DRYSUIT URSUIT HEAVY LIGHT F7

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE seems to have become the language of the Internet (until the Chinese takeover happens). Despite the dreams of Charles de Gaulle, English has also become the language of Europe. So I found it interesting that the Internet site for Ursuits was all in Finnish. The Google translation to English was an alternative language in itself!
Ursuit drysuits are made in Finland by Ursuk in Turku and, with European manufacturing costs, it demands top dollar when it comes to buying one.
Reminiscent of the once-unique DUI telescopic-torso design, therefore compliant with GUE training, it comes as no surprise to find that these suits are being brought into the UK by the importer of pro-GUE Halcyon, operated by a Finnish woman.
The name chosen for this product is confusing - is it heavy or light? The unique selling point of the Ursuit Heavy Light FZ is that it weighs very little. Provided that you carry enough in the way of an undersuit appropriate to the temperature of the water in which you'll be diving, this counts for a lot with the travelling diver.

Donning
To check that the Ursuit Heavy Light FZ fitted me, I first tried it on in my kitchen, with my wife in attendance. This is a precaution I have taken ever since I had to ask the postman to help me out of a suit that was too tight. He still gives me knowing smiles.
My feet slipped easily into the fitted shoes with their neoprene uppers, and I was able to close the ankle straps so that things were tight.
I pulled the legs on up to the crotch, and adjusted the internal braces.
My wrists felt snug in the parallel wrist-seals, and I was able to pull the shoulders up and pass the conical neck-seal over my head before doing up the diagonal cross-chest zip, all without any help.
I then neatened the look with the top zip, made a tuck in the overlong torso and fastened it in place with the crotch-strap. So what were you doing on that hot Sunday afternoon in May?
The whole thing felt like my original DUI suit from years ago, a design that has been replicated by other drysuit manufacturers since the original international patent ran out.
I immediately added the FZ to my bag for a June trip to Ibiza. It added little more than 2kg to my checked-baggage weight.

Appearance
This now-classic design allows a slightly tailored look to your appearance. Of course, a fat bloke in a Savile Row suit still looks like a fat bloke, but at least in this drysuit you don't look like a fat bloke when you're not! In fact, in an off-the-peg size, it was a little over-capacious for me.
The Latex seals are very efficient at keeping the water out. A Neoprene collar, to both make you look smart and to keep the flow of blood to your brain warm, supplements the neck-seal.
Because the lightweight trilaminate material used has a shiny finish, water seems to collect in beads and fall off quickly once you're out of the water, so avoiding the cooling effect of evaporation.
The suit comes only in black.

Efficacy
The purpose of a membrane-style drysuit is to form a watertight barrier between your insulation, in the form of an undersuit, and the water beyond. Diving in water at a balmy 16°C when at 40m deep, I found that the insulation provided by an O'Three Point-Below-Base (PBB) set was only just adequate.
It's the air within the fibres of the undersuit that does the work of insulating. Because this air is compressed as you go deeper, you start to displace less water and lose buoyancy, so you need to add air as you descend.
If you're clever, your BC becomes redundant to maintaining neutral buoyancy throughout the dive, because you add air to keep the suit volume the same. I should have doubled-up on the layers of PBB. Doh!

In the Water
The rotating Apeks inflation valve is set conveniently to the right side of the chest, so that the inflation hose doesn't need to travel very far. I used a super-flexible Miflex hose.
I needed to be circumspect using the Apeks low-profile dump-valve on the way back up, as it needed to be angled so that no air got trapped in any folds of material. I call it "doing a Roman salute".
The thigh-mounted pockets on each side were sleek enough when empty to offer no resistance to swimming, and were kept closed by large slabs of Velcro.
Needing 12kg of ballast, and reluctant to put any lead high up in the trim-weight pockets of my Buddy Tekwing (because I was using a rather heavy squat steel cylinder and didn't want to spend the dive head-down), I put 2kg each side in the thigh pockets.
This put the additional weight further along my long legs, kept me horizontal, and there was no inclination for these lead blocks to fall out. Most importantly, after the dive I climbed out dry.
This seems an ideal suit for anyone who dives in waters that vary greatly in temperature throughout the season. The Mediterranean is an