Thursday, November 26, 2009

Everyone deserves their 15 minutes of fame.


We received a great mail and photo from Mark Broomhead in Chicago. His friends felt the image of him exiting the water really was a great shot. Friends of Mark, we agree, and hope you do not mind us putting it up here for others to see. Please send us more and anyone with reading this with a great blueseventy image please do send it over. Good luck for 2010 Mark.

Monday, November 23, 2009

Swim Socks get Thumbs Up from Gear Patrol


Check out Gear Patrol's recent review of our Swim Socks:

"Last weekend, I jumped into 58-degree San Francisco Bay to swim across from Alcatraz
and was immediately thankful that I chose not only a 5mm wetsuit but a pair of
Blueseventy swim socks. Blueseventy (the earth is 70% water, get it?) is in the niche
business of making gear for triathletes and open-water swimmers. We reviewed their
Nero backpack a while ago here on GP and were impressed with the attention to detail
and high quality. The swim socks also don’t disappoint.

Neoprene socks and booties are nothing new. But until now, there’s never been a pair in which you could comfortably or effectively swim. The Blueseventy socks are made from thin neoprene that fits tight from toes up to ankles without being restrictive. The soles of the socks have a grippy rubber surfaces for traction on slippery rocks. Though there are only two sizes, I had no problem fitting my size 13 dogs into the large size while my wife’s size 8s worked equally well in the smalls.

The Achilles heel (sorry) of most neoprene socks is water entry. The Blueseventy socks
work best when tucked under the ankle cuffs of a wetsuit but I tried them out without a wetsuit and they didn’t fill up much and stayed snug. But odds are, you’re going to be wearing a wetsuit if the water’s cold enough for swim socks. The socks would wear
equally well with sport sandals for kayaking or rafting or as an added layer of insulation under cycling shoes on rainy, cold rides.

So how did they work? An hour in San Francisco Bay is about as good a test as you
could dream up for swim socks. The Blueseventy socks stayed put for the whole swim
and I exited the water with my feet as warm as they were when I jumped in. During the
crossing, I didn’t even notice they were on my feet - no flapping or sloshing. The last thing you want to think about when you’re fighting current, waves and rogue sea lions are your frozen feet or ill-fitting socks."

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Newly crowned World Champs (Adventure Racing) in blueseventy.


Team Helly Hansen - Prunesco, Using blueseventy wetsuits and fueled by nuun hydration recently won the world adventure racing championships. Nick Gracie sent us this comment.

"Dear all, after 7 years of hard work, some great race results and a number of disappointments Team Helly Hansen - Prunesco (Tom Gibbs, Warren Bates, Nicola Macleod and Nick Gracie) have become Adventure Race World Champions. After a weeks tough racing in Portugal, lasting 6 days 5 of those non-stop and covering close to 900 KM we pushed ourselves to the limits and won what has been classed the most competitive World Championships to date.

In a sport that has been dominated by the US team Nike and super strong kiwi teams we were the first British team to become world champions and only the second European team.

I would like to thank you all for your support and friendships over the year. Getting to this level has involved making a number of sacrifices in order to put in the hours required to train properly, but now the 9 years of hard work has paid off and its an incredible feeling"

Picture shows Nicola Macleod wearing her Helix across the finish line due to the fact that in her last stage swim transition she removed all her clothes and realized she had no leg covering with her. Comfortable in the transition as it is in the water.

Congratulation to the team from us all at blueseventy.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Mavin Makes UK History in the 50m Fly

Check out this amazing swim by Stephen Mavin in the 50m Fly last month - rockin' a blueseventy Nero! 25.04 - New UK Masters Record! Congrats Stephen!

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Dibens and Raelert dominate in Clearwater

With the women hitting the water at 6:45 and the men at 6:53 .we saw a lead group of 5 women exit from the water in close quarters, (see video below of swim exit)
Soon after wards blueseventy Julie Dibens hit the front on the bike and never looked back . Julie took the bike course record on her way to a new course record and worlds best with a time of 3:59:33. (First women to ever break the 4 hour barrier in a 70.3.)
Julie adds another world title to the 2009 year, Xterra Worlds and now 70.3 world championship title. (congratulations Julie)

In the mens race it wasn't so one sided, blueseventys own Marko Albert lead from the water (see video below)
Then a group formed on the bike and it came down to a running race with most of contenders heading out onto the run course together
There were some casualties on the run course and the front athletes switched places through the race, All except Michael Raelert who took to the front early on and ran a blistering 1:09 to take the fastest run of the day and a new course record with a 3:34, blueseventys Daniel Fontana took 2nd place and Matt Reed rounded out the top 3.

