'TYR Tracer Light' Review: Rob of Robaquatics takes the 'Tracer Light' for a spin!

Rob goes to the Cal Tech Masters Pentathlon with his new suit and nails each event; both figuratively and literally, in style.

This weekend was the first outing for my TYR Tracer Light. Overall I am very impressed with the suit and I had a great day in the pool with it. I swam 5 events and walked away with 5 best times - one by as much as 4 seconds! All told a pretty successful outing. I swam every stroke in it so I can vouch for it across all four competitive strokes

[Link]

I had to put the You Tube in; Poor Rob was swimming in the gutter in a very narrow pool but it looks to me that he did a low 26.00 in the 50-free. Not to shabby.

L.A. Times: "Mary DeScenza deals with disappointment in the pool"

Here is the definition of character:

"...Here's how Mary DeScenza dealt with the toughest career setback of her professional life, after she failed to qualify for the U.S. Olympic swimming team at the trials in Omaha last summer.

She hit the water two weeks later and recorded some of her best times at the U.S. Open...

"It's tough. I'm not going to say it's easy to be positive all the time," DeScenza said Monday at the Southern California Grand Prix of Swimming in Long Beach. "You have to dig deep, and it really shows you what you're made of. ..."

[Link]

How many 24-year-olds think this way?

Is this the material that the 'TYR Tracer Light' and 'Tracer Rise' are made from?

It's called Nano-Tex and above is a demonstration of an attempt to stain the material with coffee. The liquid just beads up and refuses to saturate.

I saw a demo of the Tracer Light and 'Rise suits do the same thing. However, I let a pool of water remain on the material and came back 40-minutes later and the suit was still dry. I also remember words like nanotechnology being bantered about but I was to blown away by watching the water bounce around the suit like a mercury. It's my belief the Tracer may be made of this material.

Here is a link to the post where I spoke of my experience with the Tracer products: [Link]

Here is a link to the Nano-Tex website: [Link]

I saw two 'Nero blueseventy' suit failures today and now what I believe to be the fastest suit in the world, the 'Speedo LZR'

Bob Strand set a world record for his age group in a Nero blueseventy at the SPMA Regional Long Course Championships hosted by Conejo Simi Aquatics at Cal Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, CA. I don't remember his time for I was more interested in what he thought of the suit. Of course he was stoked. Results will be posted soon.

However, I saw two Nero blueseventy suits rip today in the exact same spot, a two inch tear along the seams in the upper thigh area by the gluteus maximus region

By the way, Bob Strand's suit did not fail. I learned today that if you are going to race in a Nero, be sure it is wet; less chance of tearing.

Now, as for the fastest suit in the world: I saw Erik Hockstein set a world record today in the 4x100 LCM free while wearing a Speedo LZR. It was during the opening swim of a relay in a time of 52.20. (Yes, that is blazing fast and it was fun to see.) He later swam in a Nero in the 100 free in a time 52.86.

Now I have to be fair. I did not see a TYR Tracer Light today. I was going to purchase one and wear it but scheduling factors did not permit me to make the 50 mile drive to go buy one. Also, I can't find one online yet. So I am qualifying my experience with speedsuits here. The fastest suit I have ever seen in person is the Speedo LZR. It's faster than Nike Hydra, the Nero blueseventy, former Speedo suits, former TYR speedsuits, Former Arena suits and Diana.

It is a remarkable suit but watching someone put it one on is actually stressful. Especially the zipping up part. It's like setting a mousetrap; you are afraid it will go very wrong and nail your fingers when you go to place it down on the floor.

I am seriously still looking at a TYR Tracer Light or Rise though due to the fact that the LZR has a short shelf life and the Tracer may be the only game in town in terms of quality. Now when I buy a TYR Tracer Light and if it by chance rips or tears, you will hear about it and then we all will be back to square one as to which "dope" is best.

The 'Tracer Light' is now available - I was in physical contact with a 'TYR Tracer Light' & "Tracer Rise" today.

The 'TYR Tent Sale' was today so I drove down to the O.C. hoping to pick up an Aquashift speedsuit at a 75% off discount. (Michael from SCAQ got one for $60.) Unfortunately, they were out of my size. However, it was still a very worthwhile drive since I was able to see, touch, handle and even throw water on a Tracer Light and Tracer Rise.

First impression of both suits is how little they weigh. The "Tracer Light" felt half as heavy as my Nike Hydra and the Hydra is the lightest suit I have ever worn. The material on the Tracer feels completely dissimilar as well whereas the Nike feels like old school Lycra, the Tracer Light felt more like pliable nylon. Though light in weight there was a sense of sturdiness to the material so the suit feels as if it will last a long time unlike the 6-10 races that the LZR has been stated to last.

What astonished me was how water-repellent the suits are but calling it water-repellent may be an understatement and this is why: The person who showed me the suit got a spray bottle and sprayed several tablespoons of water on the Tracer Light untill it pooled or coalesced into a blob like mercury. (Yes, I was stupid enough to play with mercury as a child so I know how it pools.) When I tried to rub the water into the fabric, it would just break apart and merge somewhere else on the suit into a silver, liquid, blob.

