A wetsuit is a garment that protects the wearer from body heat loss during activities like swimming, kitesurfing, scuba diving, surfing, windsurfing and triathlons. The purpose of a wetsuit is to keep the wearer warm and it does this by allowing a thin film of water to stay between the skin and the suit itself.
How does a wetsuit work?
A thin layer of water is trapped between your skin and the wetsuit. This water is heated by your body and then acts as insulation. The neoprene in the wetsuit itself also has very good insulating capabilities.
Wetsuits are less effective in deep water; this is one of the reasons that dives use thicker wetsuits.
What materials are used in wetsuits?
Neoprene is the best thing since sliced bread when it comes to wetsuits. This synthetic rubber fabric contains lots and lots of small bubbles that contain gas and therefore provides surfers, swimmers etc with insulation. Neoprene is later cut into differently shaped panels and sewn together to make a wetsuit.
When you are buying your wetsuits you must also consider wetsuit thickness. Thicker wetsuit is warmer but less comfortable and vice versa. Usually wetsuits are from 2 to 6 millimeters thick. Then there are also some other materials that can be added to the wetsuit to make it warmer.
The type of stitches is also very important when it comes to wetsuit productions. Normal stitches mean holes in your wetsuits and cold water flushing in. So at the moment the best seams are made using a blindstitch technique and additionally sealed using liquid taping.
To make putting on your wetsuit easier, most of wetsuits have a zipper. Zipper is usually located on the back, but also on the chest and the front of the wetsuit. Then there is also the zipperless wetsuit entry system. Here the entry hole is really stretchy and is later closed with some Velcro.
In some wetsuits, the sleeves and leg portions can be removed from the main body, so the user can customize the suit to his or her requirements. Wetsuits also usually have a nylon lining, or a backing made of stretchable materials such as spandex and lycra, which simplifies putting on and removing the suit.
Types of Wetsuits
There is a wide range of wetsuits available ” shorty, spring suit, full wetsuit, steamer, winter wetsuit etc… The most important thing to bear in mind is that the better a wetsuit fits, the more effective it will be in protecting the wearer from heat loss in situations where the body is constantly losing heat to the water or cold air surrounding it.
Wetsuit should also be tight around the neck, wrists and ankles so that water can not come in. Just not to tight, make sure that you can breathe and move comfortably. If you get a good wetsuit and if it fits you right you can surf, swim, dive etc at some really low temperatures.
