swim skin question

kellyd

I watched Coach P's webinar last.  When he was talking about wetsuit legal temps and to take serious consideration about wearing a wetsuit if its above 76 deg so we don't lose 4 lbs of water sweating to death - I started wondering about my old swimskin that I've never gotten to wear for a race. (Water temp yesterday for Mirror Lake was 74).

I purchased a Rocket Science Sports swimskin in the summer of 2010 for IMLOU, got injured 3 days before the race and couldn't compete - revenge and redemption on that injury is my one thing for The Line   My question is how on earth do I know if its legal  with the new rules.  I don't remember the exact name and I have no idea what the materials are.  It doesn't cover the neck or shoulders or knees - I just don't know about the natural textiles that it's supposed to be made of.  I emailed the company after trying to call and not getting an answer.  I also looked up a list of legal swim skins by Rocket Science but again - I have no idea what the name of mine was, so that didn't help me.

Does it only matter if I wanted to compete for a Kona slot (I don't)?  Or would I be DQ'd if I wore it?  Thanks!

 

John Withrow

If you're not vying for a Kona slot AND the water temp is high enough that you cannot wear a wetsuit if you were trying for a Kona slot, but not so hot that normal AGers are allowed to wetsuits if they want to (just like 2011 at Placid) then you should be allowed to wear any swimskin you want. If it is above a certain temp (I think 80 degrees, but not 100% sure), then NOBODY is allowed to wear a wetsuit (like IMLou most yrs) then only WTC legal swimskins would be allowed for anyone. To my knowledge, this has never happened at Placid.

kellyd

Thanks John! I'm bringing it just in case then

manninj1

The absolute wetsuit cutoff is 83.8 degrees so I don't think we'll have to worry about that.  I've got the same Rocket Science swim skin (I think they only make one).  I've never seen a list any of Rocket Science's gear on the prohibited list from WTC.  That said, temps are supposed to drop as we head toward the race and the water has been below 76.1 so we're probably in good shape.

mgraffeo

Overnight lows in Lake Placid are going to be in the low 50's and high 40's for race week. I'm not too concerned about water temp in Mirror lake (yet).