Any chance of getting one of these suits for my speed board (Apologies in advance as this topic has been discussed in detail adinfinitum) What was the previous consensus regarding this technology for board surfaces i.e. would it work at much faster speeds than swimming?

Ian Thorpe's 400m freestyle and Inge de Bruijn's 100m butterfly world records were two of the oldest in history yet both fell to a couple of European nobodys wearing new generation swim suits.

German Paul Biedermann swam his final 100m 1.75 seconds faster than the great finisher Thorpe ever could.

Remember, this was a record that the sport's greatest ever swimmer Michael Phelps took one attempt at and gave up - he knew it was impossible to beat.

Now a 22-year-old German who has never been ranked inside the world's top 20 before this year is the best ever.

Even he admitted he would not have beaten Thorpe by 0.01s if not for his shiny new Arena X-Glide.

Does anyone know how they work?

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NotWal said...

Does anyone know how they work?

There plastic, they dont hold water.
The Euro wetsuits of 70s and 80s were the same , they arnt warm . You will freeze your arse off.
Every time we went to Europe they would all buy our RipCurl suits for many $$$$.

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sausage said...

Any chance of getting one of these suits for my speed board (Apologies in advance as this topic has been discussed in detail adinfinitum) What was the previous consensus regarding this technology for board surfaces i.e. would it work at much faster speeds than swimming?

Make sure you cut the arms of the suit when fit it to your board, keep the arms though as maybe some F2 guys could use them in thier pipes. The zipper has to be on the deck side, unless you want to run an adjustable suit line.

Let me know how it workls for you

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NotWal said...

Does anyone know how they work?

I heard talk of extra buoyancy as well. If that is true and it helps them float slightly higher in the water it would be an advantage.

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NotWal said...

Does anyone know how they work?

I thought it was this:

"The structure of the shark's skin is made up of tooth-like elements and of tiny grooves running parallel with its body. The grooves somehow mute the development of turbulence in the water that's being dragged by the moving shark."

from: uh.edu/engines/epi2067.htm (plenty more on the web)

Maybe I am mistaken?

That's what helps a Great White swim at 25knots, they like chasing things out of curiosity too, like a dog chasing a car.

What helps a great white swim so fast is the warmth of their blood/metabolism, same deal for makos.

Actually I think for the suits and shark/seal/dolphin skin you are promoting turbublence and preventing flow seperation, whereas boards and boats would tend to be the opposite. I imagine with the flexible odd shape of the human body that the flow would seperate quite early thus creating alot of drag. Back when I was competing alot of guys were shaving, makes you wonder if maybe they were producing the opposite effect of what they desired.

Also another big factor imo is the warmth that the suits give you.

My understanding is that the material has a core that has airbubbles so it increases the floatation noticably.

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mr love said...

My understanding is that the material has a core that has airbubbles so it increases the floatation noticably.

Bit like an aero bar only chewy

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mr love said...

My understanding is that the material has a core that has airbubbles so it increases the floatation noticably.

You can only provide flotation by adding volume. You still have to push the same amount of water out of the way (Archimedes) so it must have something to do with either fairing and/or turbulence calming and/or friction reduction and/or drugs.

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mr love said...

My understanding is that the material has a core that has airbubbles so it increases the floatation noticably.

with the topic of sharks... super suits...entrapped air bubbles . ... floatation and swimmers... would that mean if a shark ate a super suited swimmer then it would then float or suffer from an air embolism???? hmmmmmmm food for thought..or not
Adidas and speedo and like better be careful with press releases or PETA will ban the swim suit from competition anyway....can't be too carefull now can we

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climber said...

mr love said...

My understanding is that the material has a core that has airbubbles so it increases the floatation noticably.

with the topic of sharks... super suits...entrapped air bubbles . ... floatation and swimmers... would that mean if a shark ate a super suited swimmer then it would then float or suffer from an air embolism???? hmmmmmmm food for thought..or not
Adidas and speedo and like better be careful with press releases or PETA will ban the swim suit from competition anyway....can't be too carefull now can we

When the turtles start eating them you wont be able to get them at the supermarket any more. Mark my words.