Walk into most conversations about open water gear and you'll hear the same three items: wetsuit, goggles, cap. That list works fine for someone doing one open water swim a year. It falls apart fast for anyone training through a full season, starting in a 58°F lake in April and finishing in a choppy 54°F bay come October.
Swimmers who train that whole stretch don't carry a list. They carry a system. Every piece in the bag solves a specific problem that shows up at a specific point in the swim. Here's how that system actually breaks down.
Match the Wetsuit to Your Training Week, Not Your Race Calendar
Most swimmers buy a wetsuit once and then wear it for everything. That's a mistake, because a wetsuit isn't just a purchase. It's part of a thermal and buoyancy system that needs to flex with water temperature, swim length, and how often you're actually getting in.
Blue70's lineup makes that trade-off visible instead of hiding it. The Thermal Reaction is fully lined with Zirconium jersey, a synthetic wool fabric, so it adds real warmth as water temperatures drop toward the lower end of comfortable full-suit swimming. The Reaction uses a higher grade of Yamamoto neoprene built to hold up under frequent, longer training swims. The Fusion, redesigned in 2021 with a lower-sitting neckline, trades some of that durability for comfort and an easier entry, which makes sense for shorter, more frequent sessions rather than long training blocks.
Yamamoto neoprene comes in different cell counts, 38, 39, and 40. The higher the number, the more flexible the neoprene. Flexibility in the shoulders cuts fatigue over a long swim. That same thin, flexible neoprene also wears out faster under heavy, repeated use. Both of those things are true at the same time, and the right suit depends on which one matters more for how you actually train, not how you'd like to train.
Buoyancy Shorts Earn Their Spot Earlier Than Most Swimmers Give Them Credit For
Buoyancy shorts usually show up last in a swimmer's gear progression. Wetsuit first, a couple pairs of goggles, maybe a tow float, and then, almost as an afterthought, a buoyancy short for "working on technique." That order doesn't serve one specific group of swimmers well: anyone fighting a dropped-hip body position.
A short built with NBR foam, like Blue70's LIFT short, lifts the hips specifically rather than the whole body the way a wetsuit does. That targeted lift makes it a sharper drill tool. Swimmers who sink through the hips tend to compensate with extra kick effort, which burns energy over distance and is genuinely hard to feel, let alone fix, without something forcing the body into a flatter line first.
Use the short in pool sessions and warm-water swims focused on stroke mechanics. Save full-suit swims for pace work and sighting, where thermal protection and race-day feel matter more than isolated position drills.
Goggle Fit Breaks Down Mid-Swim, Not Before It
Goggle failure in open water follows a pattern. It rarely happens at minute one. It happens around minute twenty, after the strap has loosened just slightly and nobody noticed, because open water doesn't hand you a wall every 25 meters to check and adjust. A pool swimmer gets dozens of free fit checks a session without even trying. An open water swimmer gets none, unless that check gets built in on purpose.
Two habits fix most of this:
- Seat the goggles firmly before the cap goes on, with the cap strap sitting over the goggle strap to lock it in place.
- Do a deliberate fog-and-fit check right at the start of the swim, not fifteen minutes in.
Anti-fog coatings wear down with repeated use and sun exposure. A goggle that worked fine in June might need swapping out by September, and that's not a defect. It's just the coating reaching the end of its working life.
Tint matters more here than in a pool, where lighting barely changes. Clear or low-light lenses handle overcast skies and dawn or dusk swims. Darker or mirrored tints cut glare off open water on a bright day, which is a different problem than glare bouncing off a pool ceiling. One pair of goggles for every condition means a trade-off somewhere, whether you've thought about it or not.
What a Tow Float Actually Does
Tow floats get recommended all the time and explained rarely. The real question isn't whether to wear one. It's understanding exactly what it does for you. A tow float increases your visibility to boats, paddlers, and anyone watching the water. It also gives you something to hold onto and rest against without treading water in deep, cold conditions.
A tow float is not a flotation device in the safety-equipment sense, and it doesn't replace swimming in sight of a lifeguard, a buddy, or a safety boat where one's available.
New open water swimmers, solo swimmers, and anyone swimming near boat traffic get real value from the visibility alone. Experienced swimmers training with a club often skip the float for short sessions and bring it along only for long solo swims. The right call depends on your conditions and who's watching the water that day.
Thermal Accessories Close the Gap a Wetsuit Leaves Open
Below roughly 56 to 58°F, a purpose-built thermal suit like the Thermal Reaction starts adding real warmth over a standard full suit. But the suit is only part of the thermal picture.
Hands and feet lose heat faster than your torso in cold water. They have more surface area relative to their size and less muscle generating heat locally. Neoprene gloves and socks, sized to fit closely without cutting off circulation, extend your comfortable range on the cold end of the season. A glove that's too tight can actually make cold hands worse by restricting blood flow, not better.
A neoprene cap, or two caps layered with a thin latex cap under a silicone one, cuts heat loss through the head, which matters more in open water than most swimmers assume given how little insulation protects that part of the body.
None of this makes cold water risk-free. Cold water swimming takes acclimatization built up over several sessions and an honest read of your own cold tolerance, which varies a lot from person to person. Have a plan to get out or warm up if shivering, confusion, or clumsiness shows up. Thermal gear widens the window where you're comfortable. It doesn't change the physiology of what cold water does to your body.
Two Habits That Prevent Most Wetsuit Damage
Most wetsuit damage doesn't come from a dramatic tear mid-swim. It happens in the ten seconds before and after, when a fingernail catches the neoprene going on or a heel snags the ankle cuff coming off. Manufacturer warranties typically exclude both kinds of damage, which tells you how often they happen.
- Wear a pair of thin gloves while suiting up to keep fingernails away from the neoprene.
- Pull pant legs off from the cuff instead of yanking from the top of the suit.
Both take maybe thirty extra seconds. After the swim, rinse the suit in fresh water to clear salt, chlorine, and sand before they sit in the neoprene and speed up breakdown. Hang it on a wide hanger, not a wire one that creates a stress point at the shoulder, and dry it out of direct sunlight to protect against UV damage. A small tube of neoprene cement in your swim bag means a minor seam separation gets fixed that same evening instead of turning into a reason to shop for a new suit next season.
Pack for the Swim in Front of You
None of this works as a fixed checklist you memorize once and forget. The real habit is asking, before every swim, what the water temperature, the distance, and the goal of that session actually call for. A technique session in a 74°F lake and a 90-minute race simulation in 60°F water need different gear, full stop on the logic, not on the list.
Swimmers who treat their gear as something that flexes with conditions end up with fewer surprises halfway through a swim, and fewer reasons to cut a good session short.
If you're putting together your kit for the season, start with fit. Check your current wetsuit against Blue70's fitting and wear guide before you add anything else to the bag.
Happy swimming.
