Hi,

My daughter (6) got into surfing over Christmas. Now I'm in the water with her all day every day, in the rain in the sun. The issue: I have Asthma (tiggered by cold temperatures, wind) and after a few minutes to a couple of hours (depending on the day) I have horrible chest pains. Don't give me the 'Go to doctor'-lecture because I went there a few times. Basically he said 'well don't go surfing' and I said 'get stuffed'. So I thought I'd get some thermal rashie or wetsuit top to keep warm from the jewels up and the wind chill out. But ... I have no idea about all that. No idea how warm neoprene keeps you or any other of that stuff.

Looked at sharkskin, at tad expensive but willing to go there if it's the best. Looked at Adrenalin (thermo top), price is right no idea about quality. Looked at Ocean and Earth, looked at Rip Curl, looked at Billabong ... no idea at all. What material? How tight should it be? What should I look for?

Has to be durable. Has to be WARM (or rather toasty) around the chest. Has to keep the wind out. Don't care if brand name or not (my self esteem doesn't depend on it).

Thanks heaps!

I recently bought an adrenaline thermo top and find it pretty heavy once it's wet. I have gone back to an old .5mm west wetsuit top which is a fairly loose fit but blocks the wind out and keeps me warm as toast

Be careful buying online the rip curl tops (don't know about the others). They farked up sizes. "L" is my size, but the top I bought is XXL. Lovin it, though. Its E4 1,5 mm long sleeve.

1607 said..
Crap!!! 18 degrees outside, 20 in the water ... and she didn't want to get out of the water ... How can a 6 year old be tougher than a 30 year old?

jbshack - Thanks for the surfstitch tip. They do seem to have some good prices! The guys wearing the suits in the photos are almost the same height as me. Reduces (dmitri - ) issues with sizing. I hate that, I'm anything from M - XXL depending on what I wear.

Ok. I will forget about that Adrenalin thermo top. Heavy arms - no need for that.

I had a read through all that titanium and merino lined stuff and ... not sure ... there is a lot of marketing hype around it. Marketing = BS. Does it work??? On land I love merino (icebreaker) but doesn't that soak full in water and weigh 5 tons??

What about simply two wetsuit tops one over the other? Does that increase the warmth factor? Or would I just get 'stiff' and can't move??

Surf stitch have a unreal exchange program if you get sizes wrong. Having said that i wear a Rashie in Perth waters now in summer. For those temps you just mentioned id be all over a full wetsuit, hell me id almost be in a dry suit

Titanium lining is good stuff but may not have great longevity. If you are only cold on the torso, go a vest over your current get up.

I second this - wetty tops can flush pretty easily in decent waves, and that could impact your asthma. Go a full wetty. 'Need essential' do a decent 3/2 steamer (long arm and leg) for $180. I've got a short arm, long leg wetty from them too, but I don't rate it as much - it leaks in the seams (the steamer is sealed so doesn't leak in the same way)

I'm gonna get a sharkskin. After a lot of reading into how wetsuits etc work I hope it will keep the wind chill out when I have a break and just sit on my board watching the little one shoot in and out or don't want to get it in at all. + lots of different products + Australian owned (whatever that means in 2016) + the surfshop up the road got them so I can try it on - expensive, can't find any deals, after reading a lot about it I'm hoping it will do what I need it to do.

TimKay said..

1607 said..
Hi,

My daughter (6) got into surfing over Christmas. Now I'm in the water with her all day every day, in the rain in the sun. The issue: I have Asthma (tiggered by cold temperatures, wind) and after a few minutes to a couple of hours (depending on the day) I have horrible chest pains. Don't give me the 'Go to doctor'-lecture because I went there a few times. Basically he said 'well don't go surfing' and I said 'get stuffed'. So I thought I'd get some thermal rashie or wetsuit top to keep warm from the jewels up and the wind chill out. But ... I have no idea about all that. No idea how warm neoprene keeps you or any other of that stuff.

Looked at sharkskin, at tad expensive but willing to go there if it's the best. Looked at Adrenalin (thermo top), price is right no idea about quality. Looked at Ocean and Earth, looked at Rip Curl, looked at Billabong ... no idea at all. What material? How tight should it be? What should I look for?

Has to be durable. Has to be WARM (or rather toasty) around the chest. Has to keep the wind out. Don't care if brand name or not (my self esteem doesn't depend on it).

Thanks heaps!

You sound like a good dad
Keep up the good work
Your daughter must be stoked to have you help out rain, hail or shine

the coolest thing I ever saw was this dad at kuta reef surfing with 3 teenage daughters..

it was just how he was trying to help each one of them to get a wave in this massive crowd..

and people just wouldn't dare to do what they usually do out there.. ya know...snaking..dropping in