‘I just wanted to surf longer!’ Jack O’Neill 1952
The O'Neill J-Type wetsuit has to be the warmest, coolest wetsuit we have ever seen. Usually with suits this thick the styling leaves a little to be desired but not with this beauty.
In the frigid waters of Northern California Jack O’Neill decided to do something about the freezing conditions that were thwarting his passion for surfing, some fifty years later the brand that is O’Neill stands tall within the surfing world. Crossing over to the diving industry was inevitable, and with more money, experience, and research invested in wetsuits (all be it for surfing) than any of us divers could dream of, it wasn’t to be an unwelcome addition!
Testing wetsuits day in day out in the Santa Cruz swells these boys no what the cold is. It’s unsurprising then that the J-Type is pound for pound the warmest diving wetsuit on earth, and probably the entire universe. Double fluid seam welds, firewall insulation, and the code red zip, are all innovative ways to keep in warmth, and keep out water. The suit has an internal farmer john style piece attached to the whole suit. This gives effectively a core thickness of 12mm on the torso, and 7mm on your arms and legs. The seals are O-ring style, and super comfortable as well as effective. All these features come together to give you a 12/7 hooded wetsuit that’s drier than wet, and as robust as any suit out there. At £273.06 it’s one of the most competitively priced 12/7mm wetsuit being made, and in our eyes here at Mikes it’s definitely one of the best.. So here’s to Jack!! He'd tell you to get hold of a J-Type from Mike's and whack it in the badger!
The O'Neill Men's 7mm J-Type Fluid Seam Weld (FSW) full wetsuit delivers "serious cold water technology" in a comfortable, low bulk package. The 7mm J-Type FSW wetsuit offers the ease of J-type entry/closure system with the minimal bulk, seal, and convenience of a one-piece hooded full suit. With a built-in, full-torso 5-millimeter Firewall envelope, the 7mm J-Type Dive suit boasts 12-millimeters of core insulation providing added warmth exactly where you need it. The neoprene fabric is strong, stretchy, and supple, behaving like a second skin in the water.
Thanks to O'Neill's double-sided Fluid Seam Weld (FSW) and stitchless seam construction, the suit is 100 percent sealed. O'Neill welds the neoprene layers of the suit together without stitching so that water cannot leak through tiny holes left in the fabric. Additionally, the suit has strong wrist and leg seals and a virtually water tight Super Seal Neck making this wetsuit a top performer in frigid waters.
Comfortable to wear, the 7mm J-Type FSW wetsuit has a TFX lumbar flex panel providing ease of movement in a critical area while maintaining the core insulation. The wetsuit also has Strategic Ultraflex DS flex zones for optimum range of motion and strong but flexible Plasma Padz in the knees. The 7mm J-Type FSW Wetsuit is a great choice for serious divers who are looking for an alternative to drysuits and would like to avoid the bulk and potential for leaking of traditional two-piece suits.
About O'Neill
Sometime around 1952, Jack O'Neill opened the first surf shop in a garage across the Great Highway. He shaped a few balsa surfboards and sold accessories like paraffin wax and few vests (glued together from neoprene). When the vests started selling, Jack decided to go into the wetsuit business. His friends laughed. They asked him what he planned to do for business after the handful of surfers in the area had bought one. Jack said he'd cross that bridge when he got to it.
O'Neill Video
