wet suits

ken smith

New Member
Do you think a 7mm wetsuit , farmer johns bottoms and short pants top with long sleeves will work up in the great lakes in the winters? I was looking at the Hyperstretch step-in type by Henderson. I was told these guys dive in these suits in the winter here.
thanks Ken
 
Diving and sailing are completely different uses as far as a wetsuit is concerned.

A 7mm suit will be really restrictive as far as movement on the boat goes. You will fatigue quickly in the arms, and tacking/jibing will be more awkward. Divers are not concerned with the range of motion that sailing requires.

A wetsuit provides minimal warmth out of the water, it works best under water when a thin layer of water is trapped between the body and the suit.

If you are serious about GL sailing in the winter, when water temps are near freezing, I think you need to be looking at a drysuit. I personally wouldn't switch to a wetsuit for sailing until water temps go above 45 degrees and air temps the same or higher. (all temps in F not C)

The professional divers I know around my area (LI Sound) all use a commerical dry suit (much heavier seals and fabric then what we use for sailing) for winter diving when the water drops below 40.
 
For frostbiting in the great lakes the dry suit is essential. Other essentials are a couple of other sailors and a crash boat. I just got into frostbitting this past year and it is a great way to keep your skills up during the winter. In Portsmouth NH we sail Cape Cod frosties throughout the winter. We have about 12 -15 people who sail and most of them are summer laser sailors. The fleet is extremely safety conscious and for good reason. The dry suit works well for a short duration plunge into the water but I would not want to be in the water for any extended period of time.
You will have more trouble keeping your hands and feet warm than the rest of your body.
 
So would a less restrictive wetsuit be good for early summer conditions here in southern new england? I think the water temp is already up to the mid fortys.
 
My wetsuit of choice has always been a short sleeve/short pant suit. However, hiking pants, (the noeprene ones) combined with a nice Gill spray top does the same job and allows you to layer your top. If you get too hot you can always strip the spray top and stick it in your inspection port. As for your feet I've always used Gill neoprene/zipper dingy boots. I think this set up would work well for New England early summer stuff. I've found that while racing you stay really warm. It's the waiting around between races that sucks and no matter what you have on you're gonna get chilly.
 
In Port Phillip Bay Australia the most that i'll wear for laser sailing is a full length wetsuit of about 3mm thickness. My friend that sails a contender only ever wears a short length wetsuit, even in mid winter. Maybe us young guys don't get as cold.
 
I bought the 7mm hyperstrech wet suit and I was out on the Niagara River on friday. First time on a laser, what a great boat. In the drink 4 different times and never was I cold. Winds were 10 - 20 very gusty, the water was 34 degrees with some large ice chunks floating by. I now know I can sail all winter and stay warm. Even after getting back aboard after a dump I was warm in the air. I actually was hot but I had to work hard being the first time out on my laser. :)
Ken Smith
 
Most sailing-specific wetsuits stop at about 4/3 or sometimes 5/4 thicknesses. The two numbers stand for neoprene thickness, in mm, of the suit in the body (firtst #) and the stretchier areas (second #). Really, you shouldn't need more than that. Thicker wetsuits are generally overly constricting to movement, and are actually tiresome to wear unless you are in the water constantly or nearly so.
Sailing specific wetsuits are nice. They are engineered to fit best in the positions you are usually in when sailing dinghies. Surfing wetsuits are better engineered for surfing, logically. Sailing wetsuits will also be more durable as they will have things like reinforcements on the butt, where a surfing or diving wetsuit will not.
A better quality wetsuit is going to be both warmer and more comfortable than a lesser product of equivalent thicknesses. The big variables, beyond shaping, are elasticity of the fabric and the quality of the seams. Stretchy fabric is more expensive. Real nice sailing wetsuits will use as many as four or five different types of neoprene in their construction - thicker/warmer in some places, stretchier in others, thinner in yet others. Behind the knees, for example, you don't need a lot of stretch and can't take a lot of bulk, but on the rest of the back of the legs you need a thicker material. These engineering things will make the suit warmer and more comfortable. Better seam stitching will have more water-proof seams which are less abrasive to the wearer.
I would recommend, for frostbiting in the Great Lakes, a really good sailing-specific 4/3 wetsuit, worn over a rashguard and lycra shorts, plus a good spray or dry top to go along with it. There are many different thickness of rashguard, some with insulating properties, that will keep your core warm on the coldest of days when worn under this suit. Warm hat, neoprene boots with neoprene socks and good gloves will complete the program.
 
In all the northern frostbite series that I'm aware of, nearly everyone uses a drysuit, except maybe the first and last couple weeks of the season. So much more comfortable than a thick wetsuit, and you can control your warmth with layering under it. Personally I can't imagine true winter sailing (both air and water temp less than 40 deg. F) in a wetsuit - on more than one occasion when working the crash boat I've pulled Laser sailors wearing wetsuits out of the water after they lost the strength to right their capsized boats.
 

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