Only 2 out, Adam on his 7'10" , he is 6' 5" to give some scale, & me taking the shot, maybe the 3 deg temp had something to do with the lack of people?....whatever....it was good, even better in the afternoon with a building swell & no wind, who needs warm water!
PS, This wave is generaly regarded as B or C grade, but for SUP its fun on the right day

Great photo Dean ,

I surfed Torquay point with Phill & Lummers was way too much fun !!

Rich

Wow!!! That wall looks unreal. You should have left out the temp though. Kinda spoiled it for me.
Th0m0 (Qld wus)

Nice shot LSD! It can be a good wave when it comes together.
What was the tide doing when you were out?

LSD said...

At the time we were pulling on our leaky old damp wetsuits the apparent temp was zero.....may have to invest in one of the new battery heated units...what a luxury!

Hey LSD and the rest of the Vico crew
If you're wetsuit is still wet/damp and cold from the previous session here's a solution (pardon the pun).
Head down to your local McDonalds or any restaurant and get your hands on a 20 litre white bucket with a lid. (The McD's have tonnes as this is how their pickles are shipped to them).
Also grab yourself an empty bread bag.

Take the bucket home, boil the kettle pour it in along with some bi carb soda or beer sanitiser (to remove any smell)

Wash the bucket out, rinse and let dry.

Now the good part, the next morning when you are packing your gear ready for a SUP and your wetsuit is still wet and cold from the day before.... take the now clean and fragrant free bucket and lid into the laundry and fill with hot water from the tap.
Chuck your wetsuit in and seal the lid.
The bucket goes into your car with the rest of your gear (stand it up right and you can tape up the lid just in case some wild driving tips it over)
When you get to the beach and are ready to suit up, open the lid and watch the steam waft out.
Now grab the empty (and preferably clean) bread bag.
Place bag over foot and slide into wet wetsuit.
Change feet and repeat process !

Result... super toasty wetsuit !

Kev

PS - dont chuck the water out.
When you have finished your SUP, chuck the wetty back into the bucket to rinse and then remove. The idea is it saves time washing it when you get home and there is more chance it will dry out. That said once you've used the hot water bucket you'll never want to dry out your winter suit again ! (one of our crew actually does this with his wetsuit when its dry)

PPS - you can also use the warmish water to rinse off/warm up after your session

DavidJohn said...

Great tip WW.. When you say bread bag.. do you mean plastic bag?

DJ

DJ, yep plastic bag... but the size and shape of the bread bag vs say a regular plastic shopping bag makes it a much better fit for feet pushing through a wetsuit.
They're also a little bit thicker so less likely to pull apart and get stuck inside your wetty after you have pulled it on !

What we do is fill a 5 litre water container with hot water and wrap it in a towel. The towel insulates the container and keeps the water warm for 8 hours.

After a surf you can wash the dirt off your wetsuit and booties, wash yourself down with the hot water, then dry yourself with a warm towel.

You need to be careful with the hot water. If it's neat hot water and only been out for an hour or so it will be burning hot.

I use a 4 litre MSR dromedary bag but an old soft drink bottle or water bottle works fine. They are bullet proof and never leak. (I used to use mine as a paragliding ballast bag.)

http://cascadedesigns.com/MSR/Water-Treatment-And-Hydration/Expedition-Water-Treatment-And-Hydration/Dromedary-Bags/product

Also.. Don't have the water too hot..

My friend Sparrow is the wetsuit guy from RipCurl and he says don't wash your wetsuit with hot water.. I'm not sure why..

I'll ask him next time we meet.

DJ

With the after wash down it is nice to pour the water down the wettie but you get a better effect if you take the suit off and pour the water over your body.

You get a big splosh of warm water all over you and it takes several seconds for the cold or wind chill to cool you off. In that time you can towel off and pop on a warm layer.

It's also handy as a water saving measure. When filling the container you can pour the cold water in the washing machine or on the garden. The wash down only takes 3-4-5 litres and you don't need a shower when you get home.

The only downside is that some people insist on standing around in their jocks and having a good old wash all over. Definitely not recommended around meal times or young children.

DavidJohn said...

Also.. Don't have the water too hot..

My friend Sparrow is the wetsuit guy from RipCurl and he says don't wash your wetsuit with hot water.. I'm not sure why..

I'll ask him next time we meet.

DJ

Depending on construction of the suit and the different composites involved, super hot water will effect the seal, thermal capabilities and longevity of the suit itself.
A large number of suits now have metallite fibres impregated into the neoprene. If the water is too hot you run the risk of melting the neoprene to a point where the impregated fibres will not act as originally intended.
Depending on the material used on fully sealed and blind stitched suits, extremely hot water can cause the material to lose its water proofing capabilities.

As a rough rule of thumb, if you can hold your hand under the hot water without it burning it's good to go.
The water will also cool slightly as it comes into contact with the plastic sides of the bucket.

We have been using this 'pre-heating' method on suits for a long long time and have seen no adverse effect on any suits soaked in hot water.
We actually 'stumbled' onto the pre-heating as a result of testing different suits in different conditions across a number of days/weeks/months... well actually as part of a range of excuses to spend more time in the water all inte name of r&d of course

Another thing I haven't done since last winter is scotch guard my suit. It really helps limit wind chill dramatically when standing on a SUP in 8 degrees and 5 to 10knots in the middle of winter. We all know it can get cold.

I stopped doing it after my friend left Rays Outdoors. The Scotch Guard got too expensive.