I was not aware of dry suits being used in surfing. But I guess that my thoughts on dry suits for surfing is still correct, even though this article is on the old side.
You certainly could use a drysuit for surfing, however, drysuits that are available on the market today are not necessarily designed for surfing. Typical (loose fitting) dry suits are made for either cold-water kyaking or diving.
The disadvantage to a loose fitting drysuit is that they do not react well when moving fast while partially-submerged, as you are while surfing. They have a tendency to drag and hamper your ability to surf.
My farmer john has a zipper and gets layered with a thin neo top or better NRS Mystery skin underneath. But frankly, the conditions where it is a better choice than a drysuit for my kind of kayaking are rare, and it is mostly relegated to when I take other people out. Most of the whitewater kayakers I know wear dry tops or semi-dry tops, which aren't exactly svelte when they are surfing standing waves or punching through holes. They also have very good rolls and swimming is rare. But they aren't trying to get out through a break either. Sea kayakers straddle both worlds and even at the height of my skills my surf launching/landing sucked. Horses for courses.
I have to wonder why they aren't wearing dry suits. Seems to me you are going to lose a lot more mobility with 6+ mm wetsuits than with a drysuit and fleece underneath. And going home with warm, dry fleecefeet is priceless. But what do I know? I'm just a hack kayaker.
Feet. I meant to say dry feet. Goretex booties attached to the suit are amazing. A pee zip is nice, too. And be sure to burp the air out or you may end up floating upside down.
ah, feet.
I was not aware of dry suits being used in surfing. But I guess that my thoughts on dry suits for surfing is still correct, even though this article is on the old side.
You certainly could use a drysuit for surfing, however, drysuits that are available on the market today are not necessarily designed for surfing. Typical (loose fitting) dry suits are made for either cold-water kyaking or diving.
The disadvantage to a loose fitting drysuit is that they do not react well when moving fast while partially-submerged, as you are while surfing. They have a tendency to drag and hamper your ability to surf.
Did I just see/imagine that the CBC acted as the Agenda Setter for the New York Times?
I have to wonder why they aren't wearing dry suits. Seems to me you are going to lose a lot more mobility with 6+ mm wetsuits than with a drysuit and fleece underneath. And going home with warm, dry fleecefeet is priceless. But what do I know? I'm just a hack kayaker.
Feet. I meant to say dry feet. Goretex booties attached to the suit are amazing. A pee zip is nice, too. And be sure to burp the air out or you may end up floating upside down.
I have to wonder why they aren't wearing dry suits. Seems to me you are going to lose a lot more mobility with 6+ mm wetsuits than with a drysuit and fleece underneath. And going home with warm, dry fleece is priceless. But what do I know? I'm just a hack kayaker.
Pussies. I was surfing when wet suits were first designed for surfing by O'Neill. It was called a Farmer John because of the way the top was cut. I had the Short John version in the picture below. These are later versions than mine. Then you had only two color choices, black or black. Didn't do too much but break the wind and keep your torso a little warmer for a bit longer in the cold California winter surf with the water temps in the low to mid 50's. Still got cold when you wiped out, but having surfed a few winters without one and only a fire on the beach to warm up with, it was a major improvement.
There were dry suits back then but they were for diving and as far as I know still are. Too expensive and with surfing being an activity where things happen that can cause rips and punctures to things like that, they are impractical and still likely restrictive to movement. What do you call a dry suit with a hole in it ? Worthless.
I was stupid enough to borrow a full diving wetsuit one winter in 1969-70 when I went down to Ocean City, NJ and try winter surfing. Water temp was in the upper 30's. It was even snowing. Afterwards spent a couple of hours sitting in my Corvair with the heat running full tilt just trying to stop shaking. Nope, no fun, never did it again. Today's wetsuits are a whole different animal with better designs and materials.
Now the spoiled little babies wear them in water temps in the 70's. Back when you could actually have a real fire on the beach for an after surfing warm up, the most prized skill was being able to light a fire in the wind with damp matches. Bonus was when an old tire washed up on the beach. Those burned real hot and would last for an hour or so ...
And $27 in 1967 was a whole shitload of money for a 14 to 15 yo kid. A new board was $100 to $150. Do the inflation math for perspective. Bought mine at the original Frog House by the river jetties at the north end of Newport Beach.
Did I just see/imagine that the CBC acted as the Agenda Setter for the New York Times?
I have to wonder why they aren't wearing dry suits. Seems to me you are going to lose a lot more mobility with 6+ mm wetsuits than with a drysuit and fleece underneath. And going home with warm, dry fleece is priceless. But what do I know? I'm just a hack kayaker.
Just stumbled on this playing around. Brought back a memory and the significance of it that I never thought of before now.
The vid and the comment I left on the page. .
As a 15 yo living in Corona del Mar, I was working in the El Paipo factory in Costa Mesa the summer of 1968. One day Steve Bigler, who was a regular at the shop brought George in and we evidently made his first spoon for him. IIRC, he had a short blank shaped by Dale Velzy who was working for Hobie and El Paipo at the time, that we glassed on one side with about 10 layers of 12 oz cloth, much in the same way we made fin sheets to be cut up into individual fins for the Paipo boards. It was a warm jade green resin mix so as not to go off too fast and become brittle. The next day we took to flipping it over and removing the foam down to the glass leaving the nose and side edges with a little divider half way down the middle for knee separation. Sort of a reverse wishbone with the tip inside. The rest of the interior was down to the glass to the back. The edges became side ribs for both edge bite and torsion bars for turning. Smack a fin on the back and that was it ! He left with it headed for Hawaii and I guess the rest is history. Seeing this video brought back this long forgotten memory and helped me to realize the significance of that moment.
Bonus, I got Dale to shape me an 8 foot mini gun that I glassed and finished up myself. Later that summer, one day up at Huntington, I was out on it and in the zone on a medium size fun day. After a while I noticed that David Nuuhiwa was out and watching me ! This was the summer that the Roller Coaster was invented and I seemed to be pulling them off really well and doing some really nice cut backs. No spray from a mini gun pintail but powerful nonetheless. I was really stoked. David being a fellow goofy foot and one of my heroes.
Thanks for bringing back this warm childhood memory on a cold winter's night in Cleveland, Ohio.Cheers !
The people in the second picture are or seem to be all surfing locals, including the women. The knobs on the knees from paddling are the giveaway. The guy on the far right even has the typical open sore. They were fun, not. Peel off the scab, insert knee in stinging salt water, grimace, then hop on the board putting your weight on the open sore and banzai. I still have some remnants of my knobs from back in the day.
