Saturday, October 29, 2011

ENGLISH CHANNEL SWIMWEAR FOR RECORD SWIMS

There are two organizations that ratify and record English Channel Swims. The Channel Swimming and Piloting Federation (CSPF) and the Channel Swimming Association (CSA). Both are located in the United Kingdom. All swimmers who want to swim the English Channel for record must contact one of these organizations and pay a fee for a official observer to accompany the swimmer on their swim across the channel. The official observer will examine their swim wear and approve all items they use on the record swim. "For record" means the swimmers name will be placed on a list of all swimmers whom have successfully completed the swim. This list today contains only a few more then 1000 names. Less people have swam the English Channel then have climbed Mt. Everest.






MENS Swimsuits that are approved for Record English Channel Swims



Note that these are very brief. The smaller bikini suits are also allowed .


Longer mens suits such as regular boxer shorts and jammers ARE NOT ALLOWED By the CSA
Jammers ARE allowed by the CSPF





WOMENS Swim Suits that are approved for record swims are the basic one piece suit.













Swim Suits with any type of neoprene within are NOT ALLOWED





SWIM CAPS





The swim wear regulations state that "one standard swim cap" may be worn if the swimmer wishes to wear one.




"Standard swim caps" that have been worn by record English Channel swimmers are:








LATEX SWIM CAPS These swim caps have been manufactured since the early 1970's and are made of a thin latex rubber, they have been worn by many Channel record swimmers.







POOL OR TANK SWIM CAPS These are some of the original swim caps, made from a thicker latex rubber . They are glued together and have seams. These have been made since the early 1920's
and worn by many Channel record swimmers


SILICON SWIM CAPS These swim caps are made of a thicker silicon material then latex caps. They have been manufactured since the mid 1980's, They have been worn by many recent Channel record swimmers









BUBBLE CREPE SWIM CAPS These swim caps are made of a very thin latex rubber formed into a "air bubble " design. They are also called "waffle" swim caps. They are available in chin strap and strapless style, "half cap" and "full cap" design and both styles and designs have been worn by Channel record swimmers. They have been manufactured since the 1930's


MOLDED RUBBER SWIM CAPS These are made of a thicker rubber then the bubble crepe caps. They are available in many molded designs with chin straps or strapless and both types have been worn . They have been manufactured since the 1920's and worn by many Channel record swimmers.





SWIM CAPS THAT ARE MADE OF NEOPRENE OR HAVE NEOPRENE IN THEIR CONSTRUCTION ARE NOT ALLOWED FOR RECORD CHANNEL SWIMS






ALL SWIM WEAR MUST BE APPROVED BY THE OFFICAL OBSERVER FROM THE CSPF OR CSA