Yep, not your typical "night with the big wigs" kind of suit. I got a wetsuit. My water lesson for kite surfing is scheduled for this Saturday, so I figured I needed something to keep my warm. I picked up the Mutant from O'Neil. It's a 4mm/3mm suit. Meaning it's 4mm in the chest and back and 3mm in the arms and legs for mobility. The seams have what O'Neil calls a "Fluid Seam Weld" meaning they stitch it once, then slap a bead of rubber over the seam, purportedly making the suit more flexible than the standard of stitching the seams twice and leaving them exposed.
They call it the Mutant because it has two "tops", one is the hood I have on in the picture above. The other is a super sleek collar. The hood is intended for cold weather, help retain body heat even more, and keeps the wind off the ears.
I thought I wanted a 5/4 instead of a 4/3 when I walked in. There was a 4.5/3.5 that I considered, the Psycho Phreak. It's a little different in construction. The neoprene has air pockets injected into it. I'm told it's warm as hell. It's also an extra two hundred bones more. So I got the Mutant, but I was uncertain of my purchase. It needed testing.
So for 15 minutes I stood in the coldest shower I could get out of my faucet. Didn't shiver once, got kinda bored, so I let the tub fill up. I soaked in cold, cold, water for another 15 minutes with the jets in to keep it moving over and around and making sure the water didn't just stay in the same place and get warm. After the soak I was still warm and totally satisfied. I just dug up some numbers, tap water is anywhere from 45-65 degrees. The surface temp in the Bay is currently shown to be 64 degrees. I am no longer afraid of the water temp. Now if only I didn't look like a baby seal... *CHOMP*
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