WETSUITS

Unless you are going to be riverboarding in some tropical place where the water is 85 degrees, you'll need to wear a wetsuit. A good wetsuit will keep you warm and give you enough protection that bumping into rocks, other riders, or small hippopotami won't hurt you.

A good wetsuit for riverboarding will be between 3mm and 7mm thick, and should have reinforced stiching as well as rubberized rash guards on the lower legs. There are various styles you can choose from: full length, one-piece wetsuits, a "shorty", which leaves the arms and lower legs bare, and the "Farmer John", aptly named because it looks kind of like overalls. Spandex overalls.

For summer riding in warmer climates, a 3mm is fine, or even a Farmer John. I don't recommend wearing a shorty simply bcoz it leaves your lower legs really unprotected, and your shins / knees are the most vulnerable part of your body when riverboarding.

In cooler parts of the globe, or in rivers where the water is mainly snowmelt, a 5mm is pretty much the minimum you'll want to wear. Anything thinner than that and you'll probably get cold if you're in the water for too long.

Thanks to technology, new wetsuits are made of ultra-tough and warm neoprene, and are now available in mixed thicknesses - for example, a 7mm torso and 5mm arms and legs. This gives you extra flexibility (which you need) but maximum warmth where you need it.

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