Swim
When the surf’s not so good swim gear allows you to keep yourself fit and surf-fit, ready for the next swell. It also opens up the fun of swimming that is great in itself. Swim goggles help with swimming visibility and can also be used to view the underwater world. Swim wetsuits allow you to swim all year and can include buoyancy and low friction panels to boost your swim performance. You can always be swimming and the right swim gear will give you a great experience
Swim gear is a must to have on hand for your beach and surf time. Being able to swim, either in the ocean or pool, helps keep your body surf-fit ready for the next swell. Goggles help you with short and longer swims giving you visibility and reducing eye sensitivity in the water. Some goggles are almost as good as a snorkeling facemask giving crystal clear visibility of the incredible underwater world.
Special swim wetsuits give you numerous advantages from light weight, to warmth, to low friction helping you swim all year. Swim accessories allow you to focus your swim effort on improving your technique and strength.
Quality
With advents in technology, high quality gear is now available to you at great value. In everything from fit to function you are getting a great swim experience.
Swim Wetsuits
Swim wetsuits open up swimming to you year long. From warmer water to cold water, you can keep yourself in great shape and do what you love. Advanced tech includes low friction finishes to go farther faster with each stroke, and buoyancy panels to keep your posture and technique perfect. From left Orca Womens Openwater Performer Core Swimskin Tri Wetsuit, Orca Sonar Mens Full Sleeve Wetsuit
One of the biggest improvements in swimming is the availability of swim-specific wetsuits. Sure you can swim in your surfing wetsuit. However swim wetsuits are designed to give you a great swim experience and workout. They’re much thinner, 1mm or 2mm. So you don’t feel constrained, rather you get great freedom of movement. Though thin they use high tech material to keep you warm, your muscles in prime condition for a working out. The idea behind swim wetsuits is so you can swim and perform all year in comfort.
Advances in technology include low friction finishes so you glide through the water extra fast. There’s also buoyancy panels that give float to your thighs. In this way your body keeps a great posture, not dragging in the water. If you want to swim, getting a swim wetsuit will give you a great experience.
Goggle Quality
Quality gives you comfort, great fit and great vision. Tints open up a new swimming experience from reducing glare to highlighting lane lines. From left Cressi Adult Flash Premium Silicon Goggles, Orca Killa Swim Goggle, Cressi Adult Thunder Premium Silicon Goggles
Quality covers the clarity of vision you get. Swim goggle lenses are crystal clear allowing you to see long distances underwater.
If you’re lap swimming you can see the lane lines on the bottom. If you’re in the pool, indoor or outdoor, doing laps, clarity of vision can keep you on track, not bumping into other swimmers. If you’re ocean swimming you can see what’s around you from people on boards to marine life.
The lenses are also much more scratch resistant and light. So when your having swim fun there’s no added weight on your head or neck. For performance, being light weight allows you focus on your fitness and speed rather than getting any strain.
Tinted lenses are also available. There’s smoke tints to reduce glare from the sun or bright indoor lights. There’s bright tints to highlight underwater lane lines. Through to crystal clear lenses.
Fit & Comfort
Swim gear uses silicone, silitex or a similar high grade material in its construction. This gives you a hypoallergenic feel, meaning against your skin there’s no reaction. There’s no rash or irritation as from cheap plastics. The material is also super soft. So when you’re in the water, whether going under or swimming on top, you aren’t thinking about the discomfort of your goggle. You can swim for as long as you like in complete comfort.
The soft feel also gives great fit. So around your brow, eye sockets, around or over your nose, your goggles mould to the contours of your face. This great fit helps you with the countless swim repetitions of your head going side to side with each stroke, not letting in water.
Design
Latest goggle designs give you greater versatility. The above goggles are great to swim in and feature extended skirts to ensure much larger skin contact equating to better fit with no leaks. These goggles with single and larger lenses give you an underwater perspective almost the same as a dive mask. Yet they’re still small in size, can be used for dedicated swimming, and easily kept handy in your boardshort pocket or car tidy bin
Goggles feature larger skirts around the lenses. These flare out to be super thin against your skin while still having the form to keep the lens safely in place. These large skirts hug your facial contours and prevent water entry. Even without having the strap on, in most cases the goggles will suck on your face indicating the quality of fit.
Goggles are also available with a single lens. One lens running across the mask. Without the bridge splitting the lens you get a great uninterrupted underwater view. This is especially helpful if you have the problem of the bridge piece always affecting your focus. These single lens are a great option if you want to swim and have a snorkeling-type experience too.
For fit, goggles feature a split strap with the split going over the top and bottom of the back of your head. This reduces direct pressure on the front of your face while also more evenly distributing it giving better fit. Micro adjustments in strap length means you can get the fit exactly right for you. There’s also angle adjustments in the strap fixture points to match your preferred mask position, high or low on your face.
Snorkels, Flippers & Accessories
Specialised swim accessories give you the ability to focus on improving your swimming, in turn improving your body. From left, the Orca Snorkel is not like a normal snorkel. A head strap allows you to use it by itself, without a mask or goggles. Its special streamlined shape aids your swim performance. It doesn’t have a splash guard, like a snorkeling snorkel, so is purposefully minimalist. The Orca High Visibility Fins have reduced area and are designed to exercise your legs. Note the high viz colour adds to your safety in your open water swimming. Orca Flat Hand Paddles create resistance for your hands increasing your arm and shoulder work out
Most of our swim goggles are not designed for snorkels however the Orca understand there are some swimmers who don’t turn their heads while swimming preferring to focus on arm and body technique. So they have a special swim snorkel with a smaller diameter than snorkeling snorkels. It is much more streamlined. The upright tube has a definite bevel and profile to get you going through the water faster. However it does not have a splash or dive guard like snorkels designed for the open water. It does however have a purge valve making it easy to expel any water that enters. It’s a great design for lap swimming.
Swimming flippers, while similar to their snorkeling counterparts, have a major difference. They are designed to exercise your lower body rather than for propelling you through the depths. Their short length gives resistance to your leg swimming movement. So your legs get a good work out too.
One of the more unusual swim accessories is the Orca Pull Buoy on the left. This is held between your legs preventing kicking, forcing you to focus on the twist and strengthening of your core and arm movements. The Orca Swim Board does the opposite, keeping your arms holding the board while your legs get the workout. The Zone3 Silicone Swim Cap 48G keeps your head in perfect condition, protected from UV rays and cold, while giving you a sleek low friction shape in the water
Other accessories include Swim Boards, designed to be held at arms length so all the focus is on your leg work out. At the other extreme are Hand Paddles that give more surface area to your hand creating more resistance requiring more effort to pull through the water, exercising your arms. Another interesting device is a Pull Buoy. This is held between your legs limiting leg movement, keeping the focus on your core and arms.
Kids
Kids have their own Swim goggles available with special design features to match smaller facial contours. There’s also different colours both for Kids and Girls. On the left Orca Kids Swim Goggle, Cressi Adult Flash Lady Premium Silicon Goggles
All the great features mentioned above are applicable to adults and kids. Kids swim goggles are smaller and still incorporate the great fit and adjustment features. Cressi goggles for example include all the strap adjustments and include a highly flexible rubber nose bridge. This allows for growth as it easily fits narrow, wide, smaller and taller noses.
Your Swim
Not all swimming has to be where there’s waves. Flat conditions also open swim opportunities for you
Come in-store to feel the difference in quality and versatility of our range of swim gear. As with all items used in the real world, sizing is vital. Our expertise with each product, how they expand or contract over time in the water, can ensure you get the perfect swimming experience.
