Wetsuit advice

alright alright, enough of this. Michael I just got a PM from you asking what to expect from the ocean, and the truth is, you cant expect anything.

Like I said before, keep it simple, there is no reason to ask 4 quadzillion questions. Grab a board (whether its made in china, kansas, california,) and paddle out. No one gives a **** what you ride when you can barely stand up, let alone ride the line

Just buy a ****ing wetsuit, who cares if its 12 dollars of 6 thousand. Do you want to surf or do you want to ask questions?

You said you want to simplify your life, well start by being simple.

All day I outfit people to climb everest, when really all they want to climb is the septic hill in their backyard. Spending your life getting asking questions to get the "right" **** prohibits you from realizing "hey i can do this with what I already have"

 

my rip-curl 3/2 has lamby fur on the chest which WORKS!

 

Dave, Phil, Ross, James are the guys to ask for at CR. Dave is the owner. All are good guys. Best selection in New England, and they will stand by their products if you ever have a problem.
SS is good as well, but they do not have anywhere near the inventory that CR has.

 

Wish I could afford them lamby furs.....

 

stuff works so save your pennies. it makes me feel like i have a stove
burner on my chest.

 

f*ck your lamby fur! i'm super-gluing actual lambs to my chest when i paddle out next. we'll see who's warmer!

 

Man, you could ask 20 different guys and get 20 different answers. A lot of guys on here are very adamant about keeping it local, buying from your local shops. I get that. But again, we don't live in a Utopian world, where we can all shell out the extra cash it sometimes. For instance, my shaper in CA is incredible. He started out giving me a couple free boards that he was developing early in his career. He wanted me to have them because he knew I surfed everyday in a different part of San Diego. He just wanted his boards to be seen. As he got bigger, he would give me "the bro deal"... Brand spanking new shortboards with art for about $275 a piece... Thats almost at his cost with labor. Those same boards were in the local shop "OB Surf shop" with price tags for about $580-$625... As a guy, paying INSANE rent and bills to live on the ocean out there, I couldn't afford to be dropping $600-$700 at the local shop everytime I wanted a board... Once he got so big, and was on a 3 month waiting list, I started looking elsewhere. One of my favorite boards EVER to this day is my sharp eye disco. Got it almost brand new for $250 on craigslist... I do not feel bad AT ALL for buying that board elsewhere.

Furthermore, there was a strange economic deal between the 4 surfshops in OB. NONE of them could carry like products. Quik and Oneill were ONLY sold in South Coast. I didn't like the team riders there, or the employees. They were all the pompous little d-bags that were cancerous in the lineups. The OB Surf shop crew were all sick skaters, great local waterman and great community cats. Problem was, I didn't want a body glove wetsuit or a BOZ wetsuit. I wanted the best product on the market at the time and my local shop didn't have it. So, I went to the SD Swap Meet and eventually found a guy selling brand new Quiksilver wetsuits for about $75 a piece. Legit ones, that "fell off a truck in LA" is what he told me... So, again, I didn't feel bad at all for getting a killer deal on a wetsuit and putting money in the pocket of a probably undocumented citizen... Dude had the cheap on some sick wetsuits. What are you gonna do right?

So, anyway, point is, I wouldn't throw stones at a guy who buys a board from anywhere. China. Whatever. Thats life. Cause again, I bet 80% of everything else you own has made its way from some cheap labor pool over seas.

We have this debate on here all the time. Its unfortunate that local shops in so many areas have to rely on high priced merchandise and that local shapers have to "overcharge" people to keep a float, but at the end of the day, if that is how you have to make money, maybe you should shape boards as a hobby and not a livelihood. Cause it's taking advantage of your local community if you are chargin them 30% more than they should be paying to "keep it local". If you are a local surfer, surfing year round, these places should be hooking you up and making their nut in the summer selling tee shirts to the tourons....

If people want you to keep it local, they better give you a good reason too....

Cause money is money. We all work hard for it. And if some guy in Michigan is making rad as$ boards for super cheap. I may just buy one. Cause we all want the most for our money.

 

As others have advised; craptastic suit. Use google shopping for comparisons. Generic advice you could find on the net in 15 minutes:

Buy old (previous season's) higher-end wetsuits for big discounts from online retailers who are clearing their overstock, or from guys who gave up after a session or two, or from sample sales. Don't pay retail. Ebay your wetsuits when you are ready to upgrade, move someplace warmer/colder, or quit surfing. I've ebayed 6 wetsuits in the past 6 years and either broke even (ones that were 2-3 seasons old) or turned a nice profit on anything that was NWT (samples bought from the ripcurl outlet and past-season's suits from wholesalers online).

Are you a baby or an astronaut? No? Then don't pee in your suit.

There, saved you 15 min.

 

If you're looking for quality, new suits and want to save money, check whiskeymilitia.com they are always running great deals with last year's/season's stuff. You may have to wait and check back a few times as their sales are for limited periods (e.g. 4 days). I think they have a wetsuit sale going now.

 

+++++++++++1

 

dude - it feels like a masseuse has rubbed my chest w/warmy oil….and in the line-up, livestock or not,
one stews…..

 

I'm too lazy to go down to the shop and check; Do any of the good Ripcurls (F/E-bomb or equiv.) still have backzip and batwing like they did in the early aughts? I'm stuck with an old pseudo-zipperless psycho, and I miss being able to peel into and out of the top real quick without the whole zipperless or chest-zip elbow struggle.

Anything else out there that's fast and easy to put on? 3/2 or 4/3 full, no hood. Doesn't need to be all that warm.

 

My Oneill Pyscho Freak is pretty sick. Its a 3.5 mil i got in San Diego. Its basically thinner material than a 4 mil, but provides more warmth. I can verify that. It works way better. And the material that they use is the stretchiest stuff I have ever had, which keeps it durable as hell. I mean, once its on, you can pinch the material on your forearm between your two fingertips and pull it off like 6 inches high and it snaps back down... It has a classic back zip. It has the thin, small flap on the inside for added seal, but you dont even need to hook that around and the material is so thin it doesn't bunch up if you dont....

I would look for a new (unused) model from a few years ago and jump on that. Cause when I got mine it was like $550, with a bro deal... so If you could find that same model now, its probably closer to 200....

Wore it all the way from Baja up to Santa Cruz the last winter I was there and I was plenty warm.

 

The O'neill Reactor WAS my first wetsuit 25 years ago...

 

Not trying to hijack this thread but how far do you all think I think push it with just a 3/2 wetsuit and 3mm boots? I was thinking water temps in the mid 50s?

 

im not as picky about 3/2 because they don't need to do that much to keep me warm. Now a 6/5 or 4/3 I like to get the best suit possible because you don't want to play around in 35 degree water with a -10 windchill. Id say go for the crappy 3/2 if you only plan on using it for warmer water because it docent really matter in my opinion as long as its comfortable.