VANCOUVER ISLAND WINDTALK

Looking to purchase a dry suit for windsurfing and other watersports. Any recommendations or experiences appreciated.

Cheers, Rob.

Stay away from the bag-style suits if you plan to sail in high wind and waves. Too difficult to swim quickly or cover distance rapidly due to the heavy drag. I owned an OR suit that was very warm, but not a good choice for windsurfing in waves. The OR Predator suit looks pretty sweet and should work well if you really need a drysuit.

I have used my new tight-fitting Predator (SURF DRY) suit a few times, and like Winddoc says, it is much better for swimming than a baggy suit! Very useful for when those waves rip your gear away or you eject at height. That said, if you are not windsurfing in waves the baggy suit is fine. I used my OR Pryo for years and it was great for everything but swimming.

The Predator's 3-layer system takes some getting used to, but is almost as fast as a normal drysuit after a few times donning it. Do watch the Donning the Predator Video as it has a few key tips.

OR still has some good clearance sales on the Predator!
http://store.oceanrodeo.com/drysuits/Drysuits

Maybe also have a look at their outlet store
http://oceanrodeo.com/kiting/p/outlet-store

Wow, so far this thread seems like it was sponsored by OR. Honestly, I haven't been paid to promote OR, I just like their stuff.

I sail mostly flatwater and small waves, longboards and SUPs. I do get in the water all year round and have always used a traditional 5/4/3. The drysuits look much more comfortable and easier to get in and out of.

I am in Victoria, are there any OR retailers here?

Sorry Rob, I just edited my post above to include the store. Maybe phone the outlet store to see if they have some stuff there to try:
http://oceanrodeo.com/kiting/p/outlet-store

How about a wetsuit that even in 50 knot wind wipeouts keeps you dry. rob I have two npx wetsuits both are 6/4 one is a nylon2 2010 the other my winter suit is a 2011 smooth skin, this suit is the best suit that I have ever owned bar none, in 32 years of windsurfing, the 2012 is even better, although I do not have that one , they have fixed the niggling problems of the 2011 suit, in my mind it is the best suit for this island bar none, I usually drive home in my suit and disrobe in the bathroom and much to my surprise most of the interior is still dry even after wipeing out in 50 knot winds going over the handlebars etc, get the 2012 though, the 2011 had some issues, i had two neilpryde drysuits and swore by them for years, but sold them both after buying these npx 6/4,s I will never go back to a drysuit for our waters. call me if you like Tim 250-896-5236

I have been using a pyro pro for a couple years now. It works great for keeping me warm in the cold, but I have always preferred a wetsuit for riding comfort. I recently tried out a Soul and I was very impressed.
Comfort level is amazing. Looks and feels like snowboarding gear. The hood kept me warm and my head dry in 40-50kn winds until I was fully submerged after crashing on a jump. The new zipper is flexible and I found no loss in mobility that the old metal zippers caused. The comfort zip(pee zip) is also a huge feature as stripping down for a pee gets annoying when you are in a suit a lot.
It would be worth heading into the shop just to try one on. You might not want to take it off. This has been the first drysuit I have tried that can come close to wetsuit comfort level!

iamvwman wrote:dry suit for windsurfing and other watersports. Any recommendations or experiences appreciated.

= Got my polar heat (semi dry, has the neoprene bottoms) out at Kook on a W, wind died, then went offshore (never seen that since). Tried to swim in, arm seals leaked, then got really cold, only had about 400m to swim but almost drowned 10m from shore with lots of people watching, hypothermic
= Cordova Bay, same suit, had to swim in, neck seal billowed in waves, got water in, swam in, all wet and very cold, couldn't carry my gear for a while but it was also minus 2
=Island view, OR drysuit, worked in the shorebreak, water forced into leg seals and wrist seals, loose canvas wrapped around some gear, almost tore (tough stuff) and pulled me under for a while, freaked a bit, no damage
= Klover, forgot to do up the zipper, doooh, that was okay for a while and I didn't notice cuz the fleece was nice and warm.....til I fell in. Once wet, there was no way to close the zipper or waterstart in light wind cuz I had a couple of gallons extra weight, bodydragged in, luckily beach was close
= during backlooping practice, got severely bagged upon impact, wow, no padding, this has occured once with a wet suit in many years but twice with the drysuit in one summer.
= OR Drysuit, Jordan River got worked on outside break in Sewers, lost my gear, tried to swim like a madman to shore after it seemed I would never catch the gear, no progress AT ALL like kicking around in a plastic bag, lucky to get my gear back after shore was a no-go, swam to near drowning to catch it, pretty dry but hysterical, this event put it over the top.....NEVER AGAIN a dry suit!!

=rest of the time a bit warmer than a 5:3, no warmer when single layered than a 6:4, I never thankfully experienced a rip in the suit but not sure how that would affect things, probably not good
=seals are a fair bit tighter than a drysuit causing cold feet and numb hands and forearm cramps
=also you are warmer if you layer more but you sweat and there is also a little leakage, bottom line instead of simply rinsing a wet suit, you are washing tons of underwear and fleece.....well, unless you don't mind locker room stink all day. Much smarter to wear a kayak top on top of the wetsuit and a hood.

Drysuits don't exist as far as I am concerned, they are called bodybags and are used to keep bodily and ocean fluids in. I still have my polar dry but haven't worn it in years, only for conservative sailing when I need to really layer up. Seals are probably gone again......and there's another point...the seals

I've had bad experiences with kayak wet and dry tops sailing. Dry-tops didn't waist-seal against flushings (body slams) and once the water is in there ..., and the wet-tops didn't drain out fast enough in my experiences, especially in the waves, and that was really, really bad

Sucks for swimming after windsurf gear ... all the same reasons Kus noted with an added ten pounds or so to lift for each stroke. Not fun - I was also (very) lucky.

OR form-fitting dry suit is the only one I'd consider for windsurfing.