Ok so I got an email ad from roka yesterday advertising there swim skins. They claim 2-6 seconds saved per 100. Im not a very fast swimmer, Im about 1:45 / 100 so Id assume I would be saving closer to 6 per 100. Most of my sprint races have 350-400 meter swims. A couple have 850 meters. Ive never tried on a swim skin . I use a full maverick pro on my 2 races a year that allow wetsuits and I can get outa that sucker in a little over 5 seconds. My question , Is the swim skin worth it?
Does it have the same effect as the wetsuit when It comes to conserving energy? I assume they should be easier to remove than a full wet suit. Just guessing but it looks like I could be saving maybe 20-25 seconds and a bit of energy?
What say the short course st’rs?
It probably depends on what you are wearing under it.
If it’s a loose fitting tri suit or bottom/top combo it will probably save you some time
It it’s a good tight/racing type of tri suit then probably won’t save much time if any at all.
faster is faster. I dont know if I would rely on manufacturer claims about time saved, but it will probably save you something, but it depends on what your trisuit is. If you’re already racing in a swim-skin like suit, such as a kiwami rio, spyder, or similar, the swim skin may not save you anything at all and just add complexity and make your wallet lighter.
I don’t get these threads. The answer to your question is going to be multi-faceted.
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Can you afford a swim skin? OK…
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Are you faster in said swim skin? OK…
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How much faster are you?
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How long does it take you to shed the swim skin?
If you take the cumulative to # 3 and subtract # 4…do you still have a positive number?
- Do you want to reduce your time in a sprint?
Well…there ya go.
yep. and what’s considered affordable is different for everybody. I got a roka swim skin on sale and am planning on using it in IM Chattanooga. I doubt I would use it in a sprint. I actually have yet to test it out.
It probably depends on what you are wearing under it.
This. I would definitely wear it if you’re in a 2 piece, have sleeves, or your kit isn’t tight.
sleeves slow you down?
They claim 2-6 seconds saved per 100. Im not a very fast swimmer, Im about 1:45 / 100 so Id assume I would be saving closer to 6 per 100.
I wouldn’t be so sure about that. Unlike wetsuits, which help your speed primarily through added buoyancy, Swimskins only offer reduced surface friction. I have a hard time believing anyone will pick up 6 seconds a hundred, unless the race kit they’d wear instead was an oversized cotton tank top and a pair of cargo shorts.
nc452010 is correct in how to analyze this but let me throw out an options that eliminates everything except step 1. I recently started using the Kiwami WS1 and love it. It is a swim-skin like trisuit and about the same price as the Roka Viper X except you obviously wear it for the entire race so tehre is no loss of time stripping it off. Anecdotally (admittedly, not scientifically), this trisuit produced wetsuit-like time savings for me in two sprints–and one of those was a pool swim
If you can wear your sleeved top zipped all the way up during the swim, great. Many roll it down or unzip it at least partially…so yeah, you’d want to wear a swim skin on top of it. Did I really need to clarify that?
the part about rolling i down or unzipping. yes, I did need clarification on that because I wouldn’t think to do that. I have a 2XU sleeved tri top that I’ve worn during the swim and never considered unzipping or rolling it down.
I had been using a desoto lift foil ( which I loved) but my club is now using castellated free . I always go with a super tight one piece so I guess its probably not worth it.