Friday, July 20, 2007

The Surfer's Enigma: The Patagonia Wetsuit

I personally am not a surfer but oh, I wish I was. My pecs would be slightly bigger, my hair slightly lighter, my abs slightly 6-packed-er. Come on, the surf lifestyle has to appeal to most on so many different levels.

For those who do surf often, I would imagine that finding ways to make that lifestyle just a bit more comfortable is paramount. Enter the Patagonia Wetsuit. I was kicking around on the internet looking up stuff about Patagonia and came across some messages about these suits. As I delved a bit deeper, it became clear that these suits were somewhat of an enigma. They weren't really being advertised, they were only sold at one store (Patagonia Surf in Cardiff, which was brand new), and as a result very few people had them. Apparently though, many people had heard of them and this had created a bit of a stir, kind of like the chatter that emerges in the months leading up to the release of a new Harry Potter book, except among people who were way cooler.

Further research brought me to a blog that had a thread about the wetsuit that half-admiringly and half-critically poked fun at a guy that had created his own website (yes, his own website) about the Patagonia Wetsuit. My intrigue was raised further when I received a comment from hoon on my first blog entry requesting information about said wetsuit.

So, I contacted the creator of the website, Ali. He replied, couldn't have been nicer, and gave me the green light to reference him and his site (I know seeking permission wasn't necessary, but it's kind of polite, right?). It's www.patagoniawetsuits.com. Get this: Ali says that he gets 25 unique visitors a day, several personal emails requesting information, and has been interviewed by Men's Journal about the suit. Maybe the www ain't so wide after all.

Patagonia has finally taken the wraps off the suit and it is now given the full treatment on their website (a direct link to which you can find here) complete with a surfing video, which I've posted below, featuring the Malloy Brothers.

So The Enigma has stepped into the spotlight and surfers everywhere are the better for it. Enjoy.

(originally posted to YouTube by patagoniavideo)

Labels: , , ,

Google

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home