What do you guys wear for transitional conditions where the water is still a touch cold but the air is so warm a wetsuit is too much?

Had a rather lousy day at Wolf, which was definitely off from the start as I tore the zip on my old O'Neill 3/2, so stupidly figured the 5/4 would be ok. Someone said the water was 65 there yesterday, so probably high 60s today. The air was mid 80s. I was miserable from the first minute, and got hot so quickly I was totally fatigued after the first couple runs. Probably had a touch of heat stroke as I was feeling sick by the end. Gross!

So what's the right kind of gear? I saw people running the gamut today, from shorts (just shorts) to a couple layers of lycra and neoprene.

Are there good shorts for windsurfing that won't get ripped off in a crash?

What's a good thermal top/rash guard thickness? Was thinking about getting something like a 1.5 or 2mm top. I'll kind of miss the scrape protection of a wetsuit, so something with a little toughness would be good.

Thanks!

If your spot is not Lake Michigan and already 65 water and air even higher, anything around 3/2 will work. If steaming in there, just take a dip or let water get in to cool down!

On Lake Michigan, the main factor is water temp (and to a lesser degree, air temp). Also, this might depend on how much you'll spend floundering in the water:
- I use 5/4 below 60
- 4/3 above 60
- 1mm rash guard and shorts if above 70/75. Up north, this might happens twice a year!

For boots:
- 6mm if water is below 48-50
- 3mm above 50
- No boots if sandy shores if above 60-65

Open palm mitts. For this one air temp is the important factor:
- On if below 50

Great info Greg, much thanks.

The 5/4 is probably the most I want to wear so probably won't sail if it's 44 or lower, it's worked great down to that and the amount of swimming and uphauling I do keeps me warm!

Going to pickup some kind of rash guard top or thin neoprene top for stuff like yesterday as the season goes on the water warms up.

Hadn't really thought much about boots but for places like Wolf I think they might be an "always" option for me.

Cheers