What should USMS do about the suits?

Since the textile has to be porous - a fabric made of neoprene won't trap air. It also won't have the seamless surface of current coated suits. Neoprene is also not as strong as spandex ("Lycra") so a textile made of woven neoprene would have less compression than today's non-coated suits (e.g. FS Pro) unless the neoprene was thicker and heavier. Chances are good it would exceed the thickness rule and it might be noticably heavy. Isn't the current thickness rule 1.0 mm though? The current B70 is only .5 mm.

Is it my imagination or isn't it a tad arrogant to think that the USMS recommendation should be the one that FINA adopts? The measure was adopted by a slim margin within our own organization, which would seem to give it even less weight. There is a world full of masters swimming organizations out there, so is ours necessarily more powerful? I don't think we've seen the end of this. I don't think it had anything to do with power or arrogance. It was a recommendation. They didn't heed it. FINA adopted the USA-S recommendation for elites, so it isn't like it hadn't happened before. As far as the recommendation being "adopted by a slim margin within our organization," that isn't true. It wasn't even voted on, at least, not by the delegates. I would imagine there was a vote within the Rules Committee and any others that were involved in crafting/submitting the recommendation.

And since "textile" hasn't been defined (has it?), I wonder how long before neoprene is woven into fabric? Since the textile has to be porous - a fabric made of neoprene won't trap air. It also won't have the seamless surface of current coated suits. Neoprene is also not as strong as spandex ("Lycra") so a textile made of woven neoprene would have less compression than today's non-coated suits (e.g. FS Pro) unless the neoprene was thicker and heavier. Chances are good it would exceed the thickness rule and it might be noticably heavy.

Good article from Tony Austin here www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/.../22352.asp regarding the two different tech suit factions. Even has a part for non-competitors such as Galen: "...or the slower lanes with the softest intervals. There you will find the swimmers wearing the open-water goggles because they take longer to fog up, fins that are a foot long so they can go swim faster, and if they are really ambitious, they may have hand-paddles that are the size of a pizza."

Interesting article until the end,then the DQ them idea,which seems stupid.If these swimmers are there for there team,then any points they score wouldn't count.If this is really an issue(and if the Bureau recommends that Masters follow the "elite" rule) then USMS could say "only swims in FINA approved suits will be eligible for TT or records." then the "non-elite" Masters could wear whatever.I'm not saying this is a good idea,just better than a DQ.(I also propose my pool fairness rule:"tech suits may be worn in any pool that is less than 4' deep for more than 20' ".)

Good article from Tony Austin here www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/.../22352.asp regarding the two different tech suit factions. Even has a part for non-competitors such as Galen: "...or the slower lanes with the softest intervals. There you will find the swimmers wearing the open-water goggles because they take longer to fog up, fins that are a foot long so they can go swim faster, and if they are really ambitious, they may have hand-paddles that are the size of a pizza." I wonder if the article is right about the FINA Masters Committee "punting" or whether they essentially had no power but to make a recommendation to the FINA Bureau. Very little has been reported about that or about the dynamics of that meeting or what authority the Masters Committee had. If they did in fact "punt" what pressures caused them to do so? My question is, why would the FINA Bureau do anything but accept the Masters Committee's recommendation? I think the answer is in the article--the suit manufacturers want somebody they can dump their remaining inventory of tech suits on. That seems like the absolute worst possible reason for deciding that the suit ban should not apply to Masters in terms of whose interests are being served. Shouldn't the swimmers get to make the decisions on what rules will govern swimming? I surely hope FINA does the right thing here.

The "right thing" is only in the opinion of the beholder. I guess, but in my view that would be to do what the Masters Committee (the swimmers) recommends. Their only other criterion for deciding is cow-towing to the suit manufacturers. Even tech suit enthusiasts should be embarrassed by that. Weren't we all complaining about how Speedo's influence over the suit rules was abhorrent?

Speedo got pistol whipped this by this last ruling, which was only fair. All the suit companies should play by the same rules. If B70, arena, tyr can't have their full body suits, then speedo shouldn't either. I'm certain Midas agrees with this part. It isn't what he was alluding to, however. Speedo, if I remember right ('cause it's been a long time now) was complaining about the polyurethane suits coming into vogue and they were standing there with their mostly "woven" suit, behind the blocks, trying to figure out how to slow down the competition. :violin: Because of Speedo's attempts to control the rules, (to affect other suit makers), now look what we may get - nuttin honey.

I wonder if the article is right about the FINA Masters Committee "punting" or whether they essentially had no power but to make a recommendation to the FINA Bureau. I *think* -- but do not know for a fact -- that all they could do was recommend. While I do think the masters world seems more divided on the suit issue than other swimmers, I didn't think the article made much sense. What exactly was he recommending, that slower swimmers should be allowed to use the suits but not (say) Top Ten swimmers? But more questionable (in my mind) was the assumption that new or less competitive swimmers would be the most eager to use the suits. Really? I've always felt that the majority of enthusiasm for the suits came from among the 10% that go to nationals and chase TT listings and records.

I'm certain Midas agrees with this part. It isn't what he was alluding to, however. Speedo, if I remember right ('cause it's been a long time now) was complaining about the polyurethane suits coming into vogue and they were standing there with their mostly "woven" suit, behind the blocks, trying to figure out how to slow down the competition. :violin: Because of Speedo's attempts to control the rules, (to affect other suit makers), now look what we may get - nuttin honey. I didn't want them controlling the rules to their sole benefit and I don't want them controlling the rules to the mutual benefit of swimsuit manufacturers when the committee representing the actual swimmers has definitively come down on the other side of the issue. What they may (and should) get is nuttin. What WE may (and should) get is what our representatives voted for--parity with the elites and age groupers on this particular issue.