It looks like the Nationals in Puerto Rico were a lot of fun. The reports by Rob Butcher were great, the weather looked good, everyone said they had a great time.... but, let's face it, the swimming was slow. There were only 8 world records by men and 7 by women. I am not a stats guy, but I think that is the lowest number of world records at a Nationals LCM meet since I started Masters swimming in 2002.
We know why. We decided to disallow the old tech suits. They help us swim faster. Purists say that is why they were disallowed. No advantage should come to us from our "equipment" seems to be the mentality. Why not? If we applied the same mentality to Track and Field they would not use cleats, would run on cinder (or dirt), pole vaulters would be using bamboo or steel poles, etc. etc. The purist argument strikes me as lame.
How did this happen? After the Worlds (was it last year?) and Biedermann soundly beat Phelps in the 200 free Bowman began talking about holding Phelps out of meets as long as the Jaked and B70 type suits were allowed (he didn't seem to mind when Phelps had the latest tech suit in his LZR at the Olympics....). Lots of folks were fretting over all the new world records. People were paying a lot of attention to swimming. This was bad? I guess it seemed so to some and FINA (we don't really know all the pressures/threats that were brought to bear) decided to ban the "rubberized" tech suits and not allow men to cover their upper body.
Now, the older we get the more loose skin we have and the more resistance we create with our "flabs" in the water. Younger, elite swimmers may not have quite the same problem. US Masters Swimming could have decided that while FINA and US Swimming disallow the old tech suits, we Masters will allow them. What would happen? Actually, from time to time, we would have elite swimmmers drop in to compete in a Masters meet--for fun--to see how fast they could go in a full body tech suit. And that would be entertaining and exciting; plus, we'd still be swimming fast.
The argument that they cost too much is weak since all the suit companies selling the new legal racing jammers charge almost as much for jammers as they did for an entire body suit!
I think it's good for our sport that swimmers can age up and aim to break a world record. Sure, it's an "age-group" record but it feels good and it makes for an exciting meet when this is happening. This is much less likely now.
I love to swim and look forward to competing again but, to me, it just never made sense to disallow the equipment that let us swim faster. We will have to make do with the situation right now but let's not pretend we are swimming faster. We're not.
I bought the FINIS Hydrospeed 2 jammers, they fit me well, but let me get back to you after this weekend. I worry about fragility, they seem a little thin. Right now I can get them for about $70 thru a local store.
I still have a pair of Tyr Tracer Light jammers that cost me about $100. They are good jammers but what I find noteworthy is that they are pretty durable; I've used the same pair for 4 taper meets and they probably have some more life in them. But it seems like they've jacked the price up recently.
I used Aquablade jammers some time ago and liked them okay. You need to size down and they aren't as durable as the Tracer Lights, but they are also pretty cheap.
FS-Pros were hit or miss for me. Sometimes they didn't fit well. And the drawstring was prone to breaking.
And for in-season meets, I'd just wear briefs...Thanks. I've contemplated the hydrospeeds, but not yet tried the Tracer Lights. Will have to check those out.
Too bad I didn't keep around some of my gently used paper-suit briefs from the 80s!
I bought the FINIS Hydrospeed 2 jammers, they fit me well, but let me get back to you after this weekend. I worry about fragility, they seem a little thin. Right now I can get them for about $70 thru a local store.
I still have a pair of Tyr Tracer Light jammers that cost me about $100. They are good jammers but what I find noteworthy is that they are pretty durable; I've used the same pair for 4 taper meets and they probably have some more life in them. But it seems like they've jacked the price up recently.
I used Aquablade jammers some time ago and liked them okay. You need to size down and they aren't as durable as the Tracer Lights, but they are also pretty cheap.
FS-Pros were hit or miss for me. Sometimes they didn't fit well. And the drawstring was prone to breaking.
And for in-season meets, I'd just wear briefs...Thanks. I've contemplated the hydrospeeds, but not yet tried the Tracer Lights. Will have to check those out.
Too bad I didn't keep around some of my gently used paper-suit briefs from the 80s!
