Ban the tech suits?

Deano, How will the B70 do re the 2010 requirements on percentage of permeability? I've got a $390 investment in your suit and would hate to see it wasted in the year I age up! Rich

Deano, How will the B70 do re the 2010 requirements on percentage of permeability? I've got a $390 investment in your suit and would hate to see it wasted in the year I age up! Rich Sounds like you can wear it until at least 2010. Doesn't the LZR have some non-permeable fabric as well?

They say it is psychologically easier to be born blind and not know what you are missing, than to spend part of your life seeing and then lose your sight. Along these lines, I am wondering if we who have never raced in LSRs or B-70s will suffer less from our less stellar personal records than those who have set same in suits that eventually they can no longer use? If LSRs, B-70s, Tracer Lites, and the like are outlawed, which looks inevitable, will there be any asterisks placed on records set by swimmers using these suits? I wonder if the flood of world records last year will usher forth a long drought in the coming years? Dare I say it? Has there been a bubble in swimming times, and has this bubble burst? And will masters who did sensationally in such suits, especially if they fail to come close to these times in tomorrow's legal suits, feel perpetually disappointed in their "decreased" ability? Or will they get by dreaming happily about how great they once were? Such, in any event, are the musings of the born blind...

They say it is psychologically easier to be born blind and not know what you are missing, than to spend part of your life seeing and then lose your sight. Along these lines, I am wondering if we who have never raced in LSRs or B-70s will suffer less from our less stellar personal records than those who have set same in suits that eventually they can no longer use? If LSRs, B-70s, Tracer Lites, and the like are outlawed, which looks inevitable, will there be any asterisks placed on records set by swimmers using these suits? I wonder if the flood of world records last year will usher forth a long drought in the coming years? Dare I say it? Has there been a bubble in swimming times, and has this bubble burst? And will masters who did sensationally in such suits, especially if they fail to come close to these times in tomorrow's legal suits, feel perpetually disappointed in their "decreased" ability? Or will they get by dreaming happily about how great they once were? Such, in any event, are the musings of the born blind... 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.

Some much fuss... I feel sorry for anyone who feels they will be taking a step back if the rules are changed and the current generation of suits is banned. Swimming to me is about so much more...sure times are part of the equation but I swam/raced just fine before the suits and I'll continue to swim/race with whatever is allowed next.

Pains me to agree with both Gull and Pablo.

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.

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.

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.

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.