NCAA has approved all tech suits for use in the 2009 Division Championships. This means that the heavily discussed long sleeved Rocket Skin made by Rocket Science Sports will be allowed in competition.
This comes as a huge relief to many teams who have not received their orders from other manufacturers and are frantically searching for a replacement. Rocket Science Sports does have stock of both long sleeve and sleeveless models but expect to sell out quickly.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Sunday, February 22, 2009
FINA Proposes Rules Against Rocket Skin
Marcin attended the manufacturer's meeting in Switzerland this past Friday to hear FINA's proposed rules and regulations regarding the use of the newest generations of swim skins.
First I'll let you read in full the statement made by FINA, then my comments.
"FINA, represented by its Executive and Technical Swimming Commission, Legal, Coaches and Athletes Commissions’ representatives, held today a meeting in Lausanne (SUI) with representatives of 16 swimwear manufacturers in order to examine amendments of the current ‘FINA Requirements for Swimwear Approval’. Based on FINA's proposals and contributions discussed at the meeting, the FINA Bureau at its meeting on March 12-14, 2009 in Dubai (UAE) will consider amendments which include:
• DESIGN: The swimsuit shall not cover the neck and shall not extend past the shoulders nor past the ankles;
• MATERIAL: The material used shall have a maximum thickness of 1mm; When used, the material shall follow the body shape; The application of different materials shall not create air trapping effects;
• BUOYANCY: The swimsuit shall not have a buoyancy effect of more than 1 Newton (100gr);
• CONSTRUCTION: Any system providing external stimulation or influence of any form (e.g. pain reduction, chemical/medical substance release, electro-stimulation) is prohibited;
• CUSTOMISATION: All swimsuits of an approved model must be constructed in an identical fashion with no variation/modification for individual swimmers from the samples submitted for approval;
• USE: The swimmer can only wear one swimsuit at a time;
• CONTROL: FINA will establish its own independent control/testing programme. Scientific testing will be conducted by a team led by Prof. Jan-Anders Manson, from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) and Laboratory of Polymer and Composite Technology;
• APPROVAL: Swimwear manufacturers will be able to make submissions for approval of swimsuits until March 31, 2009. In a further step, rules applicable from January 1, 2010 will also be examined by the Bureau.One of the main aspects to be considered is the limitation of the use of non-permeable material. “FINA has studied this matter very carefully, and together with all interested parties and the scientific expertise of EPFL, we have reached the best possible result. "With these amendments, FINA shows that it continues to monitor the evolution of the sport’s equipment with the main objective of keeping the integrity of sport. While we need to remain open to evolution, the most important factors must be the athletes’ preparation and physical condition on achieving their performances”, considered FINA President Mustapha Larfaoui."
First an overview of our products and their legality as it is currently stated.
Long sleeve Rocket Skin: Newly proposed restriction would change this suits standing to "illegal" due to the swimsuit's extension beyond the shoulder (long sleeves). Final decision on this will take place by March 14th at FINA's next meeting in Dubai. Sources say that could mean the suit's legality would be retracted by July 18th, which is the beginning of the world championships in Rome.
There are a couple issues we have with the statements made by FINA pertaining to this permeability and buoyancy mention.
1. Try this, go and get a cotton wash cloth. Fill up a sink and get the wash cloth wet. Then gather all the edges of the cloth together, making a balloon shape and dunk it in the water. Does the cotton wash cloth not "trap air"? Try other materials. What material won't "trap" air? I would ask FINA to clarify this using scientific calculations.
2. What amount of air needs to be trapped (a variable depeding on each person's weight) to give a buoyancy advantage?
3. Where does the air need to be trapped in order to give a buoyancy advantage? Certainly pockets of air trapped between the shoulders would have little or no effect on performance compared to air pockets in front of the thighs. How reasonable is it to trap enough air on the front of the thigh to really give a performance benefit?
FINA has stated their commitment to finding scientifically factual methods to fairly rule for or against future technologies. Our resident rocket scientist Marcin Sochacki is willing to be an expert witness on behalf of all swim manufactures in order to make sure that all calculations and questions are thoroughly seen through.
Marcin Sochacki, CEO and chief designer of Rocket Science Sports® as well as aerospace engineer commented, “Our company has pushed the edge of technology and perhaps designed a suit that is ahead of its time. The swimsuit complies with all the proposed regulations including buoyancy and thickness except for the length of the sleeve. I do not see this as a set back but proof that our company walks on the razor’s edge in pursuit of technology and innovation. We have a sleeveless version that we look forward to seeing on swimmers in Rome.”
Mr. Sochacki further commented, “We are pleased with FINA’s decision to pursue scientific methods of determining future rules and provide imperialistic quantifications to support their tests. We both support and believe these methods are the only way a governing organization such as FINA can fairly rule for or against any proposed technology or garment.”
The long sleeve rocket Skin(TM) will continue to be manufactured and sold for use in non-FINA governed swim competitions as well as non-wetsuit legal triathlons and is USAT certified. Rocket Science Sports® will continue developing a full line of swimsuits for competition and training which will comply with all FINA regulations.
