Sport Today

I'm a windsurfing beginner, trying to buy a light wet suit to extend my
windsurfing season from summer deeper into spring and autumn. No windsurf
shops where I live - only diving shops. Questions:
1. What is the difference (if any) of windsurfing suits from diving suits?
2. Can I use a light diving suit as effectively?
3. Does anybody have windsurf shop addresses in Slovenia, Austria and North
Italy?

Thanks and have fun.
Antonio

Antonio:
The biggest difference between WS wetsuits, and diving westuits
is the "skin" side of the neoprene.
Dive suits are smooth skin on the inside th hold the warm water
next to the skin and keep the diver warm underwater with minimal
water transfer. The spongy side of the neoprenefaces out and
holds a layer of water that's warmer than ambient, but cooler
than inside the suit.
So, if you wear the dive suit in the wind, the wind "chills" the
water on the outside of the suit which cools the water inside the
suit.
WS wetsuits are "smooth skin" on the outside (at least in the torso
or core temp areas) to stop the wind, and keep a layer of warmer
water in the suit, but outside the much warnmer layer on the sailors
skin.
You might have one of the dive shops make you one with the smooth
skin on the outside.

But I would think you could buy a WS specific wetsuit any number of
places in Europe/UK/ or even the US and have it shipped to you by
mail order.
Hope this helps,
               Roger

Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.

Antonio,
   Roger has mentioned one aspect of the differences, and I would like
to mention another which has to do with how the suit fits the purpose it
was designed for.
  Consider the body position that most SCUBA divers maintain while
swimming underwater and that they tend to maintain that basic alignment
most of the time. They are also submerged completely most of the time. A
windsurfer can be in many positions and needs to have a lot more
flexibility of position. The arms are extended at a different angle and
thus the shoulders of the suits are designed differently.
  Windsurfers are in and out of the water, and, as Roger mentioned, need
more windproofing while not minding some flow thru of water. Too tight
in the forearms on a windsurfing suit will tend to cramp your arms very
quickly.  Windsurfers have many more combinations of air and water
temperatures to deal with. There are also many different weights and
styles of ws suits from neoprene shorts and shirts, thru "shorties" of
different weights, to convertibles to steamers and on to drysuits.
  So while it will be possible to use a Scuba suit, you will find that a
suit designed for windsurfing will be more user friendly for your
purposes. If you can find a shop in your region, or even a more western
European shop that does mail order via catalog, I would recommend
checking out what they have available.
  Ellen

Windsurfing wetsuits are normally thiner on the arms (and perhaps the legs) than
they are on the body. A summer wetsuit would typically not cover the lower arm.
This is important as you need your arms to be free. I am not sure that diving
wetsuits are made like that. In general you would wear a much thicker wetsuit to
go diving than you would need to windsurf.

See http://windsurf.pagina.nl/ and www.surfstore.co.uk

Michael Chare

I'm also a beginner, researching my first wetsuit purchase.
Here's what I've found.

1. The biggest difference between a diving wetsuit and a
windsurfing wetsuit is that a diving wetsuit needs to hold
its insulating effectiveness at increasing depth, where a
windsurfing suit only needs to insulate at the surface.
Studies have shown that suits can lose up to 70% of their
insulating effectiveness at a depth of 10 meters.  Diving
suits are designed to deal with this.  This shouldn't be a
factor  
for you, unless your technique is very strange.

You will probably do fine with a general purpose 'surface'
wetsuit (intended for sailing, waterskiing, jetskiing, and
other activities where you stay at the surface of the
water).  One designed specifically for windsurfing will have
more room/flexibility in the upper body. It may be harder to
find or more expensive.  It may also lack the reinforced
knees and ***that a sailing suit would have.  (sailing
will beat-up the suit faster than windsurfing)

Probably not 'as effectively' but perhaps  'adequate' or
'better than nothing'.  

You might try Piran or Portoroz.

Hope this helps.  Elaborations/corrections by those more
experienced welcomed and ercouraged.

-Paul

Thank you all - very useful opinions. I think I'm gonna go and buy me a WS
suit.

I tried using a diving wetsuit when I first started windsurfing and thought my
arms were suppose to feel like they were no longer functioning because of the
cramps. When it was pointed out that dive suits are too tight in the arms I cut
the sleeves off and presto, my arms were fine.
                   Dave