GEAR
ALL THE BEST EQUIPMENT FOR A BETTER SWIM
Some wetsuits now cost more than £500. That’s a huge amount of money to spend on piece of equipment that some people don’t believe is necessary, but there’s no denying that good wetsuits can improve your performance. We wanted to know more about what people are paying for – does more buck mean more bang, and are there any real bargains to be had? The only way to know objectively is to test and compare as many top-of-the-range wetsuits as we could get our hands on. So that’s what we did.
TEST CONDITIONS Ideally, wetsuits should be tested blind (i.e. all logos should be removed and the tester made ignorant of which was which). They should also be tested several times, in a different order each time, by multiple testers with different swimming styles. Unfortunately, we couldn’t do this, but we did them under test conditions, with a single swimmer carrying out all the tests in one day. The testing protocol was as follows:
1. Easy warm up (no wetsuit) 2. 216m non-wetsuit swim at target effort level. 3. 72m easy swim in first wetsuit to get used to feel. 4. 2x216m timed swims in first suit counting strokes. 5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for each wetsuit. 6. 216m non-wetsuit swim at target effort level at end of testing.
In training, many swimmers can produce a series of equal times for a set of intervals (say, 10x200m) by gradually increasing their effort through the set. People who train regularly can become skilled at this and achieve precise finishing times, as can our tester. However, the additional effort of changing wetsuits, and the different feel of each wetsuit, made this a lot harder than straight swimming. Therefore, while our testing did show differences between suits and, despite our best efforts, we are not convinced this is a totally objective measure of performance. The value of getting used to a suit should also not be under-rated. In most cases the second swim in a suit was the faster of the two, in one case by 3s. We suspect if someone attempted to repeat this exercise the outcome could change. We also suggest that speed should not be the only factor to take into account. Most swimming races are considerably further than the 216m we tested these suits over. If you’re in the water for a long time, comfort may be a much bigger consideration. In the end, the wetsuits we tested (see the following pages) proved remarkably similar in terms of performance, despite their differing approaches to design. All testing was carried out at Hampton Pool and we’d like to thank the staff there for their assistance.
WHAT ARE PEOPLE PAYING FOR... DOES MORE BUCK MEAN MORE BANG? ARE THERE ANY REAL BARGAINS TO BE HAD?
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THE GREAT WETSUIT TEST
Bewildered by the choice of wetsuits on the market? We’ve tested some of the best so you don’t have to. Speed, fit, value for money: find out whatever you need to know with our handy guide
Photo © Sue & Steve Williams
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