this group is for anyone who has ever surfed in cold waters. if you have then you must know how good it feels to pee in your wetsuit. even on the coldest days you can still have a few moments of warmth. it's perfectly fine to do so as long as you WASH YOUR SUIT!

Urine bath or internal heater?
Shark bait or necessary warmth?
Wet ruination or remarkable convenience?

The debate over whether or not to let it go in your wetsuit has long raged quietly beneath the neoprene of many a surfer’s mind. Cold water surfers know well the warming value of a good whiz, but anyone can relate to the revulsion of being encased in a thin layer of your own urine. There are other concerns too: “I’ve heard that mammal urine attracts sharks,” stated one young grom interviewed for this article.

“Yeah,” piped in his friend, “and that it ruins your wetsuit and makes fungus grow on your skin.”

“I’ve heard it gives you cancer,” wisely remarked another brat.

So do you really paddle in to shore just to take a leak?

“No,” they all agreed. “Everybody pees in their suits.”

Perhaps, instead of asking Junior High schoolers, it would be better to consult with experts on this matter. “Healthy urine,” according to Surfer magazine’s Surf Doc, Dr. Geoff, “contains no germs, and its most prominent ingredient - urea – is commonly used in skin care products. Urine does contain ammonia, and can burn the skin if in direct contact for long periods of time (as in a baby’s diaper), but that shouldn’t be problem in the surf.” As far as your health is concerned, there doesn’t seem to be much peril in taking a nice, discrete urine bath on cold winter swell.

While urine doesn’t seem to do any damage to the wetsuit itself, surfers who fail to wash out their wetsuit after every surf-n-pee session may begin to notice a rank, rotting smell. With all of its dark, wet nooks, urine soaked neoprene makes for a perfect fungus farm. In addition to a funky odor and greasy texture, this fungus has been known to cause skin irritation, allergic reactions, and infections in open cuts. And it’s nasty. The Surfer’s Medical Association holds that urine can cause “wetsuit folliculitis,” a skin condition similar to acne. This can all be easily avoided by washing your wetsuit off with fresh water after every time you surf, which also serves to preserve the lifetime of your suit in general. As far as attracting sharks goes, there is little evidence that suggests mammal urine attracts sharks, and if it did, you’d probably have to be eating a hell of a lot of sushi for your pee to be at all similar to that of a seal. One could also theorize that urine could act as a shark repellent. Someone could package it up and sell the stuff like sunscreen: shark repellent.

Even armed with the un-alarming facts, there is still something unsavory about pissing your wetsuit. Can’t we just go before we get in the water, like our parents used to tell us to do before long car trips? Apparently, no. When you get in the water, you’re doomed. There are several reasons why we need to pee when we paddle out into the line up, according to the Surf Doc, “the kidneys actually begin to produce more urine when the body is immersed in water; a drop in body temperature triggers the kidneys to put out more urine; the adrenaline rush of surfing stimulates the urge to pee; and finally, lying on your board puts direct pressure on your bladder.” Still, emptying your bladder before you get in the water certainly can’t hurt. Pee early in your session, so it has a chance to rinse for a while. Refrain from peeing at the end of your session. After peeing, introduce some ocean water into your suit to help flush it out. And always, always wash your suit out after you surf.

So now that you know, go ahead and let it flow. Just don’t let everyone know when you go. Keep it on the down low. The truth is, it’s really more revolting to think, to talk about, and yes, especially to write about, than it actually is to do.


Go to wavewatch.com for your local surf forecasts


Go to wavewatch.com for your local surf forecasts