2 May 20252:52590 views on YouTubeWatch on YouTube
The first ride of the year rarely happens in good conditions. It happens the day the gear arrives and the water is technically liquid. This one landed on the first of May, in grey skies and icy drizzle, on a lake still cold enough to make the decision feel questionable.
The suit arrived, so the season started
The trigger for the ride was delivery day. The suit had been ordered the week before and turned up that afternoon, and by then the weather had gone grey and cold again, as it tends to when you have been waiting on a parcel. Going anyway is how most first rides of the year happen, and it is worth saying that it was still worth it: the report afterwards is simply that it felt good to be back on the board.
The wetsuit did its job, mostly
The suit under test is the O’Neill Hyperfreak, a fleece lined 3/2 to 4mm, in air temperatures in the forties with a drizzling wind. Getting into the water barely registered, which is the strongest thing you can say about a cold water suit. The core stayed genuinely warm for the whole session. Everything left uncovered did not: feet, hands and forehead were the only cold spots, and they were enough to end the ride. At about half battery the shaking in his hands made holding a steady trigger difficult, so the session got cut short rather than pushed.
Booties, gloves and the hood question
The obvious answer is more neoprene, and it is acknowledged here without much enthusiasm: booties, gloves and a hood would close the remaining gaps. The reason for skipping them is seasonal rather than stubborn. In another week or two the same kit would be overkill, and buying extremities gear for a fortnight of shoulder season riding is a hard sell. If you ride spring and autumn regularly, that calculation goes the other way.
Why the older board came out
The board for the first ride was a Lift3 Pro, not because of any test plan but because the Lift4 Pro had spent the winter bolted to a wall mount and unbolting it felt like more work than the excitement could tolerate. The Lift3 Pro was already assembled and ready, and the observation made about it is worth more than the anecdote: it still runs as well as the day it was first put together, despite minimal maintenance. Whatever criticisms get levelled at the brand elsewhere, these boards do not ask much of their owners. The wall mount itself is a 3D printable design shared free through the link in the description, holding the board with the mast removed.
Subscribe on YouTube Every episode
