After foolishly spending not enough money on a drysuit once, only to have a big expensive bag of water wrapped around my arms and legs after a year or so, I finally ponied up the money to buy a Kokatat GMER drysuit some years ago. Finally, kayaking in cold weather (or cold water, it’s usually snowmelt here in Colorado and in the midwest, where I started kayaking) was no longer miserable. My socks were dry! As was the rest of me. And it became clear that a drysuit was not only more comfortable, it was safer, both for me and anyone I may have to try and rescue in cold water.

Now that I’m surfing, the drysuit comes in handy again. While I love wetsuits for warmer weather, it once the water temperature starts dropping under 40 it’s time to start looking for something warmer. And Kokatat will pressure test and patch your drysuit for not-very-much-money once you find yourself putting  a few pinholes in your suit. Or, in my case, more than a few. Here are some photos of what things looked like in my first suit, now that I’ve sent it in for pressure testing twice: