Surfing Waves

Winter is harsh, wet and windy in NYC. I also have terrible skin problem which irritates when I cover myself in layers of clothes. I'm tempted to wear a wetsuit during my commute and of course get changed when I get in the office No I won't look like crazy because I'll probably just wear a thin jacket to cover it up.

Would that work? Or wetsuit only keeps you warm when it is soaked with water so you have that layer of insulation?

That's NYC so from what I can tell no one will notice ....just another weirdo. My guess is it is insulation and should work fine just don't pee in it

Makes sense to me!
I've performed gutter and roof maintenance during rain storms in suburbia. Makes perfect sense.

BaNZ wrote: I also have terrible skin problem which irritates when I cover myself in layers of clothes.

Strange, usually you hear people getting skin allergies from the wetsuit neoprene.
But if you need to wear a wetsuit to work, it better look the part.

I wear wet boardies and slippers to work....change once I’m there. Washed my car the other day in cold rain wearing a wetsuit vest (was halfway done when the sky opened up....finished the job).

A sweater would probably work and feel better all around but since you have like 6 wetsuits you probably ought to put them to work for you.

I have definitely seen worse in NYC including someone taking a dump in the street about a yard off the sidewalk around 11am on a Sunday morning. Squatted down, pants around ankles, the whole 9. Good times!

waikikikichan wrote:Strange, usually you hear people getting skin allergies from the wetsuit neoprene.

I think the main issue I have is that my skin are bad due to working in IT. I sit down for very long periods. 7-8 hours at work and another 3-4 hours at home. I don't drink enough water and lack of exercise. Also have dunkin donuts for breakfast and mcdonalds for lunch definitely doesn't help. When I'm wearing a wetsuit, it usually means I eat healthy, drink plenty of water and exercise a lot in the water so my skin gets better lol.

Also probably due to stress, whereas I love the smell of wetsuit and it always makes me happy.

Big H wrote:I wear wet boardies and slippers to work....change once I’m there. Washed my car the other day in cold rain wearing a wetsuit vest (was halfway done when the sky opened up....finished the job).

A sweater would probably work and feel better all around but since you have like 6 wetsuits you probably ought to put them to work for you.

I have definitely seen worse in NYC including someone taking a dump in the street about a yard off the sidewalk around 11am on a Sunday morning. Squatted down, pants around ankles, the whole 9. Good times!

7 wetsuit now and just 2 winter/snow jacket LOL. But yeah I'm pretty lazy when I used to live close to the beach. I just hop on the car and drive home in 20 minutes, give my car a wash when I get home.

I think if I wear a wetsuit then maybe I'll get to sit down in the subway as people will move away from me.

i can't tell if this is actually a serious thread, but either way i say if you are gonna go for it, just own it and wear a suit with a hood. preferably one a few years old that smells terrible to increase chances of subway space. if you don't wear the hood then people won't know where the smell is coming from and you really won't get yourself anywhere aside from being sweaty and gross by the time you get to work.

Banz, maybe you should have some of these at work - surf wax candles. Rather than a sniffing a square of neoprene

http://stickybumps.com/the-original-sur ... d-candles/

I'm sure I'm not the only one that gets excited with the smell of neoprene or wax! Own it up guys and girls.

And my wetsuit definitely doesn't stink unlike some people who pee in them.

dtc wrote:Banz, maybe you should have some of these at work - surf wax candles. Rather than a sniffing a square of neoprene

http://stickybumps.com/the-original-sur ... d-candles/

I don't think my colleagues would like that. They are already moaning when I wear boardshorts and a good selection of surfer shirts to work during summer.

I imagine epic chafing would become a factor after a few journeys.

Okay I did a 3/2 today and it was cold. I think it's because I didn't get a hoodie. I'm going to try a 4/3 tomorrow. Yes there was some chafing so I had to walk like donald duck. Kinda worried about breaking my wetsuit when I took it off. It doesn't feel as stretchy like when it is wet.

I love the scent of neoprene! How about a drysuit? You can probably avoid chafing and stay a tad warmer too. Definitely no peeing in it, however.

BaNZ wrote:Would that work? Or wetsuit only keeps you warm when it is soaked with water so you have that layer of insulation?

