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Frequently Asked Questions
It is the simplest safety step you can take outside the flags or away from a lane rope. A bright orange buoy like the Orca Safety Buoy makes you easy to spot from a boat, a board or the beach, and its watertight compartment carries your car key so you can swim point to point.
Do not rely on it. The Orca Safety Buoy is a visibility and storage aid, not a lifejacket or flotation device. Swim within your ability, with a buddy where you can, and treat the buoy as a way to be seen and to carry your keys and phone.
Rinse it in fresh water after every swim. Every so often, hand wash it inside out in a tub with Gear Aid Revivex Wetsuit and Drysuit Shampoo, which removes salt, chlorine and odour and conditions the neoprene. Rinse well and hang it on a wide hanger out of the sun.
A neoprene headband covers the parts that ache first. The Orca Neoprene Headband is 2.5 mm neoprene over your forehead and ears, adjusts with a Velcro strap, and can go under a silicone cap. For more coverage, a neoprene cap or hood keeps your whole head warm.
How to choose swim accessories for open water
• A swim buoy to be seen:How to choose swim accessories for open water
• A swim buoy to be seen: the Orca Safety Buoy is a 9 litre tow float in high-visibility orange, with a watertight compartment for your keys and an adjustable waist strap. The Safety Buoy Pocket adds an outside pocket and a whistle in the buckle. Both are visibility and storage aids, not lifejackets.
• Warmth: the Neoprene Headband is 2.5 mm neoprene over your forehead and ears, and fits under a silicone cap. For caps, hoods, booties and gloves, see swimming booties, gloves and hoods.
• Changing on the beach: the Changing Mat opens to 75 cm and keeps sand and grit off your wetsuit, then folds to 10 x 10 x 15 cm. The hooded microfibre Poncho Towel lets you change under it.
• Carrying wet gear: the Mesh Bag has drain eyelets in the base and a waterproof back pocket; the Mesh Backpack takes a full training kit including a wetsuit. For race day, see Orca bags.
• Wetsuit care: Revivex Wetsuit and Drysuit Shampoo washes out salt, chlorine and odour; one 296 ml pouch does 10 hand washes.
• Chafe: Chamois Butt'r creams are on our chafe cream page.
Open water swimming in Australia
A swimmer's head is a small, dark shape on a big piece of water. Outside the flags at Noosa, along the back of the break at Burleigh or in a lake like Hinze Dam, a bright orange buoy is what a skipper, a paddler or your mate on the beach sees first. Swim within your ability and with a buddy where you can. Afterwards, rinse everything in fresh water and dry it in the shade, because salt and chlorine slowly break down neoprene. Add swimming goggles and an open water wetsuit and you are set.
Why buy from Oz Backcountry
Free shipping Australia-wide over $150 (T&Cs apply), sent from our Helensvale warehouse on the Gold Coast. The "In stock – ships immediately" filter shows what is ready today.
Related: Swimming Gear · Orca Bags · Swimming Booties, Gloves & Hoods · Swimming Goggles · Open Water Wetsuits · Triathlon Gear · Anti Chafing Cream