Ever try to put your body into a wet 4/3 wetsuit? If you have, you know it sucks and you want the process to happen quickly & smoothly. These socks slip on and help your lily white bag of bones to slip into a wetsuit hassle-free.
Billabong is claiming this wetsuit is the lightest ever. I would be really stoked to feel like I was wearing nothing out in the water this winter. The feeling of being naked in the water, but really being held fast in a rubber embrace.
I hope you don’t live where the water is so cold you need booties. If you do, get some Xcels. Split toe, so you can look down at your feet & say “Damn, I’m so ninja!”, while you’re tearing a glassy frozen wave face apart.
Webbed gloves help you paddle better. I say it’s cheating, but who am I to judge. It makes sense – webbed fingers push more water propelling you faster. However, you’re going to look ridiculous. Maybe they should have made them green … then you could look like Kermit the Frog or the Creature from the Black Lagoon.
Based on the website…you throw these fake boobie/silicone globs into the microwave, stick them in the little kidney belt and wear under your wetsuit. Thus, making any suit a heated suit. Seems smart enough…until you rupture one of those Pam Anderson’s & you have steaming silicone running down your butt crack.
The Surf Sleeve is designed to eliminate the chafing of your inner thighs, the twig and two berries. You wear the lycra under your board shorts, so the trunk seams don’t rub your skin raw. This is a good thing…crotch rash on your dream tropical surf vacation is a real downer.
I’m not really sure what to think of these booties. On one hand, they seem to be all about function. Having each of your toes able to move independently of one another, would be good for balance I suppose. One the other hand, they look Goddamned ridiculous. If I saw someone wearing them, I probably would stop whatever I was doing and point. If having functional booties that people point & laugh at is your bag, then by all means dive in.
It would take a lot of urine to produce the same amount of heat this game changing wetsuit provides. The wetsuit goal is to use less & less thick rubber and increase the warm factor. Seems Rip Curl has started a new direction in suit design. Don’t let the price tag shock you…because you can’t put a price on being toasty in the lineup.
Yvon Chouinard is my hero. After watching the movie that retraced his surf journey, 180 degrees south, I became a fan for life. He’s predominantly known as a climber, but has been surfing for just as long. Patagonia enlisted the Malloy brothers to help fine-tune the surf program…and that’s just what they did. Now, Patagonia has some of the best wetsuits available today. Very warm with great flexibility…just what you need for any adventure.
Live reef can be like a cheese grater covered in staph ready to shred your tootsies into confetti. Sound horribly graphic? Next time you go on a surf vacation where powerful waves break in 2 feet of water, you might think about foot protection. O’Neil’s reef booties fit the bill. The split toes give you a weird aquaman/ninja look, but allows your big toe to have some freedom…because your big toe is the biggest and deserves his own room now.
