Monday, August 27, 2007

What is the fastest wetsuit on the market?

When I was a kid, Olympians were not allowed to accept any sort of sponsorship cash or endorsement fees whatsoever or they would have been labeled a professional and thus excluded from the Olympic games. All athletes had to be "amateurs" rather than branding proxies.

I am moving up into the next age group next month and I want to do really well when I do the Alcatraz Sharkfest Swim, perhaps even medal in my age group. I want a really fast time and that requires a fast wetsuit. Athletes today simply wear what they are paid to wear so I can't use them as a reference.

Now here is my problem, I want a fast wetsuit. I want the Porsche or the "Formula 1" of wetsuit engineering! I want the neoprene to part the water like Moses! About.com tells me that the Desoto T1 wetsuits are the fastest but About.com is all about ad revenue and I suspect their articles are suggested by advertisers.

If I were buying a car I could go to consumer reports. I can't do that for a wetsuit. Hence, I ask you this? What is the fastest wetsuit? I know that is like asking what the fastest shoe is but shoes can be codified to thei exact strengths and weaknesses.

I wear a Quintana Roo which has this hideous logo on the front with a giant arrow incorporated into the design that conveniently points at a man's wanker. Who was the genius that approved that design!? (That is not me in the photo above but check out that awful logo. Yep, I own that suit and I want a new one.)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Please let we know your choice

Trevor said...

I wanna do the Sharkfest swim next year! I've never done an open water swim, and I have a feeling I would suck -- 1.5 miles?! Better get training...

Tony Austin said...

Trev, 1.5 miles is only 2500 yards. You would do very very well. Do ocean swim next year with us leading up to it at Hermosa to Manhattan.

Trevor said...

Absolutely! Gotta get me one of those wetsuits, though... or do I? You've mentioned you haven't always worn one in the pier to pier swims.