Wetsuits

1543. That was the year many historians date the transformation of science from primitive and dogma-based to that which is modern and empirical. In that year two important books were published. One was De Humani Corporis Fabrica, the groundbreaking and breathtakingly beautiful woodcuts by the 28 year-old Flemish anatomist Andreas Vesalius. The other was Copernicus' De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium, outlining his theory of a solar system revolving about the sun.

In its own small way, triathlon had it's version of the same. You can date triathlon's technical coming of age to the year 1987, and the two occurrances that differentiated this sport from other sports already in existence. During that year, we saw the first use of the triathlon handlebar (followed shortly by the bike made specifically for its use). Fast forward to today, and we see an interesting irony: tri bikes marketed to road racers, instead of road bikes marketed to triathletes. But I digress...

And of course we saw the first tri wetsuit in 1987. Prior to then the swim was cold, wet, slow and perhaps slightly less safe. There were few triathlon products up 'til that point, just products made for other sports and marketed to triathletes.

Among triathlon wetsuits, this is the ape. The missing link. All wetsuits spring from Quintana Roo. This Fall (of 2006) marks 20 years since the first QR wetsuit prototypes were tested in a pool by pro triathletes Tom Gallagher (now a chiropracter) and Mike Fillipow (a teacher and cross country and swimming coach at Long Beach Poly High School). How time flies.

Quintana Roo continues, 20 years later, to be among the industry leaders in wetsuit sales and technology. The patterns are good, and have always been among the best in the tri wetsuit category. Also, the materials will be first-rate, the service and warranty cordial and prompt.

QR's entry level suits are its Ultrajohn (sleeveless) and Ultrafull (long sleeve) suits (at left). An argument can be made that these represent both QR's best value, as well as the best value in the entry-level category. The argument goes like this: what's unique about QR -- its great patterns, excellent U.S.-factory workmanship, warranty service, and proprietary features (zipper style, neck design) -- you get at every QR price category, so why pay more? Further, QR's rubber thicknesses are the same throughout its line, so you get more or less the same flotation whether you spend $259 (the price for an Ultrafull) or $499 (Supersuit).

Alternatively, many of the other brands get stingy on rubber thickness at the entry level price, and some companies offer no 5mm rubber at all in their circa-$200 wetsuits. So, although QR's value-priced sleeveless suit (Ultrajohn) is, at $209, higher by $30 than some of the other johns that can be had, it's still got power windows, a sunroof and side air bags.

Next up are QR's Hydrojohn and Hydrofull which, to keep the metaphor going, gets you leather heated seats and the high fidelity 6-CD changer for the least amount of money. What you get for $299 and $399 for john and full respectively are QR's (and Yamamoto's) upper-end rubber. Are these suits going to be faster than the Ultra -john and -full? It's debatable. The best attributes embodied in these models are their greater comfort, softer feel and more compliant fit (solely due to the rubber used). While the Hydrofull is made using the same pattern at the Ultrafull, its softer rubber will yield more, and will be a good option for one having difficulty fitting comfortably into QR's athletic-cut patterns.

QR's best suit is its Supersuit ($499) and those who have it love it and rave about it. It's made of the softer, pliable rubber described above, but with a twist (not a twist, actually, but a smash). If you take this (or any blown rubber) and smack it with a die, you can make a permanent impression in it, and some of the rubber in the Superfull has had this done to it. These parallel lines make for a crease, and in the same way you'd smack a piece of cardboard with a press to make a crease (that's the way corrugated cardboard boxes are made) the Superfull has these creases placed in strategic locations in order for the suit to have more stretch in certain areas (like the shoulders). The trick is to do this in the right spots, but not to have too many of these creases, because if you do the buoyancy of the rubber is reduced. As previously stated, owners of Superfulls rave about the flex in the shoulders.

Here's the thing about QR. There is one factory in the U.S. that makes top-quality tri wetsuits, and this is it. Its workers are the best in the world and gluing and blindstitching very thin smoothskin rubber. It also takes care of its own warranty in its own factory, so if you're in North America you're going to be happy with how warranty and repair issues are handled. In that sense, QR is to tri wetsuits what Trek is to bikes. These intangibles are perhaps worth a few extra dollars.