When I deal out my opinion, realize that my nickname is "Pingpong ball on a stick with toothpick arms". In other words, I don't have much in "reserve energy".

During the tybee last year, I wore a wetsuit for two legs. The second time, I was freezing cold. Trey, being the meanie that he is, made me sit on the low side in the slot. I got chilly with about 6-8 knots of apparent blowing through me.

For the last leg, Chris Zander let me barrow his very nice dry suit. If you've ever met Chris, you'd know that he's far from a pingpong ball on a stick :P

I was swimming in it, but to be honest, I forgot about it ever being on. I was nice and warm, and comfortable the whole time. The only discomfort I had was that I hadn't shaved all week, and the hair on my neck was chafing against the rubber seal.

As for "holding it". That last leg was 11 hours, I didn't go once, and I had drained a whole camel pack. I'm even diabetic.
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Wussies :P

So how about those "semidry" wetsuits (like the neil pryde 3000 4/3)? Any experiences?

At the moment I use the shorty/spray top combination, but would like to find something warmer, useful down to 55 F Water/air.

You don't realy appriciate a dry suit until you fall into water near freezing point and you are layered up with thermal underwear.

Have a short wetsuit for summer and a drysuit for winter and you can't go wrong.

This photo was taken in Sweden, late december last year.
Below freezing and double trapeze. After two hours you where really cold!!

We where sailing in sheltered waters and we where both experienced sailors.

The biggest problem was to keep the hands warm. Holding the mainsheet in the hand is enough to stop the circulation and you need to stop once in a while and "shake" down warm blood in you hands.

We used breathable drysuits with rubber feet.

/hakan

Violates class rules regarding rigid wings.

Or is that a "fridgid" wing?

what about this?
http://www.bartswatersports.com/catalog.asp?P=8032

what do people think about the separate jacket and pants?

Going Back to the original topic



Fla weather is close enough to Houston weather for me to comment, if I could only have one, I would have a dry suit. It is just more comfortable.

An alternative, which is even more comfortable, is a fleece dive or paddling suit with a breathable rain suit over it. This is good to 55-60F. This is the most comfortable thing I have ever worn.

And those pictures and descriptions of winter sailing North of the sub tropics look like my idea of one of Dante's Hells. Where I live if you wait a month or 2 the water will be warm and it will be 80 degrees.

I'm with Carl. Until I can afford the RIGHT drysuit (not the cheapest), I've managed to get by with a 2-piece spray suit and fleece underneath. It worked in 40 degree (F) weather and 30 kt breeze, but not as warm as a drysuit.

Fleece seems to help retain heat even when it is wet, which is good. It's soft and flexible, and lighter than wool.

With my spray suit (bib and top) and the harness on, it was strange that water only goes up to my mid-thigh if I take a swim for a minute or two (because of the harness straps). The top portion stays dry for up to about 10 minutes. But because of the fleece, it stays a bit warmer even so.

Of course, when you're wet, it's a bit harder to haul your butt on the boat...

Stank,

that's a pretty good recommendation to go with the fleece. I was caught last year doing a small keelboat w/ trapeze nationals and it was nuclear. I hadn't brought my drysuit (thinking - "geesh...monohull"). I went with my fleece suit and a spray suit on top and was amazed at how warm the fleece was even though it was wet and it was gusting to 27knots. We took several knock downs and got PLENTY wet. Water temp about 50 degrees and the air was about 55-60. I would probably elect this in lieu of a wetsuit - manueverability is still high and you don't get a rash from anything.

My experience is that once a wetsuit gets wet, you are wet until you take it off. Without some wind resistant/proof covering over the wetsuit then you are wet AND cold. Since I find being dry much more comfortable than being wet, the wetsuit is my choice only for scuba diving. You should get a drysuit that is breathable because it is very much more comfortable than one that is not and significantly extends the confortable temperature range upwards which would be even more important in warmer areas. Yes, they are not cheap, but if you get one it is worth it because then you can comfortably sail during more of the year which makes it and your bigger investment (boat and sails) more usable and valuable. Also, it could easily save your life since it takes surprisingly little time in cool water to get hypothermic. The Coast Guard has a 50/50/50 rule of thumb that advises a 50/50 chance of surviving 50 degree water for more than 50 minutes.

Even relatively warm temps can be dangerous with enough exposure time - The Canadian Coast Guard rescued four people in Lake Erie for about six hours this summer with a water temp of 78 degrees and one was hospitalized for hypothermia. So that is how you can sell it to yourself as well as the spouse if that is an obstacle (You're worth it, right?!)