What is the difference between a wet suit and a dry suit?
Dry suits are loose fitting except for gaskets at the neck and wrists that seal water out so you and your clothes stay dry. With dry suits for sports other than SCUBA diving, the suit itself does not provide insulation — you wear clothes under the suit for that. The more clothes/insulation you wear, the warmer you will be. Wet suits don’t keep you dry, but they can keep you warm. Wet suits are made of waterproof, closed-cell, foam-rubber (neoprene) which insulates even when wet. The two main things that determine how warm you will be are the thickness of the neoprene and the snugness of the wet suit. The looser a wet suit fits, the more water will flow in and out of it, and the colder you’ll be. However, if a wet suit fits skin tight, most of the water that leaks in will stay there, and eventually your body will warm that water up to skin temperature. Once the water inside a wet suit is at the same temperature as your body, it no longer chills you. Contrary to a popular myth, the wate
