[Whitey]

If you are going to wear only a wet suit, then the most important thing is that it has a "skin" on it so that it blocks the wind.

Wet suits are designed to provide warmth while in the water by trapping a layer of water aginst your body. Your body heats that layer up and you move around in the water with that layer of warm water keeping you nice and cozy (as long as you remain in the water).

We on the otherhand get water in our suit then stand up on a board let the warm layer of water drain out, then speed thru the cold wind. The cooling effect of the wind on the wet neoprene sucks the heat from your body.

You can more than double the effect of any wet suit (out of the water) by wearing a loose fitting wind blocking jacket over it.

The real question is "what is required to keep you alive if you are stuck in the water for an extended period of time".

Overall comfort with maximum flexibility is acheived by going as thin on the neoprene as possible.

My advise, buy a thinner suit take the cost difference from the thicker suit and buy a quality wind blocking jacket with it, to wear over the wetsuit. Then you have options based upon how cold it is. Jacket only, wetsuit only, wetsuit and jacket together.