Wetsuits

In the ocean (salt water) I can pretty much just lay back and will float. I have the Xterra Vortex Full. In a lake/pond/whatever else, it definitely helps a lot, but you can't just lay back and float necessarily. I'm also a bigger guy 6'6" 240# so maybe for a smaller person you'd get more buoyancy. If you can get some good quality pool work in without the wetsuit, once you put it on during an open water swim you'll notice a huge difference.

The wetsuit will provide some additional buoyancy but you should not rely on this for your safety in the water. If you cannot complete the race distance (no matter how slowly) comfortably without a wetsuit, please do not enter a tri until you have worked on your swim some more! I haven't noticed that I can float without effort in my full wetsuit in fresh water; I still have to maintain proper body position and do some amount of stroke or treading water. In fact I once somehow ended up upside down in very choppy water (?!) and the wetsuit made it harder for me to get my head back up. It's not like a life jacket that pops you back to the surface, head up. I'm a strong swimmer, but in that instance I was in a bit of a panic. (Caught in a storm with high winds on a lake and a huge swell came at me, I tried to dive under as it as I do when body surfing in the tropical ocean and it didn't work out!)

I'm fairly small and lean though; maybe different for someone with more natural buoyancy? At any rate, don't depend on your wetsuit as a lifesaving device! That being said, it does provide additional buoyancy that will make you faster than without a suit; how much difference depends on how weak your swim is. It's my experience that weaker swimmers see more dramatic gains.

I will make sure to say this right away. Yes the wetsuit will help you out a lot in the swim. It will make you faster and also provide quite a bit more buoyancy as well. That said...you are a weak swimmer as you say so here is my .02c. Get swimming. Swim more and then when you think you have swam enough...swim even more. You do not want to rely on a wetsuit to ever "get you through the swim portion of a race". If you feel that way then you are not ready to complete that race "safely".

Thanks for the responses. I have been swimming and plan to be swimming throughout the winter to improve. Last thing I am going to do is get in open water and not be able to do it. I had just heard different things on the wetsuit and was looking for answers from people who do participate.

Depends on the suit, but yes, you can "sit" in the water and stay afloat and certainly float on back; however, I would caution against counting on that fact in an open water swim etc. It's not substitute for learning to swim properly and training appropriately for your distance.

Also, practice in the suit you get- don't just swim in it first time on race day. Feels different, want to get comfortable and get confident.

My first wetsuit swim and first OWS were in the same race. I would not recommend it.

I just got a wetsuit and went for my first swim yesterday. I got the Xterra Vortex sleeveless. Water temp was 62. Yes it kept me warm and I felt much lighter in the water, but the thing that I consider the biggest was the change it imposed on my swimming form. The suit really made my butt and legs go much higher in the water which dropped my chest and head lower. I found that it was more difficult to get my arms out of the water during the stroke, and it was a bit harder to get my head in a position to breath. It made it much, much more difficult to get my head up out of the water to sight. I felt like I was swimming with a pull buoy.

+1.

Wetsuits were brought into the sport to keep you warm. Bad idea to rely on that. Some races disallow them if the water is too warm

I was also a very weak swimmer when I started triathlon. And yes, you will find a wetsuit will make your life a *lot* easier. Get yourself a 5mm suit (the thickest that is legal) and it will give you masses of buoyancy.

I weigh 170 pounds and I float very easily in my wetsuit.

By the way, one of the other posters said:

"If you cannot complete the race distance (no matter how slowly) comfortably without a wetsuit, please do not enter a tri until you have worked on your swim some more!"

I'm afraid I disagree 100% with this statement. I'm an advocate of the "in at the deep end" method!

When I started training for my first triathlon, I could barely swim 25m. 18 months later, I'm now a confident swimmer and that's the result of a couple of things. First, of course, is a *lot* of time down the pool (and some good lessons). But just as valuable was the open water experience - OW is scary the first few times and I believe you should start building OW confidence as soon as you can.

Personally, I jumped in the OW (wearing a wetsuit) when I could barely swim 2-300m. Yes, I was in a supervised session with my triathlon club but to be honest, it's mighty hard to get in trouble wearing a wetsuit. If you panic, just relax - lay back and float.

If I'd waited until I could "comfortably" swim the distance without a wetsuit, it would have been a very long time before I entered a race, Instead, I went from total non-swimmer to completing my first olympic (with ocean swim) inside 4 months.

I've now done something like 20 triathlons, every single one wearing a wetsuit. These days I *could* swim the race without a wetsuit but why should I? I'm faster in a wetsuit and it's safer - with all that buoyancy, I'm not going to drown.

Maybe one day, I will be entered in a race where it's too warm for wetsuits - but where I live (NorCal), it's not likely.

Purists will probably not like this email - you shouldn't use a wetsuit as a crutch etc etc.

I see their point - but I can tell you there are a *heck* of a lot of people like me!

Just my $0.02…you may not be as ballsy (reckless?!) as me :-)

Good luck - and welcome to the best sport on the planet!

Edited by smallard 2013-11-29 1:55 PM

Thank you for this very positive reply to the original post. I am a novice swimmer doing two very short tris this year ( I found the shortest pool swims i could find). I have not yet purchased a wet-suit but read about how they help weaker swimmers. I'm often amazed when people comment on you should not rely on a wetsuit for your tri's People do not say if you don't have a super expensive tri bike with fancy wheels do not do a try! we all try and get that edge and if you need a wetsuit go for it. The super swimmers still ride tri bikes which makes them go faster on the bike?