Time savings using a wetsuit

I have never raced in my wetsuit only trained in it and absolutely love it.  Probably 10-15secs.  Assuming the low end of 10 seconds on a HIM course I would save about 200 seconds or 3.5 minutes.  Not a huge amount considering only 30-40 minutes of a 6-7 hour race is finished.

I have also heard that the faster you are the less speed gains you will get.  The fact that the wesuit helps bring your legs up to the surface and makes you streamline will help a 3:00/100 swimmer more than a 1:10/100 swimmer.

I saw a  2 minute difference with a wetsuit on in a 1.6 mile lake swim this summer. 38 minutes without the wetsuit and 36 minutes with the wetsuit. It was a much easier swim with the wetsuit on. This was a non scientific test and the swim without the wetsuit was sandwiched by a 25 mi bike ride which probably took a little steam out of the engine.

The big thing about swimming with a wetsuit is the added buoyancy is free rest! You can relax much easier swimming at the same speed. 

Good answers, and truedat.

Also, even the few mm you're adding to each side of your arms (assuming a full wetsuit) significantly increases the area of your "paddles" (arms) -- bigger oars, better propulsion. It's harder to get your arms through the water, though ... must get used to it.

It depends.

If you are a good swimmer not much if you are a bad swimmer lot's. A wetsuit compensates for a lack of balance and flotation.

Worth bearing in mind the average triathlete swims with the equivalent ability of a 9 year old pool swimmer.

Don't believe me go to your local Y and watch these kids very humbling indeed! 

I did a little test on this back in July 2005...7% faster w/wetsuit. I'm a BOP swimmer....I found what I wrote in my training blog about it.

"Did laps w/o wetsuit to Mosedales...
2:53, 2:56, 2:47, 2:50
TOTAL seconds 167, 170, 173, 176
With wetsuit yesterday
152, 155, 159, 160, 162, 170
W/O doing math...looks like avg. w/wetsuit was 161, w/o wetsuit 172 or about a 10 second time savings...or about 7% faster.
Oh Yah...made my swim goal this month tonight!! "

I once did a test over the 1/2 IM distance (1.2 miles).  Anyone who knows me, knows that my swim times are so consistent that it's ludicrous.  Anyway, with the wetsuit, I was over 4 minutes faster.

Good luck trying to quantify that measurement - too many variables. MUCH easier to point to a definate number that you are faster with the suit than without. 

It will be hard to quantify, but as others said, it's enough to justify it.

In my case, just before my IM this spring, in a 1000meter TT:

without wetsuit: 20:20

with wetsuit: 16:36

That is a BIG difference.

tom

applied to a shorter distance, but at least a "hard look" at it:

http://www.dobkanize.com/LongArticleWetsuit.asp