February statistically has the coldest annual water temps for our region. As a winter warrior, I am curious what some may do to extend surf sessions or to minimize the suffering when changing into and out of your wetsuit. I wear a 6/5/4 with 5mm gloves and 7mm boots but still some days are just brutal after a hour into the session. Some things i do that help are: sitting in my car blasting the heat until my suit warms up and recently i came up with the idea of filling up my wetsuit bucket (its basically a recycling bin) with hot bath water. Ill dip my suit in the hot water before suiting up and I find that it helps get in on faster and gives me a heat boost. Its also great when I get out of the water because ill dip my frigid hands and feet in the bucket to warm up. I saw a guy today that had a portable pump shower. I also have and see many people with the FCS robe towels. So, what are some of the clever things you have come up with or have seen other warriors do to fight the cold?
Get a big bottle of hot water and wrap it in a towel on the way to the beach, put your suit on with the FCS towel it helps a lot, and right before you get into the water or leave your car pour half of the hot water in your suit, it will help keep you warm for 30-45 extra mins right when you get into the water, and when you get out or get too cold to keep on going pour the rest of the water into your suit to warm back up.
Half suited up to the beach...pee whilst in the water and sit on garbage bags/towels on the way home and change out in the shower. Also doubles as a rinse session for the wet suit since its to cold to be messing with the hose outside.
here's an idea for ya. Before or after your session (it doesn't matter which) douse yourself with kerosene and drop a lit zippo down your suit.
...and he flamed off the forum, too! Good. Anyway, no secrets here. If you can drive home and change in the shower. Time in the water will be limited when it's really cold, no way to get around that. Maybe on of those super fancy heated suits could work well but my 5/3 works for as cold as I care to go anyway.
Havent tried it yet, but I have some foot warmers im going to try putting in ziploc bags and putting them in my boot so they wont get wet
get a remote start for your vehicle and paddle out with it in a small drybag tucked inside your wetsuit. crank that puppy up with the heater blasting 30 minutes before the end of your session. just make sure you have enough gas...
Hot water in some old OJ jugs and slap them in a cooler. Water stays really warm. Myself, hell I have kept a semi-beater Honda....hop right in and roll home, shower and shed the rubber in comfort...YEPS
In theory... would the Thermocare wraps work? They are just rocks that react to air to warm up. They wrap around your waist and velcro on... Those suckers get pretty hot! Cost a lot less than the Rip Curl Heated suit or that Quicksilver $200 vest!
I borrowed a heated vest from a friend and it worked pretty good. I wore it under my 4/3 psycho 2. I don't remember the water temperature that day. It was last Febuary so probably in the mid 30's. I lasted two hours without getting cold at all. Plus 5 mil lobster claws and 7 mil boots.
These days I normally just rent a room at the Schooner and surf 1st St VB. Get really heated up first and take it off in a hot shower. But.... If I'm surfing a remote place like Chinco I run about a mile before surfing to get the body warmed up put on the suit in the car. Use a solar shower with hot water and stick the down down my suit to heat up. Really makes a difference between sessions. Makes it easier to take off too. My new 4/3 hooded Xcel dries in minutes outdoors so that helps. Another answer i've tried is using hot hands warmers. stick them on my lower back, booties, back of neck and I'm warm for another hour in the water. The one for booties cover the whole foot. If your kidneys are warm you're warm.
Not a bad idea for a couple of people in the off season. Orbitz says avg. $49/night plus you get the dawn patrol session too. That's if the swell hangs around vb for more than 10 hours I always thought the smaller hotels near 1st street could make a couple of bucks if they installed a bank of lockers that could hold boards and a beach chair or two. They could even rent them to locals that don't want to lug their longboard and family beach crap to the beach every weekend during the summer.
Having lockers a the small hotels would be awesome. Very similar to our amusement parks. A changing station would also be helpful. Yes being at the Schooner you get to pick and choose when you go out. plus a good visual advantage from up high including Croatan. They all have small kitchens too.
good stuff..of course i pee in my suit, kerosene guy-u funny, i like the hot towel idea i think i am going to test the foot warmers idea bc that seems to be where the cold really hit me hard i used to be able to walk home but since sandy i now travel at least 30mins to surf, i cant wait to be back to walking distance i also think i may have just not found the 'right' pair of booties. all my winter boots have been 7mm by good brands. anyone have a good pair of winter booties that they love?
