Hi, newby female freediver (looking for suit size advice)

[carina]

Hi~
I'm Carina from the Netherlands, living in South Korea. I just recently started freediving, but am a long time lover of being in (and under) water!
I'm currently looking to order a 5mm suit, but being bigger than the average Korean lady I will have to order it online.
I've identified two candidate suits: The Sporasub Yemaya which looks to be made exactly for my body shape (I have hips! Many other brands seem to think that women don't really have hips...) and the Salvimar Seawalker Lady which seems to be a similar shape although they don't provide as many measurements as Sporasub does for the Yemaya.
I have 2 questions:
Q1: for any ladies on here who tried one of these, or preferably both, what would you recommend?
Q2: I'm undecided on which size to order - I'm at the upper end of the range they provide for 1 size: should I go for that size, since that way it will be tight (and therefore no gaps, water flowing in, etc, or should I go for 1 size up, since at the upper end it might be too tight?...

Anyway, nice to meet you all! I look forward to expanding my freediving knowledge reading these forums~

 

[Mr. X]

Hi Carina. I'm a bloke so cannot answer your questions directly, however, I have some suggestions and insights that might help.

Off the shelf suits are usually made of stretchier neoprene, which allows them to accommodate more body variations. As they stretch they get thinner, less warm. If budget permits, consider getting a made to measure suit (maybe somebody in SE Asia, failing that Greece or Italy). I got mine maybe 15 years ago, great investment. I both gained and lost significant weight since then but somehow it has always been a great fit, perhaps because the proportions are right for me.

Consider if you are more likely to gain weight, lose weight or remain stable. My adult son outgrew his one year old steamer wetsuit this year. I did warn him to take account of the training he does (core, pullups, pushups), his shoulders have grown significantly and he needed a bigger wetsuit.

As a family, we've bought 2 wetsuit this week and may get a third. :'/

If you've found a model-specific size chart that fits your measurements, that's prob. The best you can hope for. Model- specific charts are more likely to be accurate (not always the case tho). They often miss out dimensions that can be critical e.g. throat, wrist, ankle, length, crotch depth.

 

[carina]

Thank you for the elaborate answer!
You're right, there are no measurements for ankle and wrist - which may be a problem, since I have very slim wrists and ankles... I will look into custom made options!