Summery down 20 feet freediving? Newbie asks advice.

[StocktonDon]

I am sure time will sort this all out, but I am trolling for some suggestions.

For shallow freshwater rivers and lake areas where I intend to wade I have some good breathable waders, which I can combo with a wading belt, spray jacket, various under layers and pfd.

For the ocean I have: a spray jacket and pfd. I intend to freedive fairly often, and also assume I will be in and out of the water for various reasons voluntary and otherwise.

To freedive I will wear a wetsuit, and all I have is an old heavy, stiff, 7mm job from my SCUBA days. If I get a modern and appropriate freedive wetsuit (probably a 3mm cheapie to be sure I still can and want to be active in the sport), will that work for ocean kayaking? Will other stuff be more appropriate (and if so, what)?

Yes, the classes will recommend something, but they are kayak fishing- oriented, not kayak freediving-and-fishing oriented. I have asked for their recommendations and they universally tout farmer john wetsuits with wetsuit tops and hoods for colder stuff.

My freediving sources are pointing me away from farmer johns toward a full suit with integral hood., I am not going to be able to buy both soon.

Then there are the drysuit advocates.

P.S. I seem to be between sizes for most wetsuits: 6’2” in height, 240 pounds, 50 inch chest, 32 inch inseam. If buying a non-custom wetsuit, should I go to the bigger or the smaller size?

Newbie would appreciate words of wisdom.

[PerryC]

To freedive I will wear a wetsuit, and all I have is an old heavy, stiff, 7mm job from my SCUBA days. If I get a modern and appropriate freedive wetsuit (probably a 3mm cheapie to be sure I still can and want to be active in the sport), will that work for ocean kayaking? Will other stuff be more appropriate (and if so, what)?

A 3mm suit for free diving could be like a clam bake after you really start to paddle if you had it fully zipped up. If your looking at using your kayak like a dive platform, I would really take into consideration how difficult it will be to get into or out of whatever wetsuit design you may be thinking of while on your kayak. If you're looking at the full suit design, if you kept it pulled down to your waist while paddling, how easy will it be to pull it up over your head and reach around to zip it up? With a farmer john, say you just had the bottoms on, how hard would it be to don the top and get fully into it.

For general cool water stuff here in SoCal, alot of just use splash pants, and I personally alternate using splash pants and also 2mm NRS Rodeo Pants like are in the gear reviews section. I don't wear them together, but if I'm more concerned with keeping the sun off, I use the splash pants. If it's cooler, I use the rodeo pants. With either of these, we can easily layer our torsos which makes adjusting to the day pretty easy.

Between the wetsuits, you could probably wear the farmer john bottoms more while paddling if you wanted to. But the full suit would feature reduced points of entry for cold water if it used one zipper up the back. It's a tough call which would be better, but if you're still in doubt you could always rent one style and try diving with each style and see which works better for you. For the size, it's really hard to suggest anything. You could always try a different manufacturer to see if one is naturally a bit larger than the others for the same size. Hope this helps,
Perry

[Incredible]

Ok, while it is important to understand the answers to your questions are going to vary from one person to another there are some things to consider while making the choice that is right for you. First off you need to consider the activity. If you are scuba diving, a full suit is great but try paddling in one. If you plan on diving more than 100 yards from your launch I don’t think that will work. The same applies to the dry suit. It will be difficult to zip in aboard the yak and it will be hot to paddle in Even on a cool day you will be wet from the body heat and moisture that goes with it. I dive off my kayak in a two piece suit. It is comfortable enough to paddle in. and it is easy to get into my jacket ,on the days I use one, once I am ready to suit up. As for the thickness of the suit that will again depend on your plans. If you plan to scuba and free dive in the same suit you will need the thicker one to accommodate both activities. As far as being between sizes this is the thing, if the suit is the slightest bit too tight it will become difficult to breath under physical stress such as swimming against a current for instance. This will cause a problem at some point. If the suit is loose it will not insulate properly anyway. My recommendation is to check out a dive retailer like Pacific wilderness and talk to them about mixing sizes. They will often work with you to get you into a proper suit. If you are intent on a custom suit I recommend M&B wetsuits in Long Beach or The Wetsuit Factory in Santa Barbara. I dove suits by both companies during my professional days and was happy with both companies. I currently dive a cross between a sport suit and a commercial suit that Don at M&B made me last winter. I never wear a hood so I had him add a neck dam to my jacket. If you are planning on diving only occasionally you can rent a suit for around ten bucks and it is usually not a problem to mix sizes there either. I noticed Perry has a Kayak diving book for sale in the classified ads by Mark Theobald. I recommend it to anyone planning on Kayak diving. I have the disk version and it is full of great advice on everything from rigging the boat to equipment and technique. I hope some of this is useful. Just remember it will come down to what works for you. If you are not comfortable your experience will not be an enjoyable one, and that is the point isn’t it?

Chuck