How to stay warm eFoiling: wetsuits, shorties and surf shirts

The riding season in a cold climate is only as long as your ability to tolerate the water, and that is a gear problem rather than a toughness problem. This episode opens with the argument every rider eventually has with themselves, full suit against shorty against surf shirt, and then works through what each one is actually for.

What neoprene is doing, and what it will not do

Neoprene is rubber with air bubbled into it before it cures. Water gets in, fills those spaces, sits against your skin, and your own body heat warms it. Once warmed, the fabric holds it there, which is why you stay comfortable even after repeated falls and even when the wind is on you. The important qualification comes with it: a wetsuit is not magic. It will not save you from hypothermia if the conditions are extreme enough. What it does is make a cold session comfortable, and protect you from the scrapes you pick up climbing on and off a board, off reef, or from a foil wing catching a shin.

Why a surf wetsuit is not a scuba wetsuit

This is the part that saves people money on the wrong suit. Surf cut wetsuits zip at the back with a pull cord, because you spend a lot of time on your belly sliding around on a board, and a front zip would scrape across the deck every time you moved. They carry rubberized panels in key places on the front, which block wind noticeably better than plain fabric. That matters because the cold that gets a surfer or an eFoiler is wind on a wet suit, whereas a diver’s problem is simply cold water. Surf suits also run thinner through the arms so you can paddle and swim, while a diving suit assumes you will be holding still. If you are choosing between the two, buy the one cut for the sport you are doing.

Full suit or shorty, and the details worth paying for

Shorties are cheaper, quicker to get on and off, and hold far less water, which keeps you more mobile. A full length suit is the answer once it is genuinely cold, and it is more of a struggle to get into because the ankle and wrist openings are deliberately tight, which is what stops water flushing through the suit every time you go in. Two features to look for on a full suit: knee pads, because knees are the first place you wear a hole through, and a nylon or rubberized coating where you need wind protection. None of this is exotic, it is just the difference between a suit that lasts a few seasons and one that does not.

Fit, and the buoyancy nobody mentions

A wetsuit that fits properly feels uncomfortably skin tight when it is dry. That is correct, not wrong. What you are avoiding is slack, because slack means water moving around inside the suit instead of sitting still and warming up. What you are also avoiding is a suit so tight it loads the zipper, since the zipper is the part that fails first. The single most important area to get right is the crotch, because that is where water pools, soaks through and turns your legs into cold tubes. One overlooked benefit of the whole arrangement: a wetsuit adds buoyancy, and it adds it evenly over your whole body rather than at the chest. Instead of being held upright the way a life jacket holds you, you float flat, which makes resting on your back between runs genuinely easy.

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