Masters Swimming: '2008 SPMA Short Course Meters Championships' are being held this weekend!

I can barely write and I can barely think right now for I swam at the 2008 SPMA Short Course Meters Championships and my brain is as tired as my arms.

Let me get this out of the way first: I did something really 'stoooopid' today that consequently had a official berate me over the PA system at the Belmont Plaza and it certainly wasn't fun.

I took a photo today of a friend on the blocks before a race and my flash went off as I took the the photo. I have been swimming for five years and I didn't know that swim start systems use a flash device for hearing impaired swimmers as a visual que to signal the start of the race.

What's ironic is that I am officially hearing impaired; (I can't hear out of my left ear), and so when the race official said no flash photography before the race start, I didn't hear him because I am HEARING IMPAIRED. So, if you were there, I was the guy that got screamed at during the womens 200 free! Also, if you are like me and didn't know about this rule or start technology for the hearing impaired - learn from my mistake.

You all are going to be seeing a lot of world record postings at Lane 9 News in the next couple of days for as many as 15 world records were set so far during this three day meet. The usual suspects too, Jenny Cook, Erik Hochstein, Jeff Cummings et al. Best part is that Jenny Cook and Erik Hochstein swim with SCAQ. I can't tell you how lucky I m to be able to swim and learn from them.

I am back tomorrow for two more events, the 100 free and and the 400 free relay. Today I swam the 200 free, the 50 free, a 200 free relay, and finally an 800 free relay.

Looking around the most preferred speedsuits were mostly older suits but for those wearing the most up to date technology, blueseventy was by far the most worn suit by masters swimmers. In one race I saw seven people on the blocks wearing the suit.

The least worn suit I saw today was the Speedo LZR: I saw only two swimmers wearing it. The buzz around the building regarding the lack of visibility was LZR longevity issues.

The Speedo Fastskin Pro II apparently is appreciated a heck of a lot more than the LZR at the masters level. People who could afford the LZR passed on it for the Fastskin Pro II. Apparently, for masters swimmers, masters swimmers want hydrophobic material and durability.

I saw three or four people wearing a TYR Tracer Light and I was one of them, a girl from San Diego set a world record in one; extraordinary swimmer too. I set a personal best in the 50-free with a time of 28.54. Then, completely exhausted I swam a 200-free in the evening in a time of 2:29.00 which was roughly the same time I swam in the morning when I was fresh.

I am wearing the Tracer again tomorrow in both the 100-free and the 400-free relay. and then I will write a review. So far I feel very positive about my $344.00 purchase but I wan to see if my personal best and swimming near my personal best in the 200 was a fluke.

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.

Close up on the 'TYR Tracer Light' material

I found this on the TYR page with the results of their sponsored swimmers at the the 2008 Toyota Grand Prix of Swimming: [Link]