Hi,

Was browsing through some of the photos of last year's Mooloolaba tri and noticed none of the swimmers wearing wetsuits.. Is it normally a non-wetsuit swim??? Have no idea of water temps up that way....

Any comments appreciated!!

Cheers,
Sam

I'm not a triathlete but having just looked at the race info - water temp needs to be below 24c for it to be a wettie swim. Water temp is currently in the vicinity of 27C (well it was when i went diving at Byron a couple of weeks ago).

From memory even in May the water temp is still about 24c, so baring a major climatic events i reckon the odds favour a no-wettie swim.

Sorry Sam, Dom is right and probably not likely on that basis.

You might see quite a few "Blue Seventy" black suits - they are closest thing without breaking teh rules but a bit pricey for me for 1-2 occasions per year.

The salt water helps buoyancy though and best not to look like a seal in open water

And I think under 24* it's not compulsory for a wetsuit till even lower. That suits me as I don't have one!

wetsuit optional under 24 degrees. I think it only become compulsory when it gets under 16?

Do wetsuits really help? I have heard they can help with bouyancey? Maybe that would start to figure in swims over 1.5km - same reason wa given for them to eb used as a 1.5km swim starts to stetch the amount of time you are in the water.

I have seen some people struggle into these things and just does not seem worth it -plastic bags and the rest of it - I am a bad swimmer so any help would be good but reckon it would be another factor would need to train in.

but if wa going to tackle Half or full IM would maybe think about it

Not sure about Olys - unless it was really cold ad by then would not have one so would be too late and would not bother for sprint - you lose so muchtime in transition as it is without a wetsuit

James, i reckon for distances over 1k it's worth it for the byouancy effect but for <1kand under (sprint) i wouldn't think the time saving makes up for lost time in T1. You can get out of them pretty quick with some practice (top half down to the waist as you run, then when you're at your bike, shove you hand down the outide of each leg, then step on the thing one foot after the other for a clean take out - 10-20seconds??). in Oly, a swimmer like me (~30mins) might save 1-1.5mins?? That's becasue my legs drag along the bottom normally and with the wetty i can feel my feet kicking on top of the water for once.

Ok - maybe I will need to invest in one - I intend to swim through winter so might be a double excuse as could do some ocean swims in it too (the only reason I did not enter Moololaba was not only becuase of the longer swim but the ocean swim - did not want to tackle 2 new things at once - distance and ocean!)

I am a pathetic swimmer so sounds like it may assist my swimming as such - the recent 1k swim was hard work and in the final stages went from bad to pathetic - really lost touch - so the oly distance would be hard work for me to maintain touch with the group

does it really matter if you get one with or without sleeves? does it make a difference without them?

thanks again - your signature has similar goals to mine so will see you out on course!!!!!!

James
ocean is easier than the pool provided it's not big surf or something on the day. my issue ocean is more about 'creatures'.
i like to only see my own shadow in the water, albeit i would probably swim much faster if i had company
see you out there
PH

Most of the advice I've seen says to go for sleeves, but somepeople don't like the way the long sleeve feels.

a good-fitting and good-quality sleeved suit is faster. Most people who say they don't like the constriction in the shoulders from full-sleeves hasn't been fitted properly IMHO. If you have the right fit, a good wetsuit has the right flex to feel like it actually promotes the shoulder rotation

nothing wrong with the sleeve-less suits - they just produce more drag than a full-sleeve