When you make the decision to participate in the sport of triathlon, you are faced with a myriad of decisions regarding gear. One of those items is a wetsuit and with so many choices out there it isn’t easy to know which is going to be best for you. I live in the Northeast which means that when I go open water swimming, I am almost always wearing a wetsuit. Finding the right wetsuit can be difficult and I recently had the opportunity to test the Sumarpo Women’s Vanguard 5.0MM Yamamoto SCS wetsuit.
I didn’t know what to expect when I tested out this product but what I found out was that this is an excellent wetsuit for me. I tested out the wetsuit in a chilly 64* water temperature swim. Water this cold would give me a good idea of how well the wetsuit would perform in keeping me warm.
Sumarpo Women’s Yamamoto SCS Wetsuit Product Review
Fit
According to the Sumarpo website, it should take 10 to 12 minutes to put the wetsuit on properly. When I put the wetsuit on, I found that it went on smoothly and took around that amount of time, which fits with what the website says.
One of the features of the wetsuit that I really liked was the leg length. The Vanguard Yamamoto SCS Wetsuit is designed to have the length of the leg end above the ankle to provide the athlete with flexibility and comfort. This leg length does exactly that and I appreciated it while I was swimming.
Ease Of Dressing and Removing
Putting on a wetsuit isn’t always glamorous. You’ve heard about using plastic bags and/or using a glide product to ensure that the wetsuit slides on easier. What I discovered while putting the Sumarpo wetsuit on, as well as taking it off, was the ease with which both happened. Reading the website, you find out that Sumarpo uses a highly flexible inner liner and a superfine stretch fabric throughout the body which it claims to allow the body to slide in easily. I found this claim to be true. It was convenient to put on and take off the wetsuit.
In triathlon, when transitioning from the swim to the bike in T1 the removal of the wetsuit, if there are no wetsuit strippers, can fill an athlete with anxiety. Concerns and fears about removing this wetsuit are not warranted. Easy On, Easy Off.
Buoyancy
Sumarpo uses honey-comb shaped air cells in the chest which increases buoyancy. I could feel this right away when I got in the water. One of the main reasons we wear a wetsuit is so that we can swim faster and to do that the wetsuit has to create buoyancy. This component of the wetsuit is certainly achieved by Sumarpo.
One of the items I noticed was that as soon as I got in the water the suit began to fill with that cold water. I know when wearing a wetsuit you should allow some water into the suit but it was too cold for me to do on my own but I could feel the suit absorb some water inside and that made me feel comfortable. I didn’t worry about water accumulating inside the suit. When I began swimming I didn’t think about any part of my body that was covered by the suit. My only focus was my hands, feet and face.
If you’re in the market for a new wetsuit, I would recommend the Sumarpo Women’s Yamamoto SCS Wetsuit. The pros of fit, ease and buoyancy place this wetsuit at the top of the list.