Now, here is the "coup de grace" regarding how water proof it is. After cracking some jokes about mercury and other states of matter, I then left the Tracers on the table to go do my business elsewhere. So, after having a conversation or two, hearing a great Mark Spitz story, running into somebody I went to high school with, exchanging email addresses, I suddenly had to know what happened to the pool of water on the Tracer Light.

Hence, I asked this person at TYR if I could see what happened. She assured me it would still be there and started cracking up. So I went back to the table and there it was: The suit was completely dry and the blob of water was still pooled in the middle of the suit waiting to be disturbed. For over an hour-an-a-half the suit totally rejected 100% of the water and seemingly the water therein would literally evaporate before it could possibly saturate into the fabric from what I observed.

Example: Look at the photo above, note the layer of oxygen surrounding the suit or look at this shot of Chloe Sutton standing post an open water race in Beijing looking quite dry.


Anyway, then I asked if I could buy one? I figured the answer would be an emphatic NO, but they said, "Sure! it's for sale right around the corner." I asked if I could get the addresses of where it sells for the blog and I was utterly accommodated. So, if you want to see, touch, wear, buy or perhaps splash water on a Tracer Light, this is where you can go:

Competitor Aquatic Supply
(714) 898-2655
15661 Container Lane.
Huntington Beach, CA 92649

I was given four more addresses but I was not able to confirm if they are stocked up yet. I will post as soon as I know. For instance Kiefer took five minutes to confirm they had a short-john but not a full suit.

TYR Athletes talk about the new 'Tracer Light'

One of the athletes is Erik Vendt who recently decided to go Speedo perhaps even before he had a chance to race in the Tracer Rise? Currently he and Larsen Jensen are not sponsored as a result of their decisions to wear Speedo.

I sincerely wonder if their decisions to bail on TYR was a result of mass hysteria in the press regarding the LZR's "magic" or that the Speedo LZR is technologically rigged? I should go look at his times post TYR and LZR and compare them.

Laure Manaudou wearing a 'TYR' suit that looks nothing like the 'TYR Tracer Light' that you can pre-order at the TYR website!

In the picture to the right, Laure Manaudou is wearing a TYR that looks a lot like the Speedo LZR yet this is not the TYR Tracer Light we see at the TYR website that you can pre-order. Apparently this is a prototype TYR completely off the radar much like the revised Arena R-Evolution Mark II that Flippo Magnini wore at the European Championships. Obviously both suits are an improvised rebuttal to the Speedo LZR. Laure Manaudou wore this TYR in her 3rd place finish this past weekend in the 400m. Her quote soon thereafter is she wants the new Arena suit.

In this article at SMH.au.com: "...

DUNKIRK, France, - Swimming diva Laure Manaudou's Olympic campaign has hit choppy waters with the world record holder ruled out of the 200m freestyle in Beijing.

Manaudou, who lost her first 400 metres freestyle race in four years on Monday, did not wear the Arena suit of her sponsor on Tuesday, but the latest suit from rival swimwear company, TYR.

Co-founder of TYR, Steve Furniss an Olympic medalist from 1972, told the New York Times that "We're kind of flattered [about Manaudou's decision] since it's such a big and important event."..."

The article also covers the numerous distractions she has had these past 12 months as well suggesting that the suit may not be the problem. [Link]

New 'TYR Tracer Light' teaser shot on the TYR homepage

Above is a nice photo of Fran Crippen looking focused and capable. TYR athletes are finishing quite strong in open water events as of late, i.e. Mark Warkentin, Fran Crippen.

TYR athletes are promoting how fast these suits dry, how efficient they feel in the water, and of course how wonderful they are. Of course they are paid to win but wearing a suit in 5k race or 10k swim boggles my mind since the suits saturate. When I wore a Speddo FS II Leggings during a 800SCM at the Pierce College Turkey Shoot meet, I felt like like I was wearing wool sweatpants after 500 meters. Now every time I see a You Tube of Thorpe, Hackett or Jensen doing a 1500, I start sweating.

Noe, for TYR athletes to wear these suits during such long, arduous swims and subsequently do extremely well, I wonder, will these suits be water resistant?

Lessons in pop culture from the swim blog "Uinnista"

"In ur base beatin' ur doodz" ;-) - Uinnista has an even funnier graphic and caption [Link]

The 'TYR Tracer Light' speed-suit is quasi-water proof?

At the TYR site is a short flash movie of the new TYR Tracer Light. According to the athletes on the video;Larsen Jensen, Amanda Weir, they hint that it is water proof since it dries so fast [Link]

All of the above pimp it quite solidly with comments about how light, how smooth, how water repellent it is and fast. I am not paid to pimp TYR but the athletes on their payroll are. I wear TYR because their suits have proven demonstrably faster than Speedo for me. In fact, I am giving my Speedo leggings away after setting three personal bests in a TYR at the SPMA Bellmont SCM Championship meet this past weekend.