To have had it with wetsuits

[Folicky]

What an ordeal and what's wrong with bathing costumes! They're covered in sand after removal, then the hosing down and trying to dry before the next day. A bathing costume is 100x more straightforward. I don't like feeling cold so was drawn to them but I've had it! Are they not a bit pretentious for children when all they're doing is paddling in the sea? Oh and extra work for parents

I am about to get my 13yr old one for paddling in the sea. The reason being he has SN and refuses to wear anything in the water and prefers skinny dipping. He is too old and developed now so hoping a wetsuit will do the trick.

North Sea is freezing!
Only paddle here.
Much colder than the channel.
I quite understand why people wear wetsuits!

My kids would last all of 30 seconds in the sea up here without one.

If you don't want to wear a wet suit then don't. Don't worry about other though, they'll make their own choices and do what's best for them.

When I was in Cornwall in June (I actually went when the sun was hot and shining!) there were several of us in our 50s in the sea without wet suits sharing tales of 'wet suits were just for proper surfers when we were young' x my children aged 22 and 24 wouldn't use a bodyboard without theirs and I spent just as long in the sea as they did.

Not everything that works for other people and not you is a “lifestyle signifier”. We get cold so we wear wetsuits because we like to stay in the water for a long time. Our wetsuits are inexpensive hand-me-downs, if it matters. It’s really that simple.

I’m all in favour and another Scotland dweller. It’s really common here for people to wear wetsuits, agree with the poster upthread who said it’s the little ones sent into the sea just in their cozzies that I feel for.
Shorties are very easy to get on and off and I don’t even wash them (I know I should), just hang them on the line and all the sand falls off.

Right now it’s far too hot for a wetsuit

They keep you so much warmer when you're doing watersports. This weather is doable in just a swimming costume or rash vest etc for sun protection but anything cooler is shortie weather. If you get in the sea or rivers or lakes when it's not hot summer weather you definitely feel the benefit of a wetsuit.

We use shortie wetsuits. My two go blue lipped in a swimming pool without and I used to get cold bobbing around supervising them. Living inland, they're not used to regular paddling around to acclimatise. Like a rash vest they give UV protection to much of the body.

I now have a full wetsuit for cold water swimming through the winter because I want to swim rather than do a 10 minute dip. I'm finding skins much easier than last year and now have a rash vest to protect my back from the UV

I do it for entirely selfish reasons - my children will stay in the UK water much longer in wetsuits so aren't moaning about wanting to do something else as soon! I always buy second hand and then sell on, so overall each one costs me about a fiver.

They're a faff, can't argue with you there but we live on the coast, and we're in the water from about March until October so an essential item. Where we live (not a wealthy area) pretty much every family owns wetsuits because leisure time revolves around the beach swimming, kayaking, sailing, paddleboarding. We NEED wetsuits even though they definitely are a faff.....paddling in the summer in wetsuits though? That IS wierd, haven't seen it.

Right now it’s far too hot for a wetsuit

I think that depends on where in the British Isles you live! Some of us are reading the heatwave headlines with a raised eyebrow.

Wetsuits also help avoid jellyfish stings though I've never been stung through a rash vest either.

They are most definitely for proper swimming. DS is an open water swimmer and the ASA and FINA rules for competitive open water swimming is 16 to 18 degrees wetsuits are compulsory.

Agree I hate them. I’d rather not bother going in the water. I love outdoor swimming but only when it’s hot. They’re so restrictive and a bugger to get on and off and very awkward to carry about. Dutifully bought for kids who wore them about twice then grew out of them 🙄.

We rented one yesterday for an ostacle-course-type activity on a lake. I presume it's much warmer in them, but my daughter absolutely hated the tan lines on her legs and arms!

Not a lifestyle signifier.

you can buy them in Morrisons fgs.

and Waitrose DONT sell them

Surely wetsuits are for what the person wearing them wants them to be? How does it affect anyone else what other people wear?

A full length wetsuit is great if you want to bodyboard for hours without getting cold and abraded.

Also needed most of the year if you're windsurfing or dinghy sailing on a pennine reservoir.

Wetsuits extend the time you can spend in the water. We often spend a day at the loch and the kids are in and out the water for hours. Saves on suncreen too.

Some kids get cold quickly and if you own a wetsuit you might as well use it.

That said it does feel like a barrier to entry, we have a lot of cheap days out because I've invested in lots of kit. It's hard to take your kids to the beach with a bucket and spade thoughwhen everyone else is tootling around on a paddleboard.

For me it's a safety thing. My 7 yo twins are not the strongest swimmers yet but wearing wetsuits and proper lifejackets they are safe. . They can always lie on their backs and float or kick themselves back to shore. Probably look quite pretentious when they are paddling but there's loads of other kids wearing the same.

They don't have to cost a fortune. My DS's have 'posh' brand wetsuits that were passed down to us. You can pick them up second hand online or cheap new ones. We live near the coast and they really do help keep the sunburn away, and keep them in the sea for longer.

It seems like such an odd thing to get annoyed about, why do they wind you up so much?

It depends on what sea you’re talking about.

North Sea, you’re going to need one to keep warm.

The Mediterranean, I don’t get why anyone would use one. I come from a seaside town in Spain, nobody wears them except tourists. As locals we put sunscreen on before leaving for the beach, by the time you’re there it’s been absorbed by your skin so no sand covering your body after some wind etc. You go inside during lunchtime hours. It’s far too hot to wear a rash vest or bodysuit anyway and also, we believe in children tanning all over You’re spending 6+ hours a day on the beach between June and September, that’d make for some interesting tanning marks by the end of the summer if you wore a full bodysuit.

I love mine. ( It's needed for Spring to Autumn bodyboarding).
Swimsuits "move around" too much in decent waves ( wardrobe malfunction incoming!) And everyone looks like a seal in a wetsuit, which is a good thing.

Are you south coast?

I note many here are north or Scotland with some on Irish Sea.

Those temps are much colder (usually and even now during the heatwave) and the wind is colder so I imagine wetsuits allow for longer days.

I'm however on the south coast and here it is seen as more pretentious to wear wetsuits because apart from sea swimming oct- April they aren't generally required.

So for example open water comps here currently don't allow wetsuits due to temps but comps the same weekend further north would be required for same reason.

Oh I'm one of those people you'd hate too. Mine even wear theirs in the paddling pool and splash park.

They are £10 Aldi wetsuits. I've bought three in total lasting from age 2-9 and they are passed down the kids and still look like new

We live in North Scotland. My garden is 150ft with the flattest section at the back so paddling pool only ever gets cold water.

I said on Saturday that they are some of the best money I've spent. They are just shortie ones so easy to get on and off and they are no harder than a costume to wash and dry.

If you'd like to take a dip in the water here without one be my guest. And paddling inevitably means kicking water and getting soaked so yes. I'd probably put them on (or wish I had) ankle deep.

When they cost little more than a costume and last much longer (especially when you have a boy and a girl so passing down other swimwear isn't happening) it makes total sense to me