Tech Suit Compromise

Q: who cares what the rest of the world does? A: anyone with a valid passport and a visa card. countries that drive on the left: Anguilla Antigua & Barbuda Australia Bahamas Bangladesh Barbados Bermuda Bhutan Bophuthatswana Botswana British Virgin Islands Brunei Cayman Islands Channel Islands Ciskei Cyprus Dominica Falkland Islands Fiji Grenada Guyana Hong Kong India Indonesia Ireland Jamaica Japan Kenya Lesotho Macau Malawi Malaysia Malta Mauritius Montserrat Mozambique Namibia Nepal New Zealand Pakistan Papua New Guinea St. Vincent & Grenadines Seychelles Sikkim Singapore Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa Sri Lanka St Kitts & Nevis St. Helena St. Lucia Surinam Swaziland Tanzania Thailand Tonga Trinidad & Tobago Uganda United Kingdom US Virgin Islands Venda Zambia Zimbabwe Dave, you don't have time to be wasting with that much useless trivia when you need to be swimming miles upon miles upon thousands of miles for the channel crossing. Now, get your butt back to the pool/lake/ocean/flume...and SWIM MAN SWIM!

I think that everyone needs to move on from these tech suits. Enough already. I agree, Tom. No reason to leave the door half open. Let FINA make their decision and then USMS should follow it immediately. The idea of having different suits allowed for different courses is, frankly, bizarre.

I like the same suit rules for all 3 courses as well. Imagine how much more we would have to complain about! "Well, if I could have worn my B70 for long course I would have got a better time." :blah: :blah:

Eric, I'm 60 and I don't embrace 500 yards free!! In high school in the early 60's the long distance event in freestyle was 400 yards. Sometime in the late (I think) 60's it changed to 500. I don't like that distance. 400 is nice and even. You go two hundred, then another 200, piece of cake. But a 500 is uneven. OK, I said it and now I feel better!:applaud:

As much as I hate to agree with people that want us to go back to briefs and jammers, I think we should have the same suit rules for all three courses. Oh Wook - You know we probably will... But sure is good to have another opportunity to address the fact that NO ONE in the world cares or recognizes the American created short course yards meets & times!

NO ONE in the world cares or recognizes the American created short course yards meets & times! Good point. Let's allow fins and paddles, too, since no one else cares :) Seriously, people in the US do care. Most of us think in terms of SCY. When we swim SCM or LCM most of us think "I wonder what that converts to ?" For now the majority of pools in the U.S. are yards, so I think we're stuck with SCY competition for the forseeable future. I don't think we need to make it a freak show just because no one else is using this course length.

What suit did you wear that was illegal? The b70 is perfectly legal for us. I wore the B70 and loved it...It will be illegal unfortunately. btw- Question for those in the know: What happens when you show up for your heat in an illegal suit. Can you swim and get DQ'd? Not be allowed to swim or do they arrest you on the spot?

Allen- Bottom right drawer, baby blanket- right next to it is my B70. Gotta be a coincidence that you made that analogy!!! :D The baby blanket has lasted almost 40 years. I don't think the B70 would fare so well.

Oh Wook - You know we probably will... But sure is good to have another opportunity to address the fact that NO ONE in the world cares or recognizes the American created short course yards meets & times! The fact that the majority of the elite world wants to swim here in college nullifies your argument completely.

Quote: Originally Posted by aquageek The fact that the majority of the elite world wants to swim here in college nullifies your argument completely. Word. Go back over the years and look at meet results from NCAAs, US Nationals, US Open, etc etc. Look at the number of fur'ners who swam at these meets. I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a foreign swimmer with an above-average IQ over the age of 18 who doesn't understand SCY times. Speaking here as a foreign swimmer coming to the US (and it was the same for most foreign swimmers I knew / know) : Swimming YARDS is a necessary evil when coming to train in the US. All foreign swimmer get a "phd" in time conversion during the first year of swimming here, but nobody enjoys it (the yards part that is). Besides the straight math of time conversion, it is very difficult for foreign swimmers to truly believe the depth and speed of college swimming. There are many US college swimmers who would make foreign National teams, but they sometimes don't even bother swimming long-course or are terrible at it - you just don't believe the times are real when you first get here. That's why I really liked the every 4 year meters meet at NCAAs, but they dropped that ... and after 20 years, I have still not come to terms with swimming a 500 yards Free instead of a 400, maybe I will get to embrace it in my 50s or 60s