Cold in the water? Here's how to choose your first wetsuit

It would be great to practice our beloved watersports always in excellent conditions, with sun, heat and water temperature that allows you to wear only a swimsuit and at most a lycra. Unfortunately, it is not like this. The cold season comes for everyone sooner or later and temperatures inexorably drop. However, since the passion does not hibernate, we still want to get into the water and take advantage perhaps of more radical conditions.

For this there is the neoprene wetsuit, a technical garment that proves to be a great ally of every watersports practitioner that protects us from the cold and allows us to go out in any condition of sea and wind, and especially in any time of the year. On the market there is an incredible variety of neoprene wetsuits and a neophyte could get confused. Let's see then how to choose the wetsuit for watersports (surfing, kitesurfing, windsurfing and Wing Foil) depending on the season, how to extricate yourself between sizes and thicknesses and what are the main details to consider before proceeding with the purchase.

Why wear a neoprene wetsuit

Feeling cold during a session in the water is deleterious not only for the discomfort and lack of comfort, but for a matter of health and especially safety. Due to heat dispersion in fact our body consumes much more energy, gets tired sooner and can encounter cramps and other physical problems. It happens not only with freezing temperatures, but also when the climate is simply cool. We must consider in fact the phenomenon of "wind chill", that is the wind that with wet skin makes you perceive an external temperature much lower than it really is.

Here then is the advantage of wearing a neoprene wetsuit. This sort of elastic rubber, which in reality is an evolution of natural rubber, does not completely isolate our body which in fact remains wet during our session. However, the wetsuit acts as a sort of "second skin". In practice, being very adherent to the body, the neoprene lets filter only a thin layer of water that heats up with our heat and what is felt is essentially a pleasant warm humid. In addition to eliminating the sensation of cold, the wetsuit attenuates any shocks and bruises and promotes floating constituting a valid help in case of emergency.

How to choose the thickness of the neoprene

The first factor that differentiates neoprene wetsuits is the thickness that is indicated in millimeters. For watersports in general it ranges from a minimum of 2 millimeters for the lightest wetsuits, then passing to a thickness of 3/2 that is used when the climate is still mild, but it begins to get cool. The indication 3/2 means that the wetsuit is thick 3 millimeters on the trunk, chest and back, while on arms and legs the thickness is 2 millimeters so as to remain elastic and allow the necessary movements without getting too tired. For colder temperatures, such as autumn and winter, the thickness of the wetsuit varies from 4/3 up to 5/4 millimeters.

To have a more precise idea of which thickness of the wetsuit to choose, let's take an example based on the water temperature: if this is less than 15 C °, the ideal is a wetsuit with a thickness like 5/3 mm or 4/3 mm. If instead the water temperature is higher than 15 ° C, you can wear a wetsuit with a thickness between 3/2 mm and 4/3 mm.

The right size makes the real difference

The neoprene wetsuit is like a second skin for the watersports practitioner and must be well adherent to the body. For this reason this piece of technical clothing must be of the right size to ensure the perfect protection. If you choose a wetsuit too tight, this will prevent us in movements and we will get tired sooner.

Conversely, if you opt for a size too large, the continuous entry of cold water between the skin and the wetsuit will make us vanify the protection. As with other technical garments, the sizes of the wetsuits range from the smallest size "S", passing through intermediate sizes, such as "M" and "L", up to the larger sizes, then "Xl" and "XXL".

Shorty, long john and steamer

The shape of the neoprene wetsuit is also important. The lighter wetsuits from 2 or 3/2 millimeters usually have half sleeves and half legs and are called "shorty" as for example the Neilpryde Rise Shorty 2/2 Back Zip. Or they can have half sleeves and long leg like the Prolimit Fusion Shortarm 3/2 Freezip, or again there are the so-called "long John" models with long leg and without sleeves as the ION Long John 2.5. The wetsuits of greater thicknesses, such as 4/3, always have long sleeves and legs and in the case of 5/4 wetsuits called "steamer" they can also have the hood always in integrated neoprene like the O'Neill Mutant Legend w/Hood 5/4 Chest Zip. In general, riders who want to go out all year round have at least a couple of wetsuits: one short and with half sleeves for the mid season and a long and heavy one for the winter.

Always regarding the cut of the wetsuit, the market offers specific wetsuits for men  and for women, as well as for children, which take into account the different body shapes and anatomical differences. A last factor that will guide the purchase of the neoprene wetsuit is the position of the zipper. You can choose between a "Chest Zip" model, ie with the zipper on the chest of new generation or a traditional garment "Back Zip" with the zipper on the back.
Now that you know how to protect yourself from the cold while surfing, windsurfing, kiteboarding or Sup, you just have to choose your neoprene wetsuit on the e-shop of Kiteworldshop where a catalog full of products of the best brands awaits you.

Photo credit

Photo 1: ION

Photo 2: PROLIMIT

Photo 3: RRD

Photo 4: NEIL PRYDE