Wetsuit

[JamesF]

Want to snorkel from the south coast during summer (June-September) and local diving shop recommend a 3/2 mm suit. Is this good advice?

[Matt-75]

Get a 5mm if you intend to spend more than 10 mins doing it. A 3mm is fine , but you will probably still be cold in it, a 5mm will keep you warmer.

...And if anyone tells you to get a drysuit, knock em out. :p

[JamesF]

Thanks. I suspected as much!

[Ben Panter]

Although I agree with Matt for a diving suit, for snorkelling (scotland, summer) I personally use a cheap procella 3mm single piece suit with a 5mm hood, gloves and boots. When snorkellikng I'm much more active than when diving, and prefer the flexibility offered by a thinner suit. It's not the warmest suit in the world but it is a good compromise and allows me to spend half and hour to an hour taking pictures. I am of reasonably chunky build though.

Cheers,

Ben

[Yak Diver]

I use an Apnea wetsuit, not cheap, but a 5mm will keep you very warm free divers and spearfishing use them

[Ben Panter]

Hmmm. I'm just a bog standard snorkeller on a budget. To be honest I tend to leave freediving to bronzed adonises like Nigel - I could never be that cool. ;)

Ben

[ChristianG]

We are talking, aren't we, of semidrys rather than Farmer John's suits?

Actually does anyone even make a Farmer John any more?

Oh, and Ben! :) If i were snorkelling in your neck of the woods I would most definitely be using a 5mm semidry (and perhaps more). I'm aware of the time I was "invited" to break up and stack the ice in a small Loch below Cairngorm to go for a skinny dip, by the Outward Bound Moray Sea (Hah!!!) School people.

More stupidly still, I actually returned there the next spring hols for more of the same - voluntarily no less.

(Ummmm, please create a new thread if you wish to comment on the pics that appear in the URL below, some of which have already appeared here quite some time ago).

Cheers,

Christian
http://lovetodive.net/Lovetodive/CG.html

[Nigel Hewitt]

I tend to leave freediving to bronzed adonises like Nigel - I could never be that cool. ;)ROTFL.
I'm too old to take that one seriously Ben.

I have a 5+5mm Beuchat Mundial suit for freediving and it's wonderfully warm but needs 10Kgs of lead to dive in fresh water and it snaps to negative at about 7 meters on that.

The skin tight cut means that there is virtually no water entry let alone flushing so it really is semi-dry although it has no seals. However I hardly have the figure to be flattered by the cut these days. Also, in a moment of blank headedness, when I ordered it on the phone I took the brown-camo one he had in stock and only realised later what that meant. If I took myself seriously I'd replace it but I don't so if I ever do decide I want to spearfish my own seafood this one will be ideal for stalking the big ones that congregate round a sewer outfall.

The only snag is that it is a serious breath-hold between starting in at the bottom of the upper body half and the point where you finally get your head out through the neck and into the hood because it's all one skin tight squirm with no zip slots in the body to let any air in. I do hope that if I suffocate trying to get in or out the guys I'm diving with will have the decency to throw the body into the sea to provide some final cred.

I though that freediving would be a gentle diversion from the kit-intensive game of deep wrecks but somehow the gear always seems to pile up. The next is a computer as the VR3 gets all frumpy at 75m/min ascent rates and only records once every ten seconds in the log. Perhaps it's just me....

[JamesF]

I take your point about flexibility Ben. I do feel the cold a bit so may well need a 5mm but will try a 3mm first. If I'm too cold it will come in handy for warmer waters elsewhere and I'll go on to a 5. Thanks for the help.

[Cornholio]

Elios (http://www.eliossub.com/index.html) wetsuits are very popular with freedivers. I've not got around to ordering one for myself yet, but they do have a very good reputation.

[huebner]

South-coast?
Summer??
SUIT???

I was snorkeling in Poole Bay the day before yesterday, and I was perfectly happy without any suit. Okay, I was only snorkeling 15-20 minutes on the trot and the first minute was kind of refreshing, but it wasn't exactly the hottest day of the year. Imho a 3mm suit should do nicely in the summer, as long as you do not want to stay in the water all day.

The question is: What else do you want to do with a 3mm-suit? Apart from snorkeling you would not need it very often.

[JamesF]

I got a 3mm long suit and found I could stay in the water (around 13 degrees) about 40 minutes, which was fine. But I really did need gauntlets.

JamesF

[Cornholio]

I guess it's quite an individual thing. We usually holiday in Lanzarote when the water is in the region of 18 degrees. With a 5mm semi-dry, 3mm open cell vest, hood, socks and gloves I still get cold if it's not a sunny day.

When the sun shines I can be in the water for hours. Splendid! :) I've never been too warm in open water though.

[Tony_W]

I guess it's quite an individual thing. We usually holiday in Lanzarote when the water is in the region of 18 degrees. With a 5mm semi-dry, 3mm open cell vest, hood, socks and gloves I still get cold if it's not a sunny day.

:eek: Be Jez... I dive in a 2mm short john and 5mm semi and last week it was only 13 degrees :)

[Cornholio]

I think the word is nesh ;)

If I ever remember who it was that told me a 5mm semi would be fine in Stoney mid-January, they'd better watch out...

[John Bantin]

I used a 3mm suit for the last 25 dives including in a cenote. It doesn't take up much space in the luggage either. You may not always be diving in the UK.

[James Hickman]

I would go for a 5mm. I used to Snorkell in a 3mm in Scotland and it was FREEZING!! You'll be fine in a 5mm-Aqualung have some nice stuff.