ZONE3 Women's Yulex® Long Sleeve Swimsuit

1.5mm plant-based natural rubber runs the full length of the arms as well as the body, which makes the Women's Yulex Long Sleeve Swimsuit the most covered of the Yulex swimsuits and the one built for cold wild swimming. Zig-zag stitched cuffs and leg openings hold against the skin so water is not flushing through as you swim. Yulex comes from the Hevea tree rather than from oil, and Zone3 was the first triathlon brand to use it. Wear it over swimwear in milder water, then under a wetsuit once the temperature drops.

WHO IT'S FOR 

You swim outdoors through the cold months and the arms are what you lose first. A sleeveless suit leaves them bare at exactly the point in the season when bare stops being an option. This covers them to the wrist. 

• Cold wild swimming and open water through the winter 
• Exposed lakes and windy mornings 
• Surfing and paddleboarding 

• Layering under a wetsuit once the water drops further 

WHERE IT SITS IN THE RANGE 

This is the most covered of the women's Yulex swimsuits. The Women's Yulex Sleeveless Swimsuit carries the same 1.5mm rubber through the body with the shoulders left free, so take that one while the water is still mild. For a thermal layer without rubber, the Ti+ swimsuits use a titanium-infused lining instead. 

KEY BENEFITS 

1. The arms stop being the part you lose. 1.5mm Yulex runs the full length of the sleeve to the wrist, so the warmth does not stop at the shoulder the way it does in a sleeveless suit. 

2. Water is not running through the suit as you swim. Zig-zag stitched cuffs and leg openings hold against the skin, and a contoured collar does the same job at the neck. That is what stops flushing and keeps the warmth where the rubber put it. 

3. Full sleeves without a seam under the arm. The underarm panel is seamless, so the part of a long-sleeve suit that usually rubs on a long swim has nothing in it to rub. 

4. The warmth of neoprene, grown rather than made. Yulex is a natural rubber tapped from the Hevea tree and refined into a foam. Yulex says its plant-based rubber foam emits 80% less CO2 than petroleum-based neoprene. The linings are recycled polyester. 

5. One suit covers the whole of the cold season. Wear it over swimwear while the water is still swimmable, then as a base layer under a wetsuit once it drops further. 

WHAT YOU'LL FEEL 

Getting in is the moment the sleeves earn it. The cold reaches your hands and your face and largely gives up there. Your arms feel slightly more present than they do bare, which is the trade, and by two hundred metres you have stopped noticing. Nothing sluices down your chest each time you turn to breathe. The real difference comes afterwards, standing in the wind on the bank and not immediately wanting to be somewhere else.