Swim Skin Contraversy

Introduced at this year's Interbike Show, cycling's version of the Detroit Auto Show, a few wetsuit manufacturers including ourselves unveiled a new category of garment specifically designed for use in events that will not allow the use of wetsuits. This happens when the water temperature is too warm (78degrees for pros, 84 for age groupers) for using the wetsuits because overheating becomes a concern.

Skinsuits were designed as a lighter, thinner covering which still gives the benefit of having a slick surface for less drag, but without the insulation properties of the neoprene in wetsuits. In order to keep all things reasonably fair and even there has to be rules for what is considered a skinsuit. First and foremost is buoyancy. Skinsuits are not allowed to have any. One company has designed a fabric that has a special coating which is used for drag reduction, but has no buoyancy.

So how does USAT address the legality of what can and can't be used? Triathlon's test for legality is to place 61 grams of weight on a suit, wrung free of air, and placed a foot or two under the water's surface. If the suit sinks it's legal, otherwise it's not.

Unfortunately this is not a very scientific method of testing which can leave a lot of factors left for error. For instance, there is no way of telling how much if any air is still trapped in the garment which could affect it's buoyancy.

Marcin Sochacki, founder of Rocket Science Sports, aerospace engineer and triathlete has a better method for testing, using actual mathmatical calculations to figure the buoyancy of a material. By calculating the weight of a mass and the amount of space the mass takes up it is easy to find if it is going to be buoyant or not. Conceivably this method could be used for approving specific types of materials used by manufacturers for the construction of a skinsuit. Marcin has spoken with USAT's Commissioner of Officials Charlie Crawford about this method and it seems to be under advisement.

We hope to gain support from the rest of the triathlon community in this endeavor. You can voice your concern or support to USAT directly if you wish.

Cheers!