It takes a whole lot more than a few rocks and a leather strap to knock out your competition.
I think maybe just some Lycra and Yamamoto SCS coating, properly designed, sold at a better price, is a pretty good start.
And what about the B70 PointZero3??? That was introduced prior to the supposed cut off for mid-year testing/ratification but yet is not listed but yet quite a few suits introduced prior to that supposed cut-off ARE listed.
Even someone as simple minded as Geek can understand this one. NONE of B70's suits have been approved. If anyone of their suits had made it past the first part of the testing, then it would be listed. Since no B70 suit is listed...they ain't approved.
If they had been approved, B70 would have it all over their website and Dean would have made sure we knew about it.
What did we learn from today's lesson class? That's right...don't be a Geek.
Just went over and picked up a Rocket Science (approved) & a Aquasphere (not approved)
No Aqua Sphere suits are approved (or not approved) because Aqua Sphere did not submit any suits to FINA. They are strictly focused on the triathlete market and not competitive swim. They, smartly, have stayed out of this mess and remained true to their market.
Was "trapping air or water" one of the testing criteria? How was it tested and in what terms was it measured? Was this particular criteria assigned to all of the suits, each of the models, on a variety of body shapes?
Rumor has it that Shubert held them under water running from a tap while stuffing dollar bills in his back pocket.
disclaimer: i don't wear wetsuits by b-70 or any other manufacturer for swimming purposes.
Yeah we heard Clare talk about this...something about you only wearing them around the house with bunny slippers...
For information only.
Here is the French Swimming Federation communique regarding the FINA decision:
www.ffnatation.fr/.../71.pdf
In short they say that they have waited, and wanted, some ruling from FINA but they came up only now. They also say that the ruling from FINA does not contains all the information such as the list of the rejected and how and why 136 are going to be tested again in one month.
About the air trapping problem they say that FINA has not listed formally how this criteria is measured or controled.
The French federation therefore requests more information. For this the FFN lists 3 points:
1. FFN demands FINA to complete all the information regarding its decision, mainly the list of the suits that have been listed as refused for ever;
2. Requests FINA to provide a certification system (bar codes, etc), that allow the swimmers to verify which suit is OK;
3. FFN will stay alert with respect to the impact of these new measures in the homologation of the world records obtained by french swimmers during the Montpellier Nationals, and that FFN will stay on the side of its athletes so that their performances be considered OK.
4. From now on, and waiting for more information and clarification from FINA, FFN has decided that all competition in France should obey the list of 199 suits approved by FINA.
You know, after having read the testing procedure for buoyancy, I just shook my head. The machinery is complicated, expensive and will require a certified technician to perform it, not to mention quite a bit of time to perform.
I have a much better idea: Get the suit wet and throw it in the pool. If it sinks, it passes! Anybody can do it, at any pool if there's a question. Way too simple for bureaucrats, I'd bet!
