Ban the tech suits?

Hey my friend, I am amazed a swim dealer said our suit would be banned etc and to claim buoyancy astounds me. Our suit is well below the FINA levels (Old and new). If you wish to ping me a private message then I can call the dealer and ensure they have not been told something that is untrue. Many thanks. Deano

LIST OF APPROVED MODELS: FINA will publish a list of approved models. The publication is without prejudice to the fact that criteria and conditions of approval must be effectively met by products in use www.fina.org/.../index.php

Jim, it's better to have loved and lost....

The B70 does NOT make any difference in performance whatsoever. :LMAO: I am currently on Day 4 of a Zpak of antibiotics. I have bronchitis and a sinus infection. I have also put in A LOT of yards this month and my usual dryland. I am completely broken down. That being said I just got my B70 in the mail. I HAD to go to the meet today. I entered five events, swam the first 2, as I couldn't breathe very well, and went home. Last month I swam 200 *** and went 2:fifty (my five key isn't working!). Today I went 2:39. Last week I went 1:09 in my 100 back, today 1:06.1. No, the suit makes no difference. Again, :LMAO: :LMAO: :LMAO: :LMAO:

I suspect the upper limit of material will be just above the LZR so it will stay legal. And if that happens I really hope the swimming community greets the ruling with a universal Bronx cheer!

When Jim Clemmons joked that getting into better shape and not the suit made the difference, adding "this is my story and I'm sticking to it," I think he was clearly winking and nodding at a certain disingenuousness. Yes, to a slight degree I was being disingenuous. The suit helps - a bit. But when the Victor came out, it helped. The FSI helped, the FSII helped more so I don't where folks are going to attempt to "draw the line" exactly but it appears steps are being taken to do so. People are spending SO MUCH TIME discussing it that the time would be better spent doing something more productive. You don't really want Leslie to take time away from her family to develop a chart to help justify a suit purchase, do you? Take my word - if you've got a few bucks left over when the process is completed, get yourself one. You'll enjoy it.

Leslie, can you recall your first meet that you used a B70? Since you only swim USMS meets, there should be a list on your USMS member page of all your times in all events before and after B70 wearing. I would like to see the data. Consider posting to your blog the complete list of sanctioned times (and you can include the ones that you did that weren't sanctioned after the fact) in each event you have swum with and without a B70, indicating type of suit. Obviously, there are other factors involved--time in the season, how good your training that year was, injuries, etc. But it would still provide an interesting glimpse into the general trends with this particular suit. If, for instance, over the past 5 years, 80 percent of your best times were in a B70, and 20 percent were in another suit, that would indicate something different than if it was 50-50, say. Or if all your best times were in a B70, then something different still. Please do not get me wrong. You and everyone else, from CremePuff to Michael Ross, who have done extraordinary performances in B70s are extraordinary swimmers regardless of suit. But I suspect the suit does make a greater difference than most of us would like to think it does, because that would take just a little luster off the personal glory halo. When Jim Clemmons joked that getting into better shape and not the suit made the difference, adding "this is my story and I'm sticking to it," I think he was clearly winking and nodding at a certain disingenuousness. PS depending upon the degree of my bankruptcy post-audit, I had hoped to scrimp up for a B70 myself. I would love to try one out and see if it would let me drop a bit of time here and there. But if it's going to get outlawed, I don't want to waste the money to try to bank some good times between now and the day of official illegality, say 2010--then spend the rest of my dotage wondering why I suddenly got so much slower.

Rich if you had bought one size larger you could wear it as a training suit. Most tech suit buyers buy them one size smaller then they should for durability. When you squeeze into the tight fitter they wear out faster. Most of the tech suit companies will tell you buy a size smaller then you should if you are competing in a tech suit.

I don't believe FINA will ban impermeable material,only limit it.I suspect the upper limit of material will be just above the LZR so it will stay legal.LZR has less impermeable area than B-70.B-70 may need to make slight modifications in material,but I suspect their suits will evolve. Given that the LZR is faster than the B70 (check # WRs and prevailing opinion), it seems odd that the MORE performance enhancing suit would stay legal and the less performance enhancing suit would be banned. Looks like the monopolist wins in this situation. Makes no sense to me. Wouldn't be surprised if B70 sued. The "rules" may possibly be unfair. It will be interesting to see the fall out. I'm sure B70 will evolve, as Allen notes. Jimby still thinks all PBs necessarily reflect B70 use, even if you've improved your prior B70s times ... The USS swimmers will have more trouble going back to slightly less performance enhancing suits than us masters, I fear.

Pains me to agree with both Gull and Pablo.