Orca Apex Float V2 Women's Triathlon Wetsuit

The Apex Float V2 is the most buoyant suit in Orca's triathlon range, built from Yamamoto neoprene with the buoyancy concentrated low in the suit to lift the legs and flatten out your position in the water. It is the suit for long course racing, and for swimmers whose legs sink.

Who it's for

You know the moment: four hundred metres in, your legs start to sink, and everything suddenly costs twice as much. The Apex Float V2 exists to stop that. Extra buoyancy under the hips and legs lifts your lower half into position and holds it there, so you swim flat and come out of the water with something left.

If you came to triathlon from the bike or the run, and the swim is the leg you would rather just get through, this is the suit that changes your race most.

Buoyancy and flexibility

Float is the clue in the name. This is the high-buoyancy build, weighted toward lifting the half of you that wants to drop - which is the fault most age-group swimmers spend years fighting. Get your hips up and your stroke gets longer on its own.

The shoulders stay soft so the suit never argues with your catch. A stiff shoulder wears you out well before the distance does. Built from 95% neoprene with a 5% polyamide face - light, quick to get into, and slick enough through the water that you feel it off the start line.

Key features

4.5 mm Yamamoto neoprene through the legs - the thickest panels sit exactly where the lift is needed rather than spread evenly across the suit. High-stretch shoulder, arm and back panels keep the stroke free, with an SCS surface coating that sheds water off the outer face and an Infinity Skin 2 lining against your skin. YKK back zip with a long pull cord.

Fabric gloves are included, and they are not a gimmick: you wear them to pull the suit on so fingernails cannot tear the neoprene, which is the most common way an expensive wetsuit gets wrecked.

Getting the size right

This is the decision that makes or breaks a wetsuit, so take your time over it.

Orca size on height and weight together, not on the shirt size you usually buy.

Snug everywhere is the target, with no slack pockets at the lower back or behind the knees. Getting into it on dry land should be a wrestle - that is what correct feels like, and it lets go the moment you start swimming. Between two sizes, take the smaller one: neoprene gives with wear, and a suit that starts loose flushes water through, which is what makes you cold rather than the water itself.

Water temperature range

As a guide, a full-sleeve triathlon suit like this is comfortable from about 15°C to 22°C - which is the water most Australian racing is held in, from early-season events through to the warmer end of summer.

Above roughly 22°C most races go non-wetsuit anyway, and a swimskin is the tool. Below 15°C, add a neoprene cap.

Looking after neoprene

Rinse it in fresh water after every swim - salt and chlorine both attack neoprene, and neither forgives being left on. Dry it in the shade or somewhere airy inside. Never in the sun: UV is what turns good neoprene hard and brittle, and one Australian summer on a fence will do it.

Hang it over something wide or fold it loosely, and never wring it out.