The thickness of the wetsuit a person chooses will depend on many criteria but if they are surfing and swimming in cold waters, purchasing a winter wetsuit should help them preserve a better body temperature.
However, if the person plans on participating in deep dives, they should purchase a suit specially made for that function so that they are correctly protected and so the suit will better resist damage through compression.
Why you can’t use a winter wetsuit for diving
The deeper the dive, the more pressure the diver and their suit will be subjected to. This means that the tiny gas bubbles within the neoprene fabric of the suit will become flattened.
Most of the bubbles will regain their shape as the person resurfaces, but after every deep dive some bubbles will be permanently damaged.
Owners of good quality wetsuits made especially for diving should not notice any difference in the thermal protection provided for about the first hundred dives they undertake, but the speed at which gradual wear and tear begins to affect the suit’s performance will differ depending on what it is used for, and how often, amongst other variables.
Once a significant percentage of the wetsuit material’s bubbles have been damaged, the suit is described as “crushed” and a new one should be purchased if the user wants to continue deep diving.
It is important to only use a winter wetsuit while pursuing top-side activities, such as surfing, waterskiing, or body-boarding in cold climates. These wetsuits and diving wetsuits are fabricated differently and could potentially result in the individual becoming injured if used for the wrong sport.
Similarly, people who enjoy water-sports in both warm and cold climates may be well-advised to buy both winter and summer wetsuits so that they are well prepared for all water temperatures and topside sports.
Summer and winter wetsuits from ocean24seven
If you want to buy a wetsuit for surfing, open water swimming, waterskiing, body-boarding, or any other water-sport which requires use of a wetsuit, take a look at our winter, summer, Billabong, Gul, Quiksilver and Swarm collections.
ocean24seven stocks suits for men, women and children and we have a useful size guide available to you (so that you can order the right items first-time). We also sell lots of products at discount prices in our clearance area, and we deliver worldwide.
If you want to know more about any of our summer or winter wetsuits, or our large range of other products, click on the contact & about us tab and fill in our short form with some basic details and your question to us.
