So the water temp is 78.1 degrees..... (Page 2)

Thanks for your post.
Noting the third time in two weeks someone has accused me of being judgemental in Tri Talk. Perhaps I should take the hint.

I think using it in warm water is defeating the true intentions of the wetsuit. They are there to keep you warm. Now, we all know that they make you faster in the water as well (especially for slower swimmers). By eliminating the the safety issue, you are only using it for speed. Now I suppose if the water was extremely rough safety would jump back into the equation so I would have a different take. If the reason is that you are worried about completing the swim without a wetsuit b/c of ability, the purist in me says go train more.

Hypothetical: Would you draft on the bike if the result wasn't a penalty, but merely taking you out of contention for awards? 

I would imagine that USAT made the rule since there are many people who are not comfortable in the water and it does tend to be the one predominant part of the sport that gives people the most uncertainty.  But they also recognize the physiological issues and as such do not allow anyone to wear one over 84 (as listed in the rule I posted) to avoid overheating.  I've personally done a practice 4,400 in the pool in my wetsuit before IMFL.  The pool temps were around 80 - 82.  I survived ...... but I also briefly stopped every 500 for a quick drink.

As for the hypothetical?  Me personally, never.  But it would be too hard to enforce first of all, and second would pizz off people like me who would end up with a train behind them.  and the energy savings from a swim draft (which is legal) or a wetsuit buoyancy benefit (say 5 - 10 seconds per 100 in perfect conditions) are not nearly as beneficial as drafting on the bike.  All you have to do is look at the 40+ year old women setting 2:15 splits down in Clearwater for that .........

4.4 Wet suits. Each age group participant shall be permitted to wear a wet suit without penalty in any event 

sanctioned by USA Triathlon up to and including a water temperature of 78 degrees Fahrenheit. When the water

temperature is greater than 78 degrees, but less than 84 degrees Fahrenheit, age group participants may wear a wet

suit at their own discretion, provided however that participants who wear a wet suit within this temperature range

shall not be eligible for prizes or awards. Age group participants shall not wear wet suits in water temperatures equal

to or greater than 84 degrees Fahrenheit. The wetsuit policy for elite athletes shall be determined by the USAT

A few semi-relevant observations.

1. Interesting they state "without penalty" in the first sentance. Which could lead one to imply the following sentence describes the 'penalty' for wearing a wetsuit in the 78 to 84 degree range. Seems to be right in the gooey quagmire that is semantics regarding penalty/legal/rules.

2. It seems that some races always fudge one direction or the other with the temp readings. They either always want to be wetsuit legal allowed or for some reason don't want to deal with people racing with wetsuits.

3. I race at many of the same venues as lisac957 and I agree, if anyone wore a wetsuit after the offical word was given that it was too warm, they would stand out as I don't recall anyone ever doing so. As a matter of fact, the announcement usually seems to be carefully worded as "no wetsuits today" without any mention of options spelled out in 4.4 above and the race listings never show a wetsuit wearer group.

edited to fix quote formatting that seemed to be off by a /quote

One could argue the time advantages of bike drafting vs wetsuits (Someone I train with swam a 1:20 IM with a wetsuit, 1:47 without) and I know I'm not happy if a wetsuit clad swimmer grabs my feet when it's too warm to wear one, but hypothetically, you could still compare the two. If the only reason is too go faster and make it easier and the rules read:

4.4 Drafting. Each age group participant shall be not permitted to draft in any event 

sanctioned by USA Triathlon up to and including a headwind speed of 15 mph. When the wind speed is at or greater than 15 mph,  age group participants may 

draft at their own discretion, provided however that participants who draft within this wind speed range

shall not be eligible for prizes or awards.  The draft policy for elite athletes shall be determined by the USAT

Athletes Advisory Council.

Would you draft? (I may have opened a can of worms here...)

If it's legal, I wear it; if it's not, I don't. Simple as that.

never mind

Right.

And if someone has aero wheels or an aero helmet or a $5k wind tunnel tested bike it doesn't feel like it is giving them an unfair advantage?  Everyone should be on fixies with the same gearing wearing nothing but a speedo?  And you are only allowed a maximum of 5 training hours a week total for all 3 disciplines?  Glad you like to race against a level playing field ..... since there is no such thing.

And way to backhand people but with sugar on top ........ holier than thou??  Sheesh.  Gawd forbid someone should try to help others understand what is "allowed" and what isn't.  Aren't we here to help people understand the sport better and advance their knowledge and/or to learn more ourselves?

I wish we had water temperatures near 78.1 !!!! My 2 OWS races had water temps of 59 and 66 and they were in June and August in lakes !!!

78. I'm certainly not winning anything, but IMO, that's the standard for "legal".

+1

An here in South Florida is not usual temps below 78...except by this time....from Nov to March...

I'll be different.

I pray for water temperatures in the 80+ range...so that I can be comfortable without a wetsuit, but if its 83.9, I'll wear the wetsuit.  I won't be eligible for awards anyways, and perhaps my swim will could be a tiny bit faster, but I'll wear the wetsuit becase I AM COLD.