First off, if price is the most important, you can get a kiting drysuit for about A$500-A$600, same price as a wetsuit. If you ship it in from the UK, its their end of season so you picked up specials. Try www.wetsuitoutlet.co.uk/ and remember that their pricing includes GST in the UK, so the GST will roughly cover your shipping cost so you won't pay much more than the price listed there. They have a couple of models of kite specific drysuits including a Gul and Mystic and I got my Mystic from them so they are legit.

If price is no object, the best to look at would be an Ocean Rodeo Surf. Its a drysuit with an oversuit that makes it skin tight like a wetsuit. Costs around A$900 but considered to be the best drysuit on the market.

To answer some of the questions:

does water spray up the legs? yes, but its so minor you may notice you have wet ankles and thats about it.

would a tight waist harness cause any problems? no

and, would i look stupid wearing one? :) Probably, but everyone else looks stupid huddling together for warmth. Seriously though, if you worried about looks, the Ocean Rodeo dry looks like a normal wetsuit.

any other pros/ cons that i should be aware of?

Equivalent of a 2mm for coldish days so its flexible as a spring suit. Takes a couple of goes to get the hang of getting in and out of it but you remain toasty the whole session. If you get a normal dry, you have to go down on your haunches to get the air out.

I noticed HotnDry have a wakeboarding drysuit for $860, so it will need to have some good advantages over a $400 wetsuit to be worth it?

For that price I'd get an Ocean Rodeo

any advice would be greatly appreciated

Happy to let you try mine if you want to see if its worth your while.



This is the mystic


This is the ocean rodeo

juggler said...

Cons: Can't take a piss in it

Of course you can, just doesn't smell too good afterwards