Choosing the correct wetsuit accessories can mean the difference between toasty hands and feet or freezing toes and claw fingers.
If you have ever experienced claw hands and cold toes you will understand the importance of good quality accessories.
Exiting the water and not being able to push your wetsuit down or open your car door is no fun, luckily with advancements in technology and innovation, these should be problems of the past.
Gloves, Lobster Gloves and Mitts
Thickness:
A good quality wetsuit glove is a must in the depths of the UK winter.
In the waters of the South West of the UK, you should be able to get away with a good pair of 3mm gloves. Heading North, you will want to be choosing 5mm or 7mm as a minimum, possibly looking at a lobster glove or a mitt.
Gloves:
Wetsuit Gloves are the most popular hand accessory, allowing full and individual use of all your fingers. If you forget to lock the car, wax your board or pop your leash string on, you will likely be able to carry out these activities without the inconvenience of taking your gloves off.
However, the downside of gloves compared to lobster gloves and mitts, your hands get cold quicker, mainly as a result of each finger being isolated and having to retain heat.
Lobster Gloves:
Lobster Gloves are a happy medium between five finger gloves and mitts, allowing dexterity through the use of your index finger, but providing more warmth for the rest of the hand than five finger gloves. Our staff use the C-Skins Wired+ Lobster Glove in and around South Wales in the coldest months of the year and their hands remain toasty throughout their sessions in the water.
Mitts:
Mitts are the ultimate accessory for warmth, however, you do compromise on dexterity. Once you get used to wearing a pair of mitts, the warmth is unrivalled. They are seen as a necessity further North during the coldest months of the year, but more of a luxury and for those who really feel the cold down in the South West.
In our opinion, a mitt is always worth having in the bag for those cold, crisp easterly windy days. The good news, if you invest in a quality pair of mitts, you will likely own them for many years.
Boots
Wetsuit Boots come in 2mm, 3mm, 5mm, 6mm, 7mm and even 8mm. The most popular thicknesses being 3, 5 and 6mm in UK waters. A 3mm boot will serve you well in the opening months of Fall and Spring, switching to 5mm in the South West and 6mm + in the North through the colder months of Winter.
Split Toe or Round Toe?
Split Toe boots exploded onto the market, with the promise of more immediate feedback from your surfboards and an increased sense of engagement with your equipment. Sounds perfect right? There is a drawback, a split toe boot isolates the big toe, helping with balance and board feel, but isolating that big toe from the rest of the little guys does make it susceptible to the cold.
In the South West of the UK a 5mm pair of split toe boots will see you right from November through to Spring, but in the North you will want to choose 6mm + for a similar time period.
Round Toe boots are making a comeback, with many water users experiencing the advantage of your whole foot being in one area, sharing the warmth created within that zone. The drawback? Board feel is compromised compared to a split toe boot.
As with split toe boots, you will want a 5mm for year round surfing in the South West and 6mm + in the North. Whatever boot you choose, make sure it's as snug as possible, so if you’re a half size in shoes, we recommend going down to the nearest whole number, for example, 10.5 to 10.
Hoods
If you don’t own a hooded suit but want to continue with your activities through the winter months, a separate hood is a viable option. Complimenting a 5mm suit with a hood, boots and gloves will enable you to enjoy your chosen activity 12 months of the year. An advantage of adding accessories is you can also start to take them away as the water gets warmer.
Hoods are generally sold in 2 and 3mm, some with fluffy soft linings such as the Wired+ hood from C-Skins, the Flashbomb from Ripcurl and the Plasma from Alder. These three hoods are an excellent choice and are sure to avoid that awful feeling of brain freeze. As with all accessories and suits, the hood which fits correctly is the right one for you.