That's a myth; water in your wetsuit cools you down, it doesn't insulate you. The insulation of a wetsuit it provided by the material itself; neoprene is full of tiny air bubbles, and this trapped air is a poor conductor of heat, thus insulating you. It's exactly how a jumper works, although of course unlike a jumper, when a wetsuit gets wet the trapped air doesn't disappear, because it's stuck inside waterproof rubber. This is why thicker wetsuits insulate better and it's also why innovations to keep you warm in a wetsuit mostly involve keeping water out.

With that in mind, I'd worry you'd actually get cold wearing your wet wetsuit after surfing. Surfing's quite a physical sport, so the wetsuit you're comfortable in constantly paddling, popping up and riding probably isn't the wetsuit you're comfortable in sat on a bus, train or in a car with the whole thing wet, conducting away your body heat. The problem is compounded by the fact that most surfing wetsuits are double lined with fabric for protection, which absorbs water - this evaporates off the surface of the suit and chills you out very quickly (this is why windsurfers often wear a different type of wetsuit without this fabric lining, esp in cold weather - you get this on the chest or back panels of some surfing suits). Surf schools in colder climates have this problem-on lunch breaks students and teachers sit or stand around in wet wetsuits, and getting cold is quite a serious problem at that stage.

I'd say what you're suggesting is sensible and worth a try, but make sure you wrap up very warm with a big thick coat over the top of the wetsuit otherwise you'll freeze.

Long ago I used to scuba dive and when I used a wet suit what I was taught is that you get the wet suit wet and wear it till the water retained gets warm then you get in the water. If you do this you notice cold water leaking in a couple inches along the neck area. If you don't do this you notice cold water leaking in through the whole suit and it chills you a lot. Now this is Hawaii and sometimes I would dive without a wetsuit and it wasn't too bad so that might not translate into much but that is my experience with wetsuits which I don't use surfing.

oldmansurfer wrote:Long ago I used to scuba dive and when I used a wet suit what I was taught is that you get the wet suit wet and wear it till the water retained gets warm then you get in the water. If you do this you notice cold water leaking in a couple inches along the neck area. If you don't do this you notice cold water leaking in through the whole suit and it chills you a lot. Now this is Hawaii and sometimes I would dive without a wetsuit and it wasn't too bad so that might not translate into much but that is my experience with wetsuits which I don't use surfing.

Interesting. I'm guessing it a suit fits poorly and it lets a fair bit of water in, then acclimatising like that is a better way for your body to slowly react.

Here in the UK I never go in the water without a wetsuit on, but with a good fitting suit I just don't feel the coldness of the water at all, as any water that does get in creeps in very slowly in tiny amounts. I should say that I'm quite thin and I really feel the cold in the water, so make absolutely sure that my suits fit perfectly - when I first learnt to dive and windsurf years ago I borrowed suits and had some horrible experiences, so I kinda know where you're coming from. I'm the only person I know who surfs, but lots of my friends here in the UK have tried it, but they've just been put off by the cold in a low quality rental suit and only surfed that one time. I started surfing having already dived and windsurfed for years, so I had a good suit already and was therefore able to just enjoy it for the fun it is, perhaps like first timers do where you're from

Interesting well like I said I only have that little bit of experience with wetsuits for diving from long ago. Water temperature is comfortable here so even diving unless you are going deep you don't necessarily need a wetsuit. I know some wear them here surfing even though the cold seems completely manageable by being overweight

Wetsuits are way more pliable when wet so the chafing doesn't surprise me. What I'd be worried about is sweating on the subway. NYC streets are ice cold and then you get on the subway and it's 100 degrees, particularly at 8:00am when you're crammed in between other straphangers. You sweat, even a little, even one time when you least expect it, and you've got a layer of rubber maintaining that layer of sweat on your skin as opposed to it naturally evaporating, then you take the thing off when you get to work and I know you aren't washing it in the men's room. You might not pee in your wetsuit but I'll bet it's only a matter of time before it starts to smell like you do. And stop eating that crap!

I just wear plenty of thin layers (I love Patagonia light down vest and jacket) and keep a picture of me surfing on my desktop to help me stay happy.