Tempe International Tri

I think the ruling last year is that it was wetsuit legal.  There were plenty of folks with them on, but I was fine without it. It may come down to your comfort in Open Water versus using the wetsuit for warmth.

As far as buying one, you look at the various tri shops online and find something that is in Clearance.  I don't have a tri wetsuit - - I use a surfing wetsuit. As often as I use it, I just could see spending $$$$$ on it.

I think the main factor with the wet suit decision is how comfortable you are swimming in open water.  I don't come from a swimming background and don't feel "at home" in the water.  To me the primary benefit of the wet suit is not the warmth, but the flotation.  It's basically like wearing a life jacket.  I can relax during the swim because I'm not worried about what will happen if I get a massive leg cramp or get kicked in the face because I know that I can roll over on my back and float indefinitely if I'm wearing the wet suit.  The other benefit is that I swim much faster in a wet suit.  The flotation and slick skin of the wet suit combine to make me at least 15 seconds per 100 faster at the pool.  I nearly slammed my head into the wall at the pool the first time I wore my wet suit there.  I've been told that wet suits offer much larger improvements to poor swimmers (like me) than they do to good swimmers because good swimmers already have proper body position in the water.

So my advice is to get a wet suit.  I think some of the shops have a deal where you can rent a wet suit and if you like it, you can apply your rental cost toward the purchase of a new one.  It seems that most of the triathlon/swimming wet suit companies offer a base, mid and top model of wet suit.  So long as you are looking at swim-specific wet suits (Orca, QR, xterra, desoto, etc....) and not surfing, diving or other general purpose wet suits. I think the base model is fine, particularly if you decide to get a sleeveless, because my understanding is that one of the differences between the base wet suits and those higher up in the product line is that the shoulder areas use some kind of rubber that is more expensive but more flexible.  (could just be marketing hype I don't know).

Just point out to your husband the whole safety issue and how the wet suit is like a life jacket

While I believe that the RD is pretty generous about water temps, history has shown that he WILL take away wetsuits.

I know I've talked to the people who do the official temperature reading. I guess the bottom of the lake is much colder if they need it to be.

It would be great to get one of the people who does the official temperature reading to come here and explain it.  Can you invite them on here Jot?