A slightly unusual one...how do you choose a wet-suit?

[OutrageousFlavourLikeFreesias]

Hi all,

My lovely and super-cool mother has just moved to Cornwall. She absolutely loves surfing and body-boarding, and goes to the beach at least three times a week.

I'd like to buy her a wet-suit for Christmas, so she can keep going right through the winter. The trouble is I have absolutely no idea how to buy the flippin' things, and (since we're at opposite ends of the country) I won't be able to take her shopping to try them on.

She's sixty, 5'2" and a generous size fourteen. She is refreshingly unconcerned about style, brand names or impressing the surfer-dudes; she would just like something that will keep her a bit warmer than a swimsuit.

Is there anyone out there who can advise on what/how to choose?

Thanks in advance!

I'm 50 (which is irrelevant except for same unconcern about style!) , 5'1" and 12-ish and I'd say she really has to go and try some for herself. She's in the best part of the country for that - wonder if there are any big surf shops that do gift cards?

Fantastic xmas pressie however you organise it!

Many thanks Grimma - a gift card might be the way forward, I hadn't thought of that at all!

Any other responses still very welcome and much appreciated...

look at shoponthebeach here for a guide. Although there must be load of places around her. Agree you need to try on. Winter wetsuit is basiclly thicker neoprene.

My friend, who lives in Dorset, does triathlons and he went to a shop where you try on a suit and then swim in a tank against a current machine to test it out.

Thanks for the guide - much appreciated. I think I might have to try and squeeze another trip down to my mum's before Christmas, so I can take her shopping to try some one...

get a shorie for summer, and a full body for winter.

DH was a wet suit salesman in Bude for a summer :)

the thicker the wet suit, the harder it is to swim in -but the warmer she'll be.

try them on. - they do ladies cut so there should be one that fits comfortably.