In 1991, as Jim Richards took the podium with a pubescent Mark Scaife to claim the trophy for the Tooheys 1000 at Bathurst, he was nearly boo’ed off the stage by thousands of irate Ford and Holden fans. Richards famously called the fans a ‘pack of assholes’ and walked off the stage, trophy in hand. The ire of the fans that day was that Richards and Scaife drove a turbo charged inline six cylinder and a Japanese one at that… You see, Nissan had come to play and had left the sluggish V8’s of Holden and Ford in their wake. From 1990 to 1992 the Nissan Skyline was untouchable at Mount Panorama, until in 1993 when the body of Australian Motorsport banned the Nissans from competing in the touring car championship. A ban that still stands today. The car was dubbed ‘Godzilla’ after devouring the locally produced V8 offerings and it proved that bigger isn’t always better; with a smaller motor, lighter frame and all wheel drive, the old guard couldn’t keep up…. And now it’s happening in Wetsuits people!

So race fans put your Jim Beam stubby holders back In the cupboard, take the Holden racing team jacket to the dry-cleaners (you can keep wearing those sunnies with the flames down the sides, they’ll never go out of fashion) and lets talk wetsuits.

Let us take the above analogy and relate it to the wetsuit market in Australia, I want to introduce you to what is being called the new Nissan Skyline of the wetsuit world… It’s called Xcel and, word is, they are on the way to blowing their competitors out of the water.

Xcel is a leader in the American wetsuit market, it has won the SIMA wetsuit of the year award two years running. With US Navy seals using them and Bede Durbidge and Asher Pacey wearing them Xcel is certainly getting a good wrap.

So as the weather and the water temp is heating up and summer is about to kick off go out to the shed and have a good look at your short arm steamer, if it looks like a used condom and you don’t want to put your leg into it (and if you do… that’s just weird) then go hit up your local surf shop and tell them you want a kick ass wetty that looks and feels like a million bucks. They should then hand you an Xcel wetsuit which you will then try on and probably not want to take off.

XCEL INFINITY 2MM SHORT ARM STEAMER
www.xcelwetsuits.com

Features:
– Waterproof sealed seams.
– Interlock zipper.
– Three layer protection. What they call ‘Thermo Barrier’.
– Quickdrying, 100% soft, light neoprene.