What makes a apnea/spearfishing wetsuit?

[ALARICW]

Hello,
New member here and new to scuba. I am shopping for a wetsuit and trying to understand different features. Haven't found a website that explains what the differences are between a dive wetsuit, freedive wetsuit, and (kite)surfing wetsuit. Assuming I am going to at least dabble a little in all these activities here in Florida what one wet suit style would best fit the bill?
Thanks in advance.

 

[mike_s]

You can use any of them for any watersport.... but there are/were a few design differences, but you seem to see them all in all sports now.

Some of the dive suits differ in that they have "front" zippers instead of rear ones so that you can unzip it some with your gear on if you get to warm. Some of the dive suits are also two piece (top/bottom) to add an extra layer for warmth.

Most surfing wetsuits have rear zippers, however, you'll find that many of the dive wetsuits do also.

Spearfishing suits are pretty much the same as the others but often have a padded area on the chest to put the speargun when you are "cocking" the shooting bangs. It's for diver comfort so that the gun won't hurt your chest.

your average 3mm back zip should be general enough to cover all these activities. it's the most common now days. If you expect a lot of moment requirements (like for kite surfing), you might want a hyperstretch or something with more give.

 

[www.scubamazing.com]

yeah the biggest difference I've noticed between sports involving lots of arm movement (kite surfing, triathlon swimming etc...) Is those suits are designed to be accomodating for those movements.

Also whenever I've used them the active sports wetsuits usually are a shorty, where as diving can be either it just depends on where you dive. I'd be scared to rip my scuba suit while kite-surfing, but I think it'd be fine for free-diving. Maybe spend an extra $100 and get one made for water skiing and the like.

 

[JustinW]

I was going to post earlier but I really am not super informed on apnea suits. My understanding from freedivers I know is that a suit like a picasso suit is open cell, not closed cell like a suit for SCUBA, they are also cut different. If this thread was in the freediving forum I bet it would get more answers.

 

[ALARICW]

Thanks for the responses. I guess I was mainly curious why the spearfishing suits seem to be mostly 2 piece with the weird beaver-tail jacket. I didn't know if this design was somehow better for hunting or if it was just a traditional thing that has defied innovation. Also unsure if the watersports wetsuits were designed to perform at depth. The skiing/surfing wetsuits seem to be easier to get into and of course they look a lot 'cooler' but it is more important to stay warm...manufacturer websites don't really help with explaining benefits of design features or comparing one line to the next. Thanks for the input.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

The 2-piece freediving suits with a beaver tail are the warmest wetsuit design. Freedivers use them because they work, not because they are retro. The 2-piece suit has no zippers which make it warmer. It has an attached hood which makes it a lot warmer. It usually will have a smooth rubber skin on the inside which greatly reduces the flow of water through the suit (warmer again) and the use of a rubber (elastic) weight belt will further seal the bottom of the jacket and prevent water intrusion.

These suits usually require baby shampoo or some other lubricant to get into and I need a buddy to help take the jacket off. Freedivers need to minimize the amount of bouyant neoprene they use because it compresses and causes big problems at depth. Wetsuit compression for a SCUBA diver is much less of an issue because they just add air to the BC. The freedive suit, is in my experience, much warmer than a comparable thickness "scuba" suit with zippers and say a hooded vest.

 

[Chad Carney]

What makes a apnea/spearfishing wetsuit?

Haven't found a website that explains what the differences are between a dive wetsuit, freedive wetsuit, and (kite)surfing wetsuit. Assuming I am going to at least dabble a little in all these activities here in Florida what one wet suit style would best fit the bill?
Thanks in advance.

If you want one wetsuit to do many different things, it will probably do most of them only fairly well, and some of them poorly.

Being in Florida you have a better chance of getting some overlapping capabilities than you would in colder water areas. But even here there are big temperature variables. Where in FL will you be diving the most? And which sport will you do most often?

Dumpster Diver is right about cold water freediving suits being warmer than many other designs. But some of us in FL don't always need these features, such as attached hoods. Divers wear these suits all day, as opposed to one piece back zip suits that can be slipped on and off much more easily. Being able to breathe up easily is the key, so check around to see what divers in your area are wearing.

If you participate often in all of these activities you will end up with several suits for each sport, and for different times of the year.

Chad