Kind of off topic post here but this bronze Duke statue is for sale. The statue is 12ft 3 in tall weighing almost a ton. Anyone have any idea of its worth?

I ended up buying the E-Bomb 3 Pro Jacket (1mm) because of my Matuse Philo (1mm) jacket was way too tight and stiff. According to RipCurl, the E-Bomb 3 jacket is the most flexible jacket they’ve ever built. The E-Bomb 3’s seams provide maximum stretch and the 100% E3 offers top notch comfort, flexibility, and warmth. By E3, they mean the third generation Elastomax super stretch neoprene, which has evolved over the years providing increased warm, durability, and flexibility.

I’d have to say I’ve been using my E-Bomb Pro jacket almost every day (yes, I get very cold even in Hawaii with our constant trade winds) and have to say that it keeps me comfortably warm for most of the windy/colder days. The E3 neoprene is pretty close to the way RipCurl describes it…this is probably the best jacket top I’ve tried so far…almost like not having anything on and definitely built better than Xcel’s neoprene jackets. Like most jackets, the E-Bomb Pro comes with a shock cord waist so you can tighten the bottom of the jacket to lock in heat and keep you warmer. This particular cord can also attach to your board shorts as these jackets can get ripped off you in bigger more powerful surf…I’ve personally haven’t attached them to my shorts yet.

The only downside to my E-Bomb jacket is the store clerk suggested I buy a medium though I normally wear a small. Not sure if it’s because I have wide shoulders but the E-Bomb Pro fits well on my torso but the sleeves are too long…I guess that’s better than having a tight fitting jacket around your arm pits. Also on very cold north wind days in Hawaii, this jacket could probably use an extra mm for added warmth…I’ve taken this out on those super cold Hawaii days and frozen my butt off in the E-Bomb though I think I need to get a 2mm jacket or spring suit for those types of days.

Matuse makes some great looking wetsuits and jackets…their all black Japanese rubber kinda makes you look stealth and dangerous. The Philo jacket looks so good on you that other surfers will assume you’re a ripper (just don’t catch a wave if you don’t). Besides looking good, these wetsuit tops also do a very good job of keeping you warm (Hawaii gets cold on occassion especially when we have blustery North winds during winter and spring) and the Japanese rubber blocks most of the wind from getting through.

The only downside to these 1mm wetsuit tops is they’re sized extremely small and the rubber is really tight and not too flexible around the shoulders and arm pits. I made the mistake of buying one way to small (unfortunately I got bad advice from the surf shop I bought it from) and ended up buying one two sizes too small! Yeah, I’m an idiot, I know 🙂 Even though the suit is tight, the rubber is so restrictive that by the time I made it out into the lineup I was completely gassed and I’d stay fatigued throughout the entire session.

Last year in the spring of 2009 we had a month of unsually cold weather here in Hawaii. It was so cold that I almost broke down and bought a spring suit but alas I opted for the more manly option of a 1mm jacket top. Surfing during in this cold weather became a toss up of freezing my butt off or being warm but fatigued from the tight rubber. In the end, I decided to try the Rip Curl eBomb 3 jacket (1mm) as I just couldn’t take how fatigued my arms and shoulders would become after using the Philo jacket. The eBomb doesn’t keep me as warm as the Philo but I rather sacrifice comfort for performance and the eBomb 3 is the stretchiest jacket I’ve used yet. I haven’t tried Matuse’s wetsuits but if they’re built like their Philo model expect extreme difficulty paddling.