First I'll let you read in full the statement made by FINA, then my comments.
"FINA, represented by its Executive and Technical Swimming Commission, Legal, Coaches and Athletes Commissions’ representatives, held today a meeting in Lausanne (SUI) with representatives of 16 swimwear manufacturers in order to examine amendments of the current ‘FINA Requirements for Swimwear Approval’. Based on FINA's proposals and contributions discussed at the meeting, the FINA Bureau at its meeting on March 12-14, 2009 in Dubai (UAE) will consider amendments which include:
• DESIGN: The swimsuit shall not cover the neck and shall not extend past the shoulders nor past the ankles;
• MATERIAL: The material used shall have a maximum thickness of 1mm; When used, the material shall follow the body shape; The application of different materials shall not create air trapping effects;
• BUOYANCY: The swimsuit shall not have a buoyancy effect of more than 1 Newton (100gr);
• CONSTRUCTION: Any system providing external stimulation or influence of any form (e.g. pain reduction, chemical/medical substance release, electro-stimulation) is prohibited;
• CUSTOMISATION: All swimsuits of an approved model must be constructed in an identical fashion with no variation/modification for individual swimmers from the samples submitted for approval;
• USE: The swimmer can only wear one swimsuit at a time;
• CONTROL: FINA will establish its own independent control/testing programme. Scientific testing will be conducted by a team led by Prof. Jan-Anders Manson, from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) and Laboratory of Polymer and Composite Technology;
• APPROVAL: Swimwear manufacturers will be able to make submissions for approval of swimsuits until March 31, 2009. In a further step, rules applicable from January 1, 2010 will also be examined by the Bureau.One of the main aspects to be considered is the limitation of the use of non-permeable material. “FINA has studied this matter very carefully, and together with all interested parties and the scientific expertise of EPFL, we have reached the best possible result. "With these amendments, FINA shows that it continues to monitor the evolution of the sport’s equipment with the main objective of keeping the integrity of sport. While we need to remain open to evolution, the most important factors must be the athletes’ preparation and physical condition on achieving their performances”, considered FINA President Mustapha Larfaoui."
First an overview of our products and their legality as it is currently stated.
Long sleeve Rocket Skin: Newly proposed restriction would change this suits standing to "illegal" due to the swimsuit's extension beyond the shoulder (long sleeves). Final decision on this will take place by March 14th at FINA's next meeting in Dubai. Sources say that could mean the suit's legality would be retracted by July 18th, which is the beginning of the world championships in Rome.
There are a couple issues we have with the statements made by FINA pertaining to this permeability and buoyancy mention.
1. Try this, go and get a cotton wash cloth. Fill up a sink and get the wash cloth wet. Then gather all the edges of the cloth together, making a balloon shape and dunk it in the water. Does the cotton wash cloth not "trap air"? Try other materials. What material won't "trap" air? I would ask FINA to clarify this using scientific calculations.
2. What amount of air needs to be trapped (a variable depeding on each person's weight) to give a buoyancy advantage?
3. Where does the air need to be trapped in order to give a buoyancy advantage? Certainly pockets of air trapped between the shoulders would have little or no effect on performance compared to air pockets in front of the thighs. How reasonable is it to trap enough air on the front of the thigh to really give a performance benefit?
FINA has stated their commitment to finding scientifically factual methods to fairly rule for or against future technologies. Our resident rocket scientist Marcin Sochacki is willing to be an expert witness on behalf of all swim manufactures in order to make sure that all calculations and questions are thoroughly seen through.
Marcin Sochacki, CEO and chief designer of Rocket Science Sports® as well as aerospace engineer commented, “Our company has pushed the edge of technology and perhaps designed a suit that is ahead of its time. The swimsuit complies with all the proposed regulations including buoyancy and thickness except for the length of the sleeve. I do not see this as a set back but proof that our company walks on the razor’s edge in pursuit of technology and innovation. We have a sleeveless version that we look forward to seeing on swimmers in Rome.”
Mr. Sochacki further commented, “We are pleased with FINA’s decision to pursue scientific methods of determining future rules and provide imperialistic quantifications to support their tests. We both support and believe these methods are the only way a governing organization such as FINA can fairly rule for or against any proposed technology or garment.”
The long sleeve rocket Skin(TM) will continue to be manufactured and sold for use in non-FINA governed swim competitions as well as non-wetsuit legal triathlons and is USAT certified. Rocket Science Sports® will continue developing a full line of swimsuits for competition and training which will comply with all FINA regulations.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Rocket Skin Makes News
On Tuesday February 3rd, Marcin, myself and our new swim industry salesperson Kelvin Koch headed to downtown Austin. Destination? The University of Texas Swim Center.
Fox 7 News contacted us after seeing our article in the Austin American Statesman and wanted to check out our revolutionary Rocket Skin first hand. Marcin was temporarily in town from Shanghai was eager to talk about our company and our newest product. Here's how it went down... http://affiliate.kickapps.com/_Rocket-Swimsuit/video/508792/82263.html
Cheers!
