winter wonderland

So last week i picked up a new winter wetsuit. It's a hooded 4/3 from the new Hasu range from Nineplus.

It's mostly single lined apart from the bottom of the legs and feels very lightweight. Seams are liquid sealed and the torso and hood is lined with fleecy material. It's a chest zip entry, the neoprene is yamamoto feels lovely and supple.

It's supposed to be plenty warm enough for our winter (water around 8 celcius) but i must admit i wasn't entirely sure as i sauntered down to mid tide 2 ft windswell a few days ago, it felt thin and too easy to get on compared with my old xcel suit to believe id be warm.

How wrong i was. I'm not going to claim it's warmer than a 5/4, it's probably about the same (although having a full time hood reduces flushing and the fleece lining in the hood had my head sweating!) What you gain is in flexibility, it feels as though you have a summer suit on, in fact less restrictive than some 3/2's i've worn. The seams let very little water in and i was perfectly warm, even hot, for an hour on a windy grey day. Admittedly it was a small day and i was on a log so i didn't spend a lot of time under water.

 So far so good and on first impressions i'd heartly reccomend it.

Only time will tell on durability and if the warmth of the suit lasts and i'll keep you posted..........

Rob from the Nineplus shop has a new blog for the shop itself up and running, have a look here

Meanwhile, "surf city" Newquay has a fine looking new shop up and running with a cafe upstairs called Watershed. Their blog is here Looking forward to checking them out next time i'm down the coast.