As title, just bought a SUP and looking for a summer shorty wetsuit for a trip to Cornwall in a few weeks. I know nothing about this stuff – budget is around £100, but ideally around £70.

I’ve seen this – https://www.mysticboarding.com/products/men/wetsuits/brand-shorty-back-zip-32 – is that any good?

I know nothing about wetsuits, but THIS is £20 in Aldi this Sunday if you really fancy reducing the budget.

shorties give very little warmth so that aldi one is probably as good as anything else. If it’s warm enough for a shortie, I wear a 1mm neoprene top and board shorts.

Good stuff, hopefully they have womens available this weekend too, need to get something for my wife n daughter, and tbh they’ll only use it in summer.

OP – I bought a Gul 3/2 shorty about 5 years ago, it’s been superb, IIRC I paid about 50 quid for it.

Aldi have womens and kids wetsuits also. I ordered one for my daughter a few nights ago. Postage was £3 I think, if you spend over £30 it is free postage. She has a 4/3 decathlon full wetsuit for bodyboarding but the shorty will be good for walks with swims when we go to the top of Scotland in a week and a half #praynoisolationrequiredbeforethen

Little point spending a lot on a shorty, the best will do little more than a cheap one. For that budget you could get a decent 2/3mm full summer suit. That would be a game changer in terms of being warm and taking the edge of colder windy days.

I like the unrestricted paddling with short suits, I don’t like rashies or shorts moving around so your shorty keeps you all tucked in and focused on your activity. Do wear a rash vest with any suit. When going out in winter I used to find a cooked breakfast gave me noticeably extra time in the sea.

Slight hijack
I got a vest style thin shortie from twobarefeet a month ago. Under £20.

Question: will these cheap ones stretch? Despite it being a XL, it’s very tight when i try it on. Not been in the water yet

@Earl

Yes, cheap suits will stretch, maybe not in the places you want it to, but you may get lucky. It’s always been a bit of a myth, but all suits will shrink over time, even expensive ones. If they are kept in extremes of temperature then they sill shrink quicker.

Don’t ask me how I know about suit shrinkage after keeping my Salamon suit in the attic. 🙄

My experience from last summer was that Jnr FD went in the sea once for 2 mins in a short wetsuit. The next day we hired a paddle board that came with ‘free’ full wetsuit. Couldn’t get him out of the sea at that point.

As title, just bought a SUP and looking for a summer shorty wetsuit for a trip to Cornwall in a few weeks.

IME, on a SUP you will cook in a wetsuit unless you’re surfing and falling in a lot.

A shorty will keep you warm, but like all styles of wetsuits, cheap ones are cheap. They won’t be skintight, if water is able to flush under it then it’s not doing it’s job. They won’t be stretchy enough so will inhibit your movement. Stitched seams will rub. Cheaper neoprenes will rub.

If you need a wetsuit, it’s absolutely worth spending a few quid on one that will do the job. If not I’d suggest one of the thicker rash vests to keep the sun off, and made from a higher proportion of hydrophobic fibres (polypropylene, etc) which keeps them warm as they reduce evaporation once you’re back on the board.

Have a look on wetsuitoutlet.co.uk, any shorties from the big brands will probably be upto the job (o’neil, ripcurl, billabong, excel, etc).

decathlon wetsuits are pretty good, and good value. I’ve not got one of their shorties, but I have a 3/2 and a 4/3 steamer (both from their 900 range) and both are decent.

I would suggest getting a neoprene top and some bottoms.

I have some 3/4 like these:
https://www.escape-watersports.co.uk/clothing/trousers/peak-uk-neoskin-strides-detail

and a neoprene top (wife has a Lomo one).

Dead easy to put on and off on the beach and you can mix and match, top with shorts or bottoms with rashie.

all suits will shrink over time

I agree. Last summer I took my swimming wetsuit out of the loft after 10 years and it didn’t fit. My wife wouldn’t listen to me when I said the suit had shrunk, and insisted it was the 10kg of additional “natural” insulation I was carrying.

Having lost 6 of those 10kg my suit appears to have stretched a little. 😀

I use my Mystic 3/4 suit for SUP on the sea, it’s an older version of this one I think

https://www.mysticboarding.com/products/men/wetsuits/brand-longarm-shortleg-back-zip-32

As others have said you might get too hot in it but easiest way to solve that is to take a dunk. I also use it for kiting for which it’s the perfect summer suit though you spend a lot more time getting wet on a kiteboard.

I got a gul shortie from sports direct, 10 quid, better cut then decathlon one I also have. I am in Spain and they are too hot just a short window c April and oct.

A decent well fitting life jacket is enough to keep the wind chill off. Decent shoes if you are going near rocks.

I don’t think wetsuits shrink but totally dry neoprene is a lot tighter.

They take forever to dry properly so I guess normally you wouldn’t notice. When I started using my summer suit this year it wasn’t 100% dry despite having been hung up in a dry garage all winter.