How it works is the more you spend, the more floatation you get and the more flexibility you get. The Helix has a 1mm arm and then lots of cuts and different shapes. Whereas with Sprint, it’s just a very basic suit.
00:10 – How to Choose a Wetsuit
00:39 – Does the Distance of the Race Change which Wetsuit I should Get?
01:42 – Sleeve vs Sleeveless
02:34 – What are the Most Popular Models?
03:39 – How to do you Best Fit Your Wetsuit?
04:52 – How Do You Avoid Wetsuit Chafe?
05:34 – Where to Find Aquashop?
Does the Distance of the Race Change which Wetsuit I should Get?
Definitely the bottom end of the race suit will cater for 750m or olympic distance of for say 1km swim, maybe if you’re doing a half iron man at 1.9 or up to 2k swim, probably want drop the bottom of the range and at least move to the Reaction. It’s significantly more comfortable and better cut than the base model. If you’re going to do an Ironman or you’re doing 5km swims, you really wanna be in the top half of the range. Significantly more flexibility once again and more floatation. The Axis has extra buoyancy in the bum and the quads for someone who’s a big leg dragger. Sleeveless suits are for people who really feel the heat or have any sort of shoulder problems, sometimes we get them into those because of the less load on the shoulders.
Sleeve vs Sleeveless
So usually it’s a warm thing, in most cases, obviously in Victoria we usually need a little bit of extra insulation but when you buy a sleeved suit, and it depends on which model but whenever you add millimeters to your paddle, you’re grabbing more water. Most of the suits these days have variations of grip a panel. So everytime you take a stroke, maybe you’re swimming 30cm more or whatever it is. So in theory, a 2mm arm grabs more water than what a 1mm arm does. The Helix actually has a pervious panel on the inside so you get that sensation of grabbing the water. That’s by far the fastest suit because you’ve got the most buoyancy in the middle and surely the best flexibility.
What Are The Most Popular Models?
To be honest, it’s probably split. The reaction covers a lot of distances. I’ve sold that to people who do Ironman and they get through it no problems. And then obviously, top of the line Helix goes without saying – it’s the Ferrari, it’s definitely the nicest suit. Probably they’re the most 2, definitely 9 out of 10 of my sales are sleeved suits. What we definitely offer is if you come in, you buy this one and you go for a swim in it, one, it’s absolutely no problems to change sizes. If you win the lotto that night, no problem. Just bring it back and give me a couple of extra hundred dollars and you take the Helix.
How to do you Best Fit Your Wetsuit?
Generally I’d say to someone start the suit a couple of fingers above your ankle – 2-3 fingers above your ankle. Use a plastic bag that helps, put a plastic bag on your foot like it’s a sock. That helps the suit to slide on. Feed the suit up. Give yourself a wedgie. You gotta have a wedgie no matter the top of the line suit, if you put it on wrong, it won’t feel anywhere near good as it should. Once you got the wedgie, put the plastic bag on the hands, slide the arm on, slide the other arm on. Generally, you want to start the suit around your watch mark. Once you’ve got the suit on and you’re zipped up, one of the best things to do is actually bend over the waist. Grab a whole heap of rubber from your belly button if you like, stand up, keep hold of this rubber and then feed it up the core. Effectively just shifting all that rubber from your mid section up on to your shoulders and that always creates a lot of flexibility. That’s obviously what we do. We make sure it’s 100% spot on and show you how to do it and give you all the tips and stuff.
How Do You Avoid Wetsuit Chafe?
Yup, I actually got some last weekend because I forgot my Body Glide. Body Glide is the most well known anti chafe. And you just want to use something that’s non-petroleum based. So no Vaseline and no baby oil. They’re petroleum based. So Body Glide’s is the better known one. There’s a few other products that work. Paw paw works. I’ve never used it. Hair conditioner works. You’re going to swim a thousand strokes, you have sand and salt mixed in there against rubber and skin, it’s probably going to chafe.
Where to Find Aquashop?
Aquashop is run by myself and my wife, Linda. We’re at 250 Park Street in South Melbourne. We stock a whole range of swimming toys and obviously the range of wetsuits and swimming race suits. Hopefully we know what we’re talking about! We’d like to see you there!
