In some ocean races in South Africa, its rules that governed wetsuit usage dictated that wetsuit swimmers receive a 1-minute time penalty for every 1 km swam.
Other open water swims where wetsuit swimmers and non-wetsuit swimmers compete in the same division have different time differentials (e.g., 60-90 seconds per 1.6 km swam).
But there is no precise differential that makes a race between wetsuit swimmers and non-wetsuit swimmers fair for the following reasons:
• Wetsuits give different advantages to swimmers of different speeds. That is, a wetsuit will generally assist slower swimmers relatively more than faster swimmers.
• Wetsuits of different configurations and different thicknesses give different advantages to swimmers.
• Different advantages are gained depending on the water surface conditions and water temperatures. That is, the rougher and colder it is, the greater the differential generally is.
The Daily News of Open Water Swimming: Wetsuit vs. Non-wetsuit Differentials In Open Water Swims
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