Browsing Tag wetsuits
2 ways you’re wearing your wetsuit wrongly
How do you put on your wetsuit?
This might seem to be a simple enough thing to answer, and you might be wondering, “doesn’t everyone know this already?”
However, you’d be surprised how often I see people having trouble wearing their wetsuit.
Either punching themselves in the face or turning red from the exertion of getting their wetsuit on.
In fact, there’s a common saying that wearing your wetsuit is the most tiring part of going diving!
Let me try to dispel this myth by giving you a method of wearing a wetsuit that I’ve found to be super easy and useful.
I’ve always found that people miss one very vital and critical step in putting on their wetsuit.
Sure, there’s a lot of pulling still, but immediately after the pull, most of the time the lower part of wetsuit is resting on top of the upper part of your wetsuit, which is exactly the part that you’re going to be pulling up next.
This makes it that much harder to pull up the second part of the wetsuit because the lower portion is pressing down on it and making it tighter.
Once you realise this, then the cool trick is to fold down the wetsuit immediately after you’ve pulled it up.
This brings the upper part of the wetsuit OVER the lower portion, and when you do pull this section up, it’s going to just slide over itself, making it really really easy to pull it up.
Rinse and repeat these steps and soon you’ll have your wetsuit nice and snug!
Have a look at this video to get the full idea.
And by the way, this works for wetsuit legs too.
Try it out and see if you start to like wearing your wetsuit again!
I’d love to hear how you get on with this, so please let me know if it works for you in the comments.
Bonus tip no 2
Another major thing that I see people getting wrong is they pull up the wetsuit too far from the fold.
In order to make it easier, always pull the part of the wetsuit that’s just higher than where it stopped.
Just watch the video above to get an idea of where to hold and pull on the wetsuit.
If you pull too far from the fold, then you’re just stretching the wetsuit material and not putting it on.
Always work from the ends (your wrists and your ankles), get this in place first and pull towards the body.
It only takes a few pulls with this process to get the wetsuit on, it’s definitely a much easier process!
Do I always have to wear a full length wetsuit?
A common question that we normally get is whether a short wetsuit (up to the knees and elbows) or a full length wetsuit (up to the wrists and ankles) would be more suitable for tropical waters. New students in warm tropical waters (28 to 30C) like to ask for a short wetsuit, because it’s much easier to put on. However, I would always suggest wearing a full length wetsuit, despite the temperature.
The big reason for this would be protection against scratches and bites in the water, even though the temperature may not warrant it. Another good reason would be thermoclines, which is water at a different temperature at a different depth. Normally the temperature would drop the deeper you go, and this can’t always be predicted in advance.
As divers get better and more comfortable in the water, they also tend to move less, and eventually get to the point where they are able to stop moving completely. At this point, because the body isn’t working so hard, a person will lose body temperature faster, and result in a colder dive.
My recommendation is thus to always dive a full length suit, and if you’re thinking of buying a suit, then always buy at least a 3mm suit, you’ll find more use for it in a wider range of temperatures than a short wetsuit.
| Short wetsuit | Full length wetsuit | ||
| Pros | Cons | Pros | Cons |
| Easy to wear | Gives you a funny looking tan | Protection against scratches | Harder to put on |
| Cheaper to purchase | Potential scratches and bites | Keeps you warm in thermoclines | More expensive |