Choosing the right wetsuit

You need a warm comfortable wetsuit when surfing on the West Coast or even the Southern Cape Coast

The seams of the wetsuit need to have blind stitching and the neck, arms and legs need to seal tight to keep the cold water out. It can get very cold and uncomfortable when you have water flushing into your suit all the time.

Your smart smooth rubber Kite suite will do, but it will only last a month or two while surfing. It was designed for sailing or kiting so keep it for those sports. It does not have the stretch in the same places as the surfing suits so it will be stiff to surf in and it will tear or cut easily.

Surfing wetsuits needs to be more durable on the legs and hips due to bumps and cuts you get from your board, fins and rocks and will only have smooth rubber on the chest or back panels. This helps to cut out the wind chill when your upper body is exposed to the wind while sitting on the board waiting for waves. The rest of the suit is made out of more durable neoprene. The new suits will have hyper stretch on the arms and shoulders or will be full hyper stretch. This helps to make the wetsuit more flexible and allow you to paddle without paddleling against the suit.

You will loose the urge to surf very quickly if you are cold in the water and you will feel like an old toppie when you use a wetsuit that?s too old and inflexible or too small because you will be pulling against the rubber while paddleling.

Pop into the shop to get the right advice when buying this very important piece of equipment!