool. She could not handle navigation and the other swimmers.
No offense taken-not sure I agree with the conviction in your statements, but I am concerned about it. As I said he is bugging me and do not know that I will let him do it- however, so that I don’t totally sound like an awful parent; it is a local race and he would do the swim many times in advance; it is salt water with incoming tide in a body of water that he is in 3-5 times a week in the summer; he swims year round; the rest of the race is pancake flat and sprint distance; he is doing the swim portion of at least one team triathlon in advance; his run is his weakness but he has run a number of 5ks and done pretty well; in addition to his own biking we bike on a tandem for considerable distance; he has done a number of kid’s triathlons (always placing), does not like the short distances and won his age group in the kid’s race at St. Anthony’s last year. I am not sure what I will decide yet. The race is not until September and it depends on how a number of things go this summer.
We will do open water swims this summer, but he has not so far. He spends 3-5 days a week in the water surfing and/wakeboarding so he is comfortable out there. I would prefer that he do pool swim races (I will do my third of the year in two weeks), but he does not turn 10 (age limit for Set-Up adult races) until July, after most or all of those races.
I wouldn’t worry so much - did my first open water mile swim at age 8 without a wetsuit - started swim training at age 6…also did a fair amount of surfing etc . My Niece age 9 just completed the same mile race - nearly 30 years later - the sponsors claim it to be the worlds largest open water race with 8 races limited to 2500 athletes broken into age groups / gendas etc…