Fox 7 News contacted us after seeing our article in the Austin American Statesman and wanted to check out our revolutionary Rocket Skin first hand. Marcin was temporarily in town from Shanghai was eager to talk about our company and our newest product. Here's how it went down... http://affiliate.kickapps.com/_Rocket-Swimsuit/video/508792/82263.html
Cheers!
Thursday, January 22, 2009
The Science Of Swimming Fast
Everyman Tri interviews Rocket Science Sports founder, Marcin Sochacki about the science of swimming fast and the controversy surrounding the new swim skins in competition. Check out the story and listen to the podcast HERE.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
News Story
For those of you who do not get the Austin American Statesman newspaper I wanted to let you all know that there is a fantastic article about us in the Monday January 12th issue.
For a close look and a good read I might add, see
http://www.austin360.com/recreation/content/recreation/stories/2009/01/0112fitcity.html
I'm off to Asia for a week on business so my access to emails and phone calls may be limited. I should be back Wed. January 21st.
Cheers!
For a close look and a good read I might add, see
http://www.austin360.com/recreation/content/recreation/stories/2009/01/0112fitcity.html
I'm off to Asia for a week on business so my access to emails and phone calls may be limited. I should be back Wed. January 21st.
Cheers!
Monday, January 5, 2009
New Year Blast Off!
Happy New Year from the Rocket Science Sports Team! We are looking forward to a fantastic 2009 and are extremely happy to have you all with us.
Claim your Rocket Racer now before they sell out!
So here's how we begin the year... If you haven't seen it yet, hurry up and get your February Issue of Triathlete Magazine because we've scored such a fantastic review on our new Rocket Racer you'd think we wrote it ourselves! Well we didn't, but here's what the tech editors at Triathlete Magazine had to say:
"When it comes to our bikes, most of us are obsessed with trimming every possible gram, but we seldom give much thought to the weight of our race suits. Further demonstrating their commitment to scientific nerdery, the boys at Rocket Science Sports (who are rocket scientists- no joke) have created an absurdly light (130 gram) 1-piece race suit. Will shaving 80 grams off your suit make you drop an hour at your next Ironman? Absolutely not, but it makes things a bit more comfortable when you're going 140.6 miles. Beyond the weight, the Rocket Racer has plenty of bells and whistles, but it wasn't the bells and whistles that did it for us. Rocket's exclusive 360 Stretch Fabric moves in near-perfect unison with the body, which means no more bunching, rubbing or chafing."
Claim your Rocket Racer now before they sell out!
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Ramp it up!
Well, it's not even the new year yet but we are already ramping up here at Rocket Science Sports.
While Marcin is in town doing our photo shoot for the new catalog I was able to get us a meeting with the local paper to do a story. The writer (Pamela LeBlanc) and Marcin seem to know a lot of the same people in the local swim community and at the University of Texas. It turned out to be a great connection.
During the meeting we got word of Steuart Martins placing 2nd only 0.04 seconds behind at an international swim event in San Sebastian Spain while using our Rocket Skin. It's apparently one of the fastest meets in the world and was televised in Europe. Congratulations Steuart!
I am currently working on building our independent product rep force in the US and gathering information on events we may want to attend this year. We are already planning on being the swim course sponsor for the Capital of Texas Triathlon in May as well as doing the same for the Redondo Beach Triathlon and possibly something with the L.A. Triathlon. I have many more to plan yet. It's going to be a busy year.
On the immediate horizon we may be going to Fort Worth (Kelly) to attend an expo/demo day with Dallas Sports University on Sunday Jan. 11th. Thanks to Chris Jones for contacting us about this. It will be a great opportunity to let people demo some of our products and see what is new for '09.
Two days after that I fly to Shanghai to meet with Marcin to go over our 2010 products . We will also travel to Hong Kong and Shenzhen. I am looking forward to my first trip to Asia and hope to take lots of pictures.
Cheers!
Darren
While Marcin is in town doing our photo shoot for the new catalog I was able to get us a meeting with the local paper to do a story. The writer (Pamela LeBlanc) and Marcin seem to know a lot of the same people in the local swim community and at the University of Texas. It turned out to be a great connection.
During the meeting we got word of Steuart Martins placing 2nd only 0.04 seconds behind at an international swim event in San Sebastian Spain while using our Rocket Skin. It's apparently one of the fastest meets in the world and was televised in Europe. Congratulations Steuart!
I am currently working on building our independent product rep force in the US and gathering information on events we may want to attend this year. We are already planning on being the swim course sponsor for the Capital of Texas Triathlon in May as well as doing the same for the Redondo Beach Triathlon and possibly something with the L.A. Triathlon. I have many more to plan yet. It's going to be a busy year.
On the immediate horizon we may be going to Fort Worth (Kelly) to attend an expo/demo day with Dallas Sports University on Sunday Jan. 11th. Thanks to Chris Jones for contacting us about this. It will be a great opportunity to let people demo some of our products and see what is new for '09.
Two days after that I fly to Shanghai to meet with Marcin to go over our 2010 products . We will also travel to Hong Kong and Shenzhen. I am looking forward to my first trip to Asia and hope to take lots of pictures.
Cheers!
Darren
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