Great Chesapeake Bay Swim on Sunday.

Not only separate divisions but equal awards as well. For years I was thinking of doing this race however until they make separate and equal divisions, I will not. If and when I go east to race open water it will likely be NYC Swim event. I know that wetsuit use in triathlon have exposed many people to open water swimming, far more then without, however I wish the sponsors of the Chesapeake swim would recognize the growing movement of English Channel rules swims. But then why would they care, they sell out every year. ... Athletes can still wear a wetsuit up to 83.8F but won't be eligible for awards, after that no wetsuits allowed. Is that the rule being used at the Bay swim too? I freely admit that I am a cold-water wuss and will don a wetsuit when the conditions are cold (by my reckoning). But at my last OW swim when the water temp was announced in the mid-to-low 70s, I took that thing off in a hurry. Wearing it at (say) 83 degrees sounds positively dangerous, especially in a swim as long as the Bay swim. Good luck to everyone. ken, you've hit the nail on the head with your bolded statement. until there's no need for an entry lottery (not likely to happen in the foreseeable future), or heaven forbid, someone croaks because of hyperthermia, there's absolutely no incentive for them to have separate and equal awards. i believe this is the first year they even mentioned that warm water + wetsuits = maybe not the best idea. they're quite content to discourage wetsuits in order to pack people into the event. chris, there's no water temp rule for this swim. the only division of awards is top 3 overall by gender, top 3 overall no wetsuit by gender, and then top 3 age group by gender. so unless you plan on being either top 3 or top 3 with no wetsuit, there's zero competitive reason to forego the wetsuits. and i think the no wetsuit awards are relatively recent (as in within the last 7 years, as i don't remember that category the first few years jeff did the swim).

Not only separate divisions but equal awards as well. For years I was thinking of doing this race however until they make separate and equal divisions, I will not. If and when I go east to race open water it will likely be NYC Swim event. I know that wetsuit use in triathlon have exposed many people to open water swimming, far more then without, however I wish the sponsors of the Chesapeake swim would recognize the growing movement of English Channel rules swims. But then why would they care, they sell out every year. ... Athletes can still wear a wetsuit up to 83.8F but won't be eligible for awards, after that no wetsuits allowed. Is that the rule being used at the Bay swim too? I freely admit that I am a cold-water wuss and will don a wetsuit when the conditions are cold (by my reckoning). But at my last OW swim when the water temp was announced in the mid-to-low 70s, I took that thing off in a hurry. Wearing it at (say) 83 degrees sounds positively dangerous, especially in a swim as long as the Bay swim. Good luck to everyone. ken, you've hit the nail on the head with your bolded statement. until there's no need for an entry lottery (not likely to happen in the foreseeable future), or heaven forbid, someone croaks because of hyperthermia, there's absolutely no incentive for them to have separate and equal awards. i believe this is the first year they even mentioned that warm water + wetsuits = maybe not the best idea. they're quite content to discourage wetsuits in order to pack people into the event. chris, there's no water temp rule for this swim. the only division of awards is top 3 overall by gender, top 3 overall no wetsuit by gender, and then top 3 age group by gender. so unless you plan on being either top 3 or top 3 with no wetsuit, there's zero competitive reason to forego the wetsuits. and i think the no wetsuit awards are relatively recent (as in within the last 7 years, as i don't remember that category the first few years jeff did the swim).