If you haven’t been fortunate enough to get away for that winter surf trip to sunnier climes this year then you have probably been thinking about upgrading your winter wetsuit.

The Rip Curl H-Bomb Wetsuit has been on the scene for a while now but is still only one of a handful of heated wetsuits out there in the market place.

Hot Suits of Australia are reported to have been the first on the scene with a “heated kidney belt style” concept that used a gel filled heat pack that sprang into life when the chemical reaction was initiated.

Since then the manufacturers have looked at other methods of generating extra warmth for wetsuit wearers – with the novel approach of using Lithium Polymer Batteries to power a heating element sewn into the suit.

The Rip Curl H-Bomb is a wetsuit that uses the Li-on battery approach and is designed to keep you super-warm by positioning a source of heat on your upper back. The heat, generated by two coated fibre elements, heats your inner core allowing warm blood to circulate to your extremities.

The elements are made of fibre so there is no metal involved, or chance of corrosion when it is exposed to water.

The H-Bomb has two temperature settings, Low: 50-55C (120-130F) and High: 60-65C (140-150F).  And because the batteries weigh only 0.12kg each and are positioned on your lower back where they are cushioned against your body by a layer of neoprene you can’t feel them.

The first test pilot was 2005 World Championship Tour number 7 Nathan Hedge, who commented “It’s one out of the box, it feels sooo good! You keep really warm, even on the low setting and it just keeps you feeling warm all over throughout. I didn’t want to give it back after the R&D session”.

In waters as cold as 5 degrees Celsius, the H-Bomb is receiving incredible feedback by providing surfers with plenty of heat, extended surf time and reducing the thickness of suit being worn.

So if you are considering buying a new winter wetsuit this season why not try the ultimate Rip Curl H-Bomb Wetsuit - available from Sorted Surshop.

Source: ripcurl  

One of the coolest jackets to hit the streets this year is the new O’Neill Nav Jacket.

If you are going to take time out this winter to grab a bit of snowboarding time then this really is the MUST HAVE jacket.

O'Neill Nav Jacket

Not only cool to look at, The NavJacket includes some very cleaver social networking tools that allow you to upload and share your rides on over 600 slopes around Europe and the US. Taking a steer from the popular Nike+ running site, the NavJacket lets you join and active NavJacket online community and even race others down the slopes. Going to visit a new resort for the first time – logon and download suggested routes and even have your jacket show you directions the first couple of times.

Want to show off to your friends? – download your latest run into Google Earth adding “points of interest” along the way – highlighting where you crashed or got some sick air time!

O'Neill NavJacket Sleeve

O’Neill have gone all out with this interactive jacket – manufactured in full Gore-text waterproof material the clever technology bits (such as a GPS, LCD display and e-textile keypad) are built into the sleeve.

The e-textile keypad is colour coded and allows you to navigate through the functions very easily. There is a built-in friend finder, so if you get lost or seperated, this simple function brings you back together.

As you would expect, this seriously cool jacket comes with quite a serious price tag – coming in at €1,200. If you are interested in one, you can buy one online at the O’Neill Store – or give us a call.

O’Neill have set the bar pretty high with this interactive jacket and it will be interesting to see how quickly this kind of technology is available to us all.

NavJacket DisplayNav Jacket GPS System

In honour of David Weight, whose passion for the concept of artificial reefs has driven the project locally, as a surfing community we have decided to call it “Weights Reef”

11th November 2008 – Work stops for the winter
Yesterday the Reef contractors finally admitted defeat and returned to New Zealand for the winter.

The base layer of the reef is complete and will settle over the winter alowing the top sections to be deployed in the spring. We are hopeful that with a natural build up of sand there should be signs of a wave on therare occaision that a low spring tide coincides with a big groundswell.

Obviously there is a huge sense of disappointment amongst local surfers and business people as the delay means in reality it will be another year before we can see any action on “Weights Reef”

As the Sorted Surf Shop is right on the beach at Boscombe we will keep you posted as the progess once the contractors are back in action. Alternatively, if you want to keep an eye on things – check out the Boscombe Beach and Reef Surfcam.

The Warehouse stocks surf clothing ,winter & summer wetsuits, kayaks, surfboards, kite surf and much more all with huge discounts.

Stocks are constantly being updated and added too creating a one stop shop for any water enthusiast.

Please feel free to pop in and find a bargain!!
Sean
Sorted

Check out the website: http://www.wetsuitcentre.co.uk