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Front or Rear Drysuit ??
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fleaberto View Drop Down
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    Posted: 01 Nov 12 at 1:05pm

I sent my drysuit in for a new neck seal last weekend - Just as the first properly chilly spell arrived! Great timing!

So, with much trepidation - and with wildly gusting, swinging 'breeze' on a mid-sized gravel pit, I took to the (cold) water in my basic, £35 Sola wetsuit, with a Rooster Race-skin underneath as mid-layer, Magic Marine thermals as base layer, some Magic Marine metalite socks and a Sola drytop over that lot.......The EPS spat me out more times than I can actually remember (Someone reckoned on just 3 capsizes, but I'm sure it was more!)...Anyway, at no point did I ever feel cold and movement was fine for all the clambering I had to do.
The temptation, I think, with a drysuit is that you just don't layer up enough. The assumption is often that 'Dry' means 'Warm' and 'Wet' means 'Cold'.
Not sure I'd be as keen to Wetsuit it up in true depths of Winter - but it was a salutory lesson in the effectiveness of the whole layering concept.
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Posts: 280 		Post Options Post Options   Quote didlydon Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Nov 12 at 2:56pm
FWIW:- I have a Gul, so called "breathable"drysuit. I end up really damp inside from condensation. I even sent it back for testing as I thought it was leaking, but they said it was just moisture build up. This happens even on safety boat duty bobbing about not working hard..... I've never been swimming in it, but on launching & recovery you can really feel the cold striking through my long johns underneath....... So I would really carefully consider just how breathable a drysuit is likely to be before purchase. I'd like to think the more expensive ones would naturally be more breathable...... 
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Pastyman View Drop Down
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Posts: 30 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Pastyman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Nov 12 at 4:01pm
Breathable dry suits only work well if you are wearing the right undergarments. These need to be man made fibres that wick moisture away from the skin. This can be more than one layer but the more layers the slower the osmosis works.
The original discussion was wetsuit or drysuit for a new 420 crew and in reallity the answer is probably both ...a good winter wetsuit and a dry suit reasuringly expensive Sleepy 
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Posts: 30 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Moppo Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Nov 12 at 4:26pm
Drysuit: If determined to have a drysuit and (making a huge assumption here) based in the SE, may be worth looking at Hammonds. Drysuits made to measure and, most importantly for a growing young'un, they alter them as they grow.
 
Personally, I'd rather wear a good wetsuit. I found my movement too restricted in a drysuit (even my made to measure one), and I didn't like the excess material. For my wetsuit, I have a 5/3 surfing wetsuit, chosen for its super-stretchiness in the arms and legs. Decent thermal rash vest, bootliners, and a splash top and you're sorted.
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hum3 View Drop Down
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Posts: 247 		Post Options Post Options   Quote hum3 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Nov 12 at 4:57pm
One issue with winter wetsuits which hasn't been mentioned, is the effect that not having enough volume in the forearm has. The restricted blood flow to your forarms absolutely destroys your ability to grip, which is more than annoying if you're out for a windy sail. I found it particularly bad crewing a trapeze boat when your hanging off the wire every tack/gybe and hanging on to the kite...
 
I've got a Gul Viper, a nice bit of kit, but I'm going to have to ge the arms adjusted if I'm going to use it for winter sailing. My old winter suit, which was a windsurfing biased, had extra forearm volume, so I didn't have the issue.
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Neptune View Drop Down
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Posts: 1314 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Neptune Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Nov 12 at 5:27pm
What's your middle name? Popeye? Better stay off the spinach ;-)
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hum3 View Drop Down
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Posts: 247 		Post Options Post Options   Quote hum3 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Nov 12 at 5:40pm
Actually, I'm not terribly big! (5'10'', 77kg [to mix my unit systems]) That's partly why I thought I should highlight the point.
 
I've heard of one or two other people having the same issue so I presumed I'm not on my own???
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Posts: 1459 		Post Options Post Options   Quote sargesail Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Nov 12 at 8:30pm
An the other thing about breathable drysuits (and other kit) is that they don't breathe well when their outer surface is coated with water!  Very often the reason for condensation.
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Posts: 3011 		Post Options Post Options   Quote RS400atC Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Nov 12 at 10:40pm
Originally posted by iGRF

Originally posted by pondmonkey

they're not a bunch of nancy boys.


You have proof of this?

As to wet or dry, long periods on the surface in spray inclement weather = drysuit

Long periods in the actual water = wetsuit

I once had a very very bad experience in a dry suit at Queen Mary when my board blew away mid race and I had to wait to be picked up, in the middle of winter. You get hyperthermia very quickly even with base layers when the water is very cold, which is where a wetsuit providing its 5mil or better is superior at resisting that bit longer and easier to swim in.

I have both a 5 mil winter suit and a Typhoon. No question Typhoon make the best dry suits, they invented the concept in the first place and still have industrial and military grade contracts to back their R&D last time I looked. Having said that this latest front loader I have which I believe is similar to Wing Wangs, I find difficult to get in and out of, whereas back loaders are just a question of finding a coat hanger to attach oneself to and swing from.

That said they're still potential death bags all of them if you are not fully aware of their pitfalls.


Having done some cold water scuba diving, I feel qualified to say that a drysuit with half decent undersuit can be very much warmer than even a pretty technical wetsuit, when you are in the water. But very thin inner layers may disappoint.
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Posts: 50 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Happilyover40 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Nov 12 at 11:40am
Thanks for all the info

Was at chandlers at weekend and she tried on front zip and went no way...

So put on an extra layer underneath and was warm on Sunday except for hands Cry Cry

So is going to see how this weekend pans out whether she gets drysuit as her x-mas pressie or not.

Graham
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