It won't hurt your wetsuit. Just rinse it out well after you swim. You probably will be looked at. Around here people give a quick look and then shrug and say, "It's just another crazy triathlete". If this is the first time you've used a wetsuit to swim I would definitely try it out in the pool before you use it in a race, especially if you don't have easy access to open water. It's a completely different feeling swimming in a wetsuit.