surfing conditions at San Mateo - Linda Mar

Seemed to get a little better as the tide filled-in (ironically?). On the ###### at least. I didn't do too well with the waves, but this morning was the maiden voyage in a new wetsuit. Like surfing in flanel PJs.

What wet suit did you end up getting? Toasty warm? :D
What did you do with your old shredded one?

I ended up getting the O'Neill. Seemed to fit me the best. Really toasty in there.

I still have the old one, will pull it out if I'm really desperate. Or maybe trick a grom-friend into using it sometime. Or in 6 years, use it to patch the O'Neill.

Is anyone here using the Patagonia's? That may be my next suit.

I tried on the following suits in October:

Patagonia - fit me OK, really hard to get on/off. Didn't like that particular neck opening much.

Excel - fit me awesome, but same complaints about difficulty & neck opening. NOTE: my last two suits were Excel, and the neck opening was much easier to get in/out of. However, the foam around the neck opening did not last & eventually gave way

O'Neill Psycho 2 (back opening) - very good fit, easier to get on/off (thought the funky neck thing over the head is a little awkward)

Billabong - Didn't fit me great

I bought the O'Neill Psycho 2 and have loved it. Super comfy, pretty easy on/off, great key holder, and very warm despite the very thin & stretchy feel.

I was really excited about the Patagonia suits when they first came out as is evidenced by the http://patagoniawetsuits.com/ site I made early on to spread the word. At that time, Patagonia wasn't talking much about the suits, and my site was the place to go to learn about them. You can read about my experience with the suit from the links on that page, but the summary is that I didn't have much luck with mine. While it was extremely warm, the suit was too fragile. I tore two of them.

Patagonia has put in a ton of work into redesigning their wetsuits and the word on the street is that they are nice and durable now. You should check it out. Patagonia is definitely a good company, and one worth supporting.