Showdown in Westwood: 'blueseventy' versus the 'Jaked' - Erik Hochstein tests & reviews!

Erik just sent me this, I am posting it without reading it first...

The Suit Showdown a Westwood: Skin vs blueseventy vs Jaked

About the conditions - the Westwood pool is indoors short-course meters without blocks. I did do dives from the pool deck which is about 1 foot above the waterline. The timer did take my time "feet leaving the wall" or a rolling start. I did not want to go from a push because I felt a dive may be a significant part of trying the suits because of the extended underwater. There were 3 other swimmers in the lane - so I did have some waves, but everything fine otherwise.

The Contenders:

Skin has been in the business for 40 years now (at least for me :) ) - skin has been battle tested for decades used to be good enough for all swim meets. Skin can only show it's full potential though once all the hair is removed. Skin HATES all the new contenders for the most part - they represent everything that is wrong with technology and progress.

blueseventy - the new kid on the block is not so new anymore. blueseventy was the new sensation last year. He came out of nowhere and took the country by storm. blueseventy is hip and trendy - he despises anything to do with Speedo and he feels sorry for Skin for being so outdated. My version of the blueseventy is a little older and appears just a little too big right now.

Jaked - the new Italian speedster. Jaked is the Ferrari of swim suits - he fits like an Armani and performs like an Italian sports car. He looks sharp and appears to be the suit of choice for Formula 1 teams (aka top sprinters in the world).

The test:

5x50 Freestyle - 1 Skin, 2 blueseventy and 2 Jaked -- full recovery in between. It took about 5 minutes to get the blueseventy on and about 10 minutes for the Jaked. I did get plenty of rest except for the last 50, since time was running short.

The Showdown:

First swim = Skin = 25.09 -- good start, I have not sprinted all that much, so I would expect a slight improvement on this time for the next few 50s in a regular set.

Second Swim = blueseventy = 24.05 -- "Skin" is in disbelief - how is this possible and how could it be legal.

Third Swim = blueseventy = 23.92 -- "Skin" has left the pool in tears -- Jaked is just waiting for his chance. Jaked is happy to have shown his stuff - he thinks Italians should stick with food rather than speed suits. [LOLz - Tony]

Fourth Swim (after a 10 minute "battle" with the suit) = Jaked = 23.47 -- Jaked wants a check of the timing system. He believes the timer is on the take by the Italian Mafia -- all things Italian must be "connected". The time stands - the swim did not feel all that much different - but 0.45 !!!

5th Swim - not a full recovery = Jaked = 23.80 - felt tired coming home and had to breathe more - even without knowing the time, I would have guessed about 3/10 slower or so.

The Conclusion:

The Jaked has proven to be the winner in the training run -- we will have to wait for race day now....Skin is joining the Craig Lord inquisition movement and Jaked is going back to the drawing board....

Eureka: I found a very thorough review of the Jaked seedsuit!

Zwemsite.nl has a very complete and thorough review of the Jaked swimsuit that all the cool kids are wearing.

Here is a snippet from the review:

"... Our goal was to determine whether the Jaked also works in minioren and juniors on the basis of what we have seen is the answer an unqualified yes. The non-water permeable material which is made Jaked also the youngest swimmer little higher on the water so they are quickly coming. The effect seems to be greatest in butterfly and breaststroke, because the attitude in passing (somewhat diagonally relative to horizontal backstroke and free stroke) there seems to ensure that there is more upward force is created.

When asked how much it saves is no clear answer, which differs greatly per swimmer. But our expectation is that the breaststroke and butterfly 1 to 2 seconds per 50m could, with the effect sometimes can be greater in the slightly less talented swimmers. This group is often naturally deeper in the water and would therefore have benefited more from the uplift of the Jaked. ..."

Here is the link to the English version: [Link]