"Real swimmers don't wear wetsuits"

Ken, did you catch last Sunday's 60 minutes special on Lynn Cox (a former team mate of mine at UCSB!)? She recently swam one mile in 33 degree water off Antartica without a wetsuit, what a stud! I'm going to remind mark Gill of that fact the next time I hear him whining down at ASU about the pool temp being 80!

Gerry, so you finally found this website eh? Rumor has it that your protege (Randy) whipped up on you pretty good the last couple of races, guess that shows the dominance of the UCSB alums over you old UCLA farts! PS: Laura says hi, hope we can get out and train with you again soon (wetsuit or not)!

Ken I'm surprised such a comment would come from a coach. I'd have to take a different point of view than you guys. I'm for wetsuits in as many events as possible providing there is also a non-wetsuit category. Many comments I have read over the years from those against wetsuits appeared to be from either the elitist or the purest As a coach, one of my jobs is to encourage participation; wetsuits are simply another tool that allows me do do so. It's important for beginners to feel safe and comfortable; as they gather experience, I then encourage them to participate without a wetsuit. I have a very extensive background in open water swimming which I enjoy sharing and teaching - wetsuit allow me to do so. They also allow me the opportunity to teach many triathletes how to swim better in the ocean during their first several sessions. As admirable and accomplished as Lynn Cox and many marathon swimmers are, they represent a very small portion of participants in open water events. I'd like to see the sport grow and wetsuits can add to such.

yes Paul, Randy had an outstanding season, although it had nothing to do with his UCSB background (: Although we may be old, hopefully not washed up as of yet. He won almost every race he swam last summer, very impressive. Hopefully I'll be more competition for him this summer. Look forward to seeing you and Laura soon again

In Ocean Racing the phrase "better lucky than good" often rings true. The timing of the surf and where you happen to be can, and often times does, make the difference in the finish. I can think of at least a couple races this last season that I won due to good fortune and good surf. Yes, I do pray to the surf gods year round. As far as wearing wetsuits in a race goes, I have to side with Gerry. Participation should be the key driver for the open water races. Restricting entry into a sport by not taking advantage of available technologies (yes, wetsuits are a technological breakthrough) is asking for the sport to become archaic. I suppose the true die-hard old-timers could require everyone to wear the old swimming costumes....I mean, if were gonna do it...let's do it right! For elite competitors, at the end of the day, if everyone wears them, or doesn't, the results will end up virtually the same. Change comes to every sport...embrace it.

As much as I am against the use of wetsuits, they do have a place in the sport. Namely, when a race is for charity, I think it helps get more people involved and allows more money to be raised. Furthermore, there are people who would not be able to participate without a wetsuit due to extremely low body fat, etc. It would be nice, however, if wetsuit swimmers had a time handicap to level the playing field for competition. They did that at last years' Rainbow Channel Challenge (NJ) and it seemed to work fairly well -- at least I didn't hear anyone complaining too loudly. In an era when The Shrub and his cronies are trying to relax environmental regulations, I'd prefer to have as many people as possible with a vested interest in keeping our waterways clean.

I saw that piece on Lynn Cox too. Only she and another human have survive water at 40 degrees or lower. You and I would die of hypertherma if we tried that. Her body protects her from such cold and I think they said it had to do with how the blood flowed to one of her legs. On record she is a little taller than me and we both weight near the same range.

Sorry, I didn’t catch that episode of 60-minutes. I was probably watching Tony Soprano force some poor soul to swim with the fishes without a wetsuit. I don’t have any problem with wetsuit divisions as long as the premier race is no wetsuits. In 1999, I did my fourth Gatorman (3-mile race) at the LaJolla Rough Water Swim. That year the water temperature was around 62 degrees. For a large and popular open water race that does not allow wetsuits that was a little on the cold side for many swimmers. What I noticed was several of the top placers did not necessarily carry any extra weight on there bodies. In fact they were rather lean. Asking them if they were cold? Most responded no, or only at the start of the race. Training is key. 1. Training swims in colder water helps the body adapt. 2. On a 3-mile or shorter event, the ability to swim right at your anaerobic threshold, and maintain that speed throughout the race. This is one of the reasons I don’t like wetsuits as it allows you race without having to do the all the training. By the way Wall Street Journal “Wimp or Triathlete, You Probably Like That New Wetsuit” was actually published on September 27, 1999. Ok, how bout some strong pro wetsuit responders, I know your out there!

Randy, looks like both you and Gerry finally figured out how to get on the site (or did UCLA just get internet service)! By the way, just becuase Gerry can inflict his wrath on you from the deck doesn't mean you have to be nice and agree with him! Go Gauchos, Bruins suck!

As a new person to the sport of long distance swimming I have to say that my decision to use a wet suit to cross the bay this summer is strictly selfish. I agree that the use of a wet suit is a crutch for me and I view it as a way of helping me get across the bay but that is my goal. I do not want to win the race so that being said I agree that we should have two race categories, with and without.