Best Bouyant Wetsuit for Poor Swimmers

Its called the water rover by Desoto

http://www.trisports.com/desoto-waterrover.html

All wetsuits are buoyant and will help you.

I would go for tri wetsuit that fits you best and you are comfortable swimming in.

I have a DeSoto two piece wetsuit that I love as I don't feel constricted and it is the third or fourth wetsuit I've had. The others all were one piece wetsuits.

Thanks running2far.

Outside of Desoto, are there others that have an "equivalent" wetsuit that you know of?

If you're looking for a better price for a suit of the DeSoto quality, I doubt it exists.  Also, I would be concerned about being too bouyant.  You need to be able to make some contact with the water or you're just slapping it from the top.  If you plan to kick, your legs need to be able to go below the surface without much effort.

By the way, I have a cheap sleeveless suit (Quintana Roo) that completely fixes my swim problems.  I've worn it for 3 years and when I first started I couldn't have swam the distances without it, let alone well.  As kathy said, any wetsuit would do the trick.

Edited by BikerGrrrl 2009-12-14 1:02 PM

You can read about it here
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?do=post_view_flat;post=25543...

Desoto did a ton of testing on this suit and really put a lot of thought into the design. To my knowledge there isn't an equivalent at this time.

I have the Desoto suit.  I often wear just the T1 pants.  They wear like capri pants/running tights... I like having the option to not wear the top for warmer swims. 

The bouyancy of the suit...any suit (most are 5mm in the legs), will help your position in the water.  I don't know if there is one suit that is better for a beginner.  The desoto water rover is 10mm just in the quads... it'll be more bouyant but its just a piece of equipment.  Bouyancy in general will help you become faster by correcting your position, but 10mm vs 5mm will not make you twice as fast... You always here that a beginner will feel more correction which is probably true, because there starting in a far worse position than someone that has been swimming competetivly for years.  Think of your current swimming suit or lack there of,   like riding a bulky full suspention fat tire mountain bike, then jumping on a top of the line perfectly fitted tri-bike... your gonna notice the difference.  Not because that bike is good for a beginner but because  its a great bike and you've gone from worst case to best case.  Its a huge jump in technology.  Once your on that new bike you can change components here and there but your not gonna notice a huge jump in performance.

Xterra Vortex 3 . VERYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY well priced super comfortable  and you will float for sure. With this suit on you will feel like you OWn the water

If you have a Masters coach and still need 10mm of neoprene...you need a new coach. 

Along this same thread... I have a BlueSeventy wetsuit with full length sleeves and legs. I'm a decent swimmer though open water freaks me out the first few minutes, requiring a bit of back stroke or breast stroke until I calm down.

My wetsuit issue is that I overheat horribly. The swims I've done without a wetsuit (all in wetsuit legal races) went much better. Last time I wore the wetsuit, I added a few minutes striping it off in the water, dragging it over to one of the kayaks, and handing it over before I kept swimming. Completely fine once the dang thing was off.

Are there wetsuits that circulate more water while you swim? Do other people have the issue of overheating?

(Should I start a new thread with this question or is it ok to post it here? Sorry if it's not.)

None that I know of that do it on purpose, but if you get a larger suit than you need, it'l irculate water by default.

Maybe switch to a speed suit instead? Of, if you need the security of the wetsuit and fins yourself overheating, you can just unzip it a little. Cold water on your back will cool you right down. 

I feel like my Xterra is very bouyant....AND they are having a big sale right now. WITH FREE SHIPPING!!  I'm excited about it and I'm not even in the market for one.

Jim,

Your post made me chuckle. Thanks!!!  My coach thinks it might be too much and that a regular 5MM would work just fine.

It's mainly my concern with swimming 2.4 in the ocean and the desire to be as bouyant as possible - I've never done that before. In addition, I want to use the least amount of energy for the other legs of the race and I presume being as bouyant as possible is a move in the right direction.

On the other hand, I could be completely wrong, since I'm new to this.

In just about any full wetsuit you will have to honestly try to sink. Stop moving and you will float.

Don't overthink this. If you don't believe you can swim 2.4 miles on your own perhaps more training would be a better investment than a wetsuit.

And dont think that because you wear a wetsuit, you're a woosie.  I wear one in all my races, even the ones that it's illegal.  I have a wife and 3 kids, although I can swim a mile in the pool, I have no desire to drown in a lake or ocean. 

Xterra for $99.  And I feel like a CORK in my sleeveless.

Ok, I see that you're in MN so I'm assuming that all of your swimming has been in fresh water.

If your target race is in salt water and it's wetsuit legal, the only way you can drown is by passing out face down in the water. You will NOT sink.  It's hard to imagine being that buoyant, but if you're wearing a wetsuit in salt water, you will be. 

x2, I got a zoot zeneith used and it is awesome.  I don't believe you could go wrong with any good tri wetsuit.

I don't mean to be a downer, but if you aren't comfortable swimming 2.4 miles then you might want to rethink the distance.

I assume this is for an IM? You don't want to use all of your energy freaking out about the swim and freaking out DURING the swim before the 112 bike and 26.2 run.

And salt water will really help with buoyancy.

Hehe, it would be funny to see someone show up in a survival suit!!

I have the sleeveless version - fits well - except a little tight on the throat.  Got it for $99

Edited by laundryking 2009-12-18 7:29 AM