How to find your perfect wetsuit for surfing!
How to select your surf wetsuit
A wetsuit is an essential part of your kitesurf gear and the differences between wetsuits can be checked in a few categories:
- Length
- Thickness
- Zipper position
- Flexibility
- Men v.s. Woman
- Size
The thickness of a wetsuit
One of the reasons you want to wear a wetsuit it to keep warm in the cold(er) waters, so you can surf longer. So depending on the temperature of the water you want to set the wetsuit, the colder the water, the warmer the wetsuit must be.
The thickness of the wetsuits gives a good idea how warm the wetsuit is. The ticker the warmer. The Thickness is divided by torso and limb. So a 2/3 wetsuit is a suit that has a 3 mm Torso and a 2 mm limb thickness.
Summer or winter wetsuit?
Wetsuit with Thickness in the range of 1 till 3 mm is considers to be a Summer of warm weather wetsuit. Everything from 4 mm is considers to be a winter wetsuit. the best way to check witch wetsuit you need is to see what the water temperature is where you wanna surf.
The length of a wetsuit
There are many different length of wetsuits, we are not talking about the Size but the length of the different components.
The original wetsuit has long neopreen arms and long legs this is a fullsuit.
Then there are short arms and short legs, and everything in between. Depending on the temperature and the sport your willing to do you can pick the length of the wetsuit you want.
Neopreen Accessoires
Beside from the length you can also add additional part to cover your body and stay warmer while in the water. There are Hoodies for your head, gloves for your hands and boots for the feet. The accessoires also have separate thicknesses of the Neopreen
The zipper position
In a wetsuit there are a few position the zipper can be placed. There are a few upsides and downsides for the zipper location, but overall all zipper placement are oké.
Back zip
The traditional wetsuit has his zipper at the back, mainly because there is the less friction and don’t damaged the neopreen to much. The back zip is the most common type of wetsuit.
Front zip
The zipper can be at the front of the wetsuit, it can be a little difficult to put on the wetsuit but there is less water coming true the zipper so you stay a bit warmer inside.
No-zip
Very much like the frontzip there are also wetsuit without zippers, the Neopreen covers up the area where you enter the wetsuit and there is no zipper that can unzip of damage.
Wetsuit or Drysuit
For surfing a wetsuit is most common. A neopreen suit where a bit of water is traped and keeps you warm. Where a Drysuit is completely dry and keeps you even warmer. Therefor fit for the very cold waters and winters. A Drysuit is more expensive than a drysuit and is les flexible.
Wetsuit Men v.s. Woman
Beside from the fancy colors there is a difference in men and woman wetsuit. The general build is sightly different between men and woman, this is also in wetsuits. The Men wetsuits have a wider shoulder part en the hips are a bit smaller than the woman wetsuits. But can a woman wear a mens wetsuit? YES they can, men can also wear a nice pink woman wetsuit!
Wetsuit sizes
The size of the wetsuit is very important, that because a Good wetsuit fits you perfectly so you don’t even know you are wearing it, and keeps you nice and warm.
Just like other clothes wetsuits have different sizes, also every brand has his own sizes. The best way to see if it is the fit for you, just try one on.