A friend of mine who just competed in the Kona Ironman sent me the following blurb:For immediate Release- 10/11-2008
Kailua –Kona, Hawaii (from San Diego based XTERRA WETSUITS)
For the second year in a row, The Velocity Speedsuit by XTERRA WETSUITS posted the fastest swim time of the day at the Ford Ironman World Championships.
In 2007, Mark Van Akkeren posted the fastest swim split with a time of 49:50 wearing a Velocity Speedsuit. This year, Noa Sakamoto posted the fastest swim split with a time of 47:01 wearing a new version of the XTERRA WETSUITS - Velocity Speedsuit.
John Flanagan, (also wearing a XTERRA WETSUITS- Velocity Speedsuit) was only 1 second behind Noa posting a time of 47:02. The XTERRA WETSUITS- Velocity Speedsuit was victorious by more than one minute and 30 seconds faster than the next swimmer Andy Potts.
The Velocity Speedsuit is considered to be the fastest Speedsuit in the water. On 09/09/08, the Velocity won a gold medal in the European Open Water 10K Championship. The new technology behind the Velocity Speedsuit continues to dominate anything that involves water.
Website for this suit is here. It is approved by FINA for OW competitions and I can only assume that applies to pool races as well (but perhaps I'm mistaken).
My friend said that about 80% of the people competed in one of the new FINA-approved "speedsuits" (I guess this is what the OW purists refer to as "real swimmers swimming naked" but I digress...) and that the B70 was far and away the most popular.
So my question is this: if the Xterra suit is similar, and its swimmers posted the fastest times (which may only mean they are better at choosing who to sponsor), why is it that the B70 gets all the love in pool swimming? Is it because of Roque Santos? (If so I hope they are paying him a lot.)
I'm not trying to muddy the waters here...I don't think any of these suits has a HUGE effect, and I certainly don't think there is a big difference between them in performance -- if you are going to wear one, factors such as price, comfort, durability should be more important, IMO.
I am just curious about how this happened. Why not Xterra? (Other than the fact that there is no getting around the fact that THIS IS A WETSUIT.)
I purchased an XTerra early this summer (June) after comparing it to the B70 based on information on both websites and user opinions on the triathlete forums. The concensus on the triathlete forums are that these products are highly regarded. The primary reason I went with the X is because of lower cost and higher availability.
As far as material, I had the chance to do a very unscientific touch test on both suits and I believe that the B70 and X suits use the same material or something very close. I also had the chance to compare the LZR and it is a completely different material.
Both the B70 and X have very pronounced seams - as opposed to the LZR which has less pronounced seams. I'll guess that the sewn seams will be more resistant to suit bursts than the "welded" seams featured by the LZR.
The X website states that flip turns are discouraged - and that may be one reason why they have not focused on the pool swimmer market.
However, when I talked to the X rep (a former USeattle swimmer), he said that he had no problems with flip turns and had asked to have the statement modified or removed from the website. He said Xterra's primary market were triathletes and not pool swimmers.
Finally, I'll give the Xterra company high marks for customer support. When my suit arrived, it was a little big in certain areas, but a call to a very helpful rep cleared up the problem. They emailed a PDF RMA and I had the replacement in less than a week (no additional charge).
The suit is certified by FINA for pool competitions (I understand that FINA charges $15,000 to certify a new swim suit)!
I can not attest to the performance of the suit. I have not used it in a competition yet, but plan to do so next year (aging up!). I have not seen anyone wearing the X in either 2008 USMS nationals (SCY or LCM). If, however, the experiences of triathletes can be applied to pool swimmers, I expect that the suit will compensate for my age related performance decay - hopefully as much as it does for our triathlete friends ( with hydro-propulsive mechanical flaws and buoyancy issues).
I do wish these companies would put the zipper in the front of the men's suits. I had a Victor (out of business) front zipper suit which was designed for backstrokers and I miss it very much.
I purchased an XTerra early this summer (June) after comparing it to the B70 based on information on both websites and user opinions on the triathlete forums. The concensus on the triathlete forums are that these products are highly regarded. The primary reason I went with the X is because of lower cost and higher availability.
As far as material, I had the chance to do a very unscientific touch test on both suits and I believe that the B70 and X suits use the same material or something very close. I also had the chance to compare the LZR and it is a completely different material.
Both the B70 and X have very pronounced seams - as opposed to the LZR which has less pronounced seams. I'll guess that the sewn seams will be more resistant to suit bursts than the "welded" seams featured by the LZR.
The X website states that flip turns are discouraged - and that may be one reason why they have not focused on the pool swimmer market.
However, when I talked to the X rep (a former USeattle swimmer), he said that he had no problems with flip turns and had asked to have the statement modified or removed from the website. He said Xterra's primary market were triathletes and not pool swimmers.
Finally, I'll give the Xterra company high marks for customer support. When my suit arrived, it was a little big in certain areas, but a call to a very helpful rep cleared up the problem. They emailed a PDF RMA and I had the replacement in less than a week (no additional charge).
The suit is certified by FINA for pool competitions (I understand that FINA charges $15,000 to certify a new swim suit)!
I can not attest to the performance of the suit. I have not used it in a competition yet, but plan to do so next year (aging up!). I have not seen anyone wearing the X in either 2008 USMS nationals (SCY or LCM). If, however, the experiences of triathletes can be applied to pool swimmers, I expect that the suit will compensate for my age related performance decay - hopefully as much as it does for our triathlete friends ( with hydro-propulsive mechanical flaws and buoyancy issues).
I do wish these companies would put the zipper in the front of the men's suits. I had a Victor (out of business) front zipper suit which was designed for backstrokers and I miss it very much.
