REMEMBER THOSE EARLY JACQUES COUSTEAU movies in which the divers zoomed about and up and down on scooters, oblivious to ascent-rates and pressure differences? Remember them hitching a ride on an unfortunate turtle?
You may also remember those sexy silver suits they sometimes wore. JC always had an eye for appearance. Well, his movies had an effect on a lot of us, or we wouldn't be divers.
The Seemann-sub Titanium Sealskin has this sort of radiant appearance if you wear
it inside-out. It's lined throughout with a polyamide silver sealskin material that
promises a thermal reflective effect similar to one of those metal reflective wraps used by the rescue services.
Because the suit is made from 2mm-thick neoprene, there is little checked weight to account for when travelling, and because it displaces very little water, you need little lead.
When I first saw the picture of this product, I dismissed it as just another wetsuit, and goodness me, we've had a few different ones in these pages over the past months.
Of course, you can't appreciate its lightness from a photograph, and the outward appearance is also dependent on the 'filling'. Wear one of these suits only after some work on those abs and pecs, because this is a close-fitting garment and somewhat unforgiving.
It's a bit like those horrible brightly coloured Lycra suits you see on dumpy tourists in
London. They also seem to get orange-coloured toupees especially for their visit. Who sells them these? I want him to work for me!
If you are wet or sweaty, the Sealskin will tend to cling to you and make it more difficult to slip into than you might expect. A good coating of goose grease may help, but I doubt it.
Luckily, the 2mm neoprene is very flexible and forgiving, so I didn't have to disappear in
a fog of talc. There are long zips at both wrists and ankles to help prevent the unexpected release of expletives, and a Velcro patch at each wrist through which you can feed your computer strap. In this way you can retain it where you want it, and there's no danger of it slipping down to your hand.
I wish I could tell you that I was as warm in this suit as in the 5mm one I wore on alternate
dives, but I can't. However, some of my fellow passengers on Whirlwind in late summer in Egypt were diving in nothing more than 3mm shorties.
I don't have enough epidermal fat to keep me warm in a shortie, and I dislike grazing my legs on bits of wreckage while passing through tight spaces - that's how infections get started.
I believe that this suit would be in its element in truly tropical waters such as those in Indonesia or the southern Caribbean at the height of summer. It's also great when spending long periods in a swimming-pool. |
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THICKNESS 2mm
SIZES Men 48-58, Women 36-44
CONTACT www.seemannsub.de
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