that wetsuit discussion...

[Legion]

...

[steve shearer]

Legion is not taking the resurgence of the backzip well at all.


I'll just copy paste Derek Riellys article in here.

If you would examine your current wetsuit, you’d find it to be a chest-zip or zipper-less suit. Am I right?

To get into these suits is a melodrama.

You must squeeze your heft into a little hole, push one arm into a smaller hole, shimmy it up around your chest, fix first arm, then second, throw the flap over your head and so on. Its removal requires yogi-like dexterity.

Some years ago, all wetsuits came with a long zip from ass to neck. Entry was via a hole as big as your waist, not your neck, and the transaction was completed in a minute or less. It’s post-session removal was almost instant.

But then, partly through marketing (pressure on designers from their sales departments to give something new to push), partly through the need to create so-called advancements in technology (testing showed back zips were slightly more permeable than a neck entry), the back zip faded into memory.

A few weeks ago, I saw that Need Essentials had thrown a few back-zip steamers into their range. And, yesterday, while surfing with a pal in Leucadia he loaned me a one-year-old O’Neill Psychofreak with a back zip or, as its called by O’Neill, a “Zen Zip”.

It’s been a decade or so since I’d experienced the thrill of easily throwing on a suit. It was elevating.

And after the session, all it took to loose my torso into the sun was a one-handed rip of the neck closure and a yank of the zip.

I find the back zip so superior to either zipperless or the chest-zip that this hardly qualifies as faux or real.

But maybe I’m wrong.

[jimmy]

A chest zip is far superior to a back. If for no other reason than there is less zip area to let water in when the seams start to go.
If I was a high flying surf industry mogul like Crabmeat or Shearer I’d go a zipper less all day every day.

[Legion]

...

[petulance]

I just think some of the zipperless suits may flush a bit more after stretching or wear and tear

That's what is is happening to my QS 3/2 AG47 zipperless ...

[jimmy]

<:

[Beerfan]

Lol, the fashionistas are furious!

[marauding mullet]

The latest Rip Curl Flash thingy Plus model is zip free and apparently has a larger entry hole that the previous.

[steve shearer]

Of course that is the great irony.

Because there is very much less stress on the seams a well made back zip lets in less water.

[godsavethequeen]

But restricts your paddling. And is incompatible with a built in hood. I suspect that 20 minute surfs in subtropical waters are fine with a back zip. Chest zip for everything else though

[steve shearer]

nah, doesn't restrict paddling in the slightest.

but yes, incompatible with a "built in hood".......

I thought you were too tough for a hood?

[buddy]

Chest zips with the detachable flap are super comfy and easy to get in and out of. I don't have any trouble in my zipperless O'Neil either.

[godsavethequeen]

There is a small flexibility gain across the shoulders. That's undeniable. And there's less water ingress while the suit remains newish so a chest zip is warmer, pound for pound. I wear a hood all the time once the water gets down to about 8C

[Nick Carroll]

My god. just stop it. stop it all of you. I can't stand it.

[Rustt]

I've heard that back zips are going to be coming back in, not because they are better but because the manufacturers want you to have now, so they'll market them as better, you'll listen then buy them. Simple as that!

[Cranked]

Hey, we're in full flight now Nick, nothing can stop us.

Fcuk those difficult to get on back zips.

I've moved on from the comparatively difficult back zipper to the even easier long john and front zip jacket combination. Going for a surf has never been easier.

Sometimes I'll put them on and take them off a few times before I surf just to enjoy the pleasures of easy entry and exit.

[Beerfan]

Wait til the pic of KS wearing a back zip comes out. They'll be back on top in no time!

[channels]

So Beachgrit advertorial is now overtaking common sense?