ORCA HEATSEEKER

£45 Does tbe Heatseeker do the job for cold-water swimming?

The 2mm open-cell Orca Heatseeker neoprene vest is designed to be worn either under your wetsuit as a thermal layer while swimming, or as an additional layer if you need protection against wind chill while taking part in a variety of watersports.

Sizes range from XS to XXL, which should help ensure a perfect fit, although curvier women may find smaller sizes a little tight on the hips, which can cause the vest to roll up if you’re running in it.

Once you’re in the cold water, however, it stays in place well and the sleeveless design didn’t restrict our swim stroke, while the raised collar gave a handy extra level of protection against both water ingress and wetsuit chafing.

While you’re unlikely to wear it for triathlon race day (British Triathlon rules dictate that it can only be worn if the wetsuit above it is 3mm or less), the Heatseeker is an interesting proposition for swimrun races, where you’re in and out of the water for many hours and trying to manage core temperature on both land and in water, while being wet. We’ve previously experimented with surf rash vests, but found this to be a much better option during testing.

While the science is yet to be proven in how much additional warmth vests can give you when cold-water swimming, anecdotally we found this to be a useful extra layer as the temperatures drop during the off-season.