How to buy your first wetsuit

Posted on November 4, 2007
Filed Under - leisure |

I bought my first wetsuit for surfing this year. I’ve used it for a few months and it’s been great so I thought I would share with you how I bought it. There are other online guides from shops and suppliers, but mine is from a completely independent newbie!

If you are going to be surfing for more than a week or two it is really worth putting some effort into finding the right suit. Make sure you talk to salespeople in shops as most of them give basic advice, although some need a bit of prompting! In Newquay I got friendly, comprehensive advice from Andy at Tunnel Vision and Marlon at Newquay Surf Centre - from whom I eventually bought my wetsuit. I’ve since had a look at the advice available online and the best no-nonsense guide I have found so far is 360guide’s wetsuit guide. The guide from Magic Seaweed is also quite thorough and technical.

First, a quick reminder of how a wetsuit actually works. It keeps you warm by trapping a thin layer of water between your skin and the suit. This layer is warmed by your body, keeping you nice and warm in turn. A good wetsuit should not let in cold water and should not chafe in sensitive places! There are three aspects to consider: fit, warmth and price.

Fit

This is the key aspect. It doesn’t matter how much you spend on a wetsuit that has all the latest technology and features; if it doesn’t fit properly, it won’t do the job. So it’s very important to try wetsuits on, even though it’s a bit of a pain. Try not to pick a hot day to try them on though!

Bear in mind that the wetsuit will feel tighter when you are dry, so if anything you want the suit to feel ever so slightly too tight, as it will loosen in the water. Wetsuit sizes are the same as dress sizes, although you should err on the small side. For example, my dress size is 10-12, so a size 10 wetsuit is perfect for me. Be aware that American wetsuits may use American sizes.

Top-end wetsuits will have super stretch (or similar) all over and will therefore fit better, whereas cheaper wetsuits may have super stretch only on the arms or not at all. Also, there should not be any seams where you have a lot of movement, such as under the arms, as the suit will chafe. In particular, check around the neck area to make sure there is nothing that will chafe.

If you hire a wetsuit, you will usually be given a rash vest but you should not need one if you have your own decent wetsuit as the fit and quality will be good enough to keep you warm and chafe-free.

Some people wear swim clothes underneath their wetsuits, others just go free! Of course, if you are hiring a wetsuit it’s probably best for everyone if you wear some form of swimming costume. With my own wetsuit I sometimes wear a bikini and sometimes don’t bother with anything. The fit of my wetsuit is such that I have no problems with the suit next to the skin. In fact, I sometimes get a bit of chafing from my bikini top so going without can be better. Some girls also wear a rash vest instead of a bikini top. For men there are obviously different issues (!) and more potential for uncomfortable chafing. Most of my mates seem to be from the ‘commando’ school of wetsuit wearing, but it’s worth experimenting for yourself.

Warmth

In the UK, surfers tend to wear a 3/2mm suit in the spring/summer/autumn and a 5mm suit in the winter. This refers to the thickness of the neoprene. 3/2 means 3mm on the body and 2mm on the arms. Anything over 5mm becomes too inflexible for surfing.

The seams are crucial in keeping cold water out of the suit. There are two basic types of seams. Flatlocked stitching is cheap but only semi-watertight and therefore only suitable for summer in the UK. Blindstitching is watertight and is suitable for all year round. Some suits have liquid seams in addition to blindstitching, which makes them even warmer. If you only intend to surf for a couple of weeks in the summer and don’t want to spend much money, flatlocked is okay. For anything else you should get blindstitching. It also appears that liquid seams are becoming more standard and are no longer found only on the top-end wetsuits.

The above two aspects are often what you will see on shop labels along with the price, e.g. “Ladies 3/2 blindstitched £99″.

Top-end suits will include additional features designed to keep you even warmer, such as a batwing or extra-warm chest and back panels. A batwing is a flap underneath the zip of the wetsuit. The zip is the main area where cold water will come in so the batwing prevents the cold water from reaching the body and allows it to flush out of the suit. For my wetsuit, I decided to go for the batwing but not the extra panels, which would have been more expensive.

Price

You can spend anything from £10 to £250 and more on a wetsuit. In Newquay this summer 2007 you can get a top-end full (sometimes referred to as steamer) wetsuit for around £130. Famous brands such as O’Neill are around £150, but don’t give you much more than a suit that is £20 cheaper. I got a top-end suit for £119. They knocked a few quid off because it was last year’s model. I was also told that you can get better deals if you buy your summer suits in the winter and vice versa. It’s easier to get a good deal on a men’s wetsuit than a ladies’ wetsuit as the vast majority of wetsuits in the shops are for men.

The next level down is around £100. You won’t get a batwing but you will get blindstitching. Anything lower than that probably isn’t worth considering if you want to get into surfing seriously. If you are strapped for cash you can look into getting a decent second-hand wetsuit. I was shown one for £35 which would have been serviceable. Personally, I wouldn’t buy a second hand wetsuit as I wouldn’t know what it had been, ahem, exposed to. However, not everyone is massively bothered about that, especially if you are saving £100!

If you don’t mind spending more money, consider getting a custom made wetsuit. Local Newquay brand Snugg has a good reputation for made to measure wetsuits.

My summer suit is a C-Skins ‘Angel’ steamer, in black with nice lilac panels. I’ll be needing a winter suit soon (at the time of writing it has just turned October) so I will come back and update this article when I’ve got my winter gear sorted.

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