Wetsuit for surfers, windsurfers and kiters
With a wetsuit, as neoprene suits or surf suits are also called, water sports enthusiasts can protect themselves from cold water. A wetsuit is worn particularly close to the body and fits like a second skin when surfing and wakeboarding. Thanks to its enormous stretchability, it ensures optimal freedom of movement.
While divers usually choose very thick wetsuits for cold water, surf suits are usually thinner and therefore very easy to move in. A wetsuit for warm water can be 2 mm or 3 mm thick. For lower water temperatures, wetsuits with 4 mm or 5 mm thickness are suitable. When surfing in cold water, a surf suit can also be supplemented with neoprene hoods, neoprene surf shoes and neoprene gloves.
How does a wetsuit keep you warm?
Although the wetsuit gets wet on the outside and inside when surfing, the neoprene provides excellent insulation. The wetsuit prevents the body heat from being released into the environment. The thicker the wetsuit, the stronger the insulating effect and the warmer the surf suit. Neoprene is a type of foamed rubber with nitrogen trapped in its inner structure. Since these small bubbles conduct heat very poorly, neoprene is an optimal insulating material for water sports enthusiasts and is used by companies such as ION or Rip Curl, to make surf suits and water sports accessories.
Since neoprene is synthetically based and also only partially recyclable, companies like Patagonia go one step further and produce wetsuits from neoprene-free natural materials. In the production of eco wetsuits, for example, special natural rubber is being used in ever greater quantities and recycled raw materials are also increasingly finding their place in the production of surf suits.
Sporty surf suits for women, men and kids
For their first attempts on a surfboard, a surf suit for kids is ideal as protection against cool water, wind and UV radiation. Neoprene suits are available in many different variations, for example as a shorty with short sleeves and short legs, as a variant with long sleeves and short legs or with long sleeves and long legs.
The cut with extra short legs and long sleeves is also very popular with women. In warm water and summer temperatures, surf shirts made of stretchy Lycra and matching boardshorts or a bikini are the perfect alternative to warm neoprene wetsuits.