Congratulations to every-one who competed into today race.
blueseventy

Men's Swim Exit

Sorry about the elbow thats got in the way for a bit.

Womens Swim Exit

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Chainwheel Drive (70.3 Worlds Clearwater)

I've Just been in to See the awesome crew at Chainwheel Drive, our local retailer here in Clearwater.
They are here to service all your race day needs and stock a full range of blueseventy suits.

So if your in need of something for race day or want to try on a blueseventy suit , pop on down to the store located at
1770 Drew St, Clearwater, FL 33755 the team is waiting and ready to help.

Photo of desiree and Jen in the all important blueseventy corner



















Great people and great service

G

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Not ideal Weather for Demo's




















Hey team ,

Well we didn't have the best weather today for the demo's , But never fear i will be back at the beach from 7:30 Am till 10:30 am tomorrow and Friday.


Come on down and say hi , take a wetsuit for a splash and have some fun.

Hope the taper is going well for you all.
G

Friday, November 6, 2009

IM Florida Swim Start

One of our athletes at the swim start , Practising there dolphin dives in the shallow water at the swim exit.

The big news is the late entry of Luke McKenzie, Luke boasts two wins and a second place this year already and will be one athlete looking for an early lead tomorrow. This will be Luke's 5th IM of the year and he's looking very calm leading into tomorrow race. Good luck to all of those competing

blueseventy goes back to school.






During a recent New York City visit to launch the new Carbon goggle and wetsuit line, I was asked to attend an early morning class at the "Business of Sport School" ironically the subject was how Excel is used in the sports industry to set pricing and estimate profits etc. MMMMM, I do find excel a challenge ...lol. Along with Excel I ran the group through the story of blueseventy in swimming and the massive effects on our business the FINA rulings have had, and the impact for the swimming industry in the short and long term.
But what an experience, the 8th graders were a delight. They asked questions that quite frankly amazed me, their business understanding was incredible. I must say to be body searched, bags scanned for security etc, left me wondering what i was in for, but this was one of the greatest times I have ever had in the sporting business after 21 years.
A big thank you for the invitation from the school, and I hope for such an early start they found me stimulating enough. GREAT FUN, Thanks BUSINESS OF SPORTS SCHOOL. Diane Shoemaker and Principle Joshua Solomon, i hope you will invite me back.

Some pictures above would have me dancing to "Saturday night fever" as opposed to teaching.


Dean Jackson (Deano)

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

IM Florida

Well after a wee trip of 35 hours , I arrived in Florida .

It's going to be an exciting week and a great build up, the weather is looking perfect and a few late entires are going to make for some exciting racing. ( Some pro's decided they are going to attempt backing up after Kona)

Here's the low down on whats happening while we're here and how to find us.

Swim Demo's each moring Wednesday Thursday and Friday , from 7AM - 10 AM
We will be right out the front near the swim start,

see the picture below (thats how you'll find us)

















After the Demo's we will be up at the off site expo, Which is approx 150m walk from registration.. not very far.
You can spot us as we are right next to the Massive Mellow Mushroom sign,
Once again i have posted a picture below so you know what to look out for . (love that sign)

















We are working with the awesome Team from Freedom Sports down here and are looking forward to seeing you some time over the next 3 days. If your racing , i hope you have an awesome day come Saturday and best of luck.
G

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

The lights go down on Stirling tri club.




Not that the club with perhaps the best facillities in Scotland has ceased operations, far from it. Whilst presenting the new 2010 line of suits to the 200 strong club we unfortunalty had a power cut (Deano stood in front of his suits in the pitch black)

Great, all set up and ready to go, but nothing could be seen. I must thank all the members in attendance when the lights went down, they still had more questions and thoughts, even when unable to view the product. Thanks all for making me so welcome and showing me around the stunning facillities and making the most of the power problem.

How great to have a club willing to teach your children swimming while you undertake a fully coached swim session! I know, amazing. How cool to have a facillity where the oak locker rooms and carpeted floors sit beneath a restaurant serving the best Fish and Chips i have ever tasted (Trust me, i have tasted a few) This is not a review of Stirling tri club, but I must congratulate them on creating an atmosphere never before wintessed. Congratulations to you all, you deserve the very best surroundings, and you have them.

We demo'd suits,Talked about balanced buoyancy, tested goggles and had a great time doing it. Thank you all.
Pictured above is club member "Gordon Crawford" Looking very much like our CEO, must be the side-burns.

Dean (Deano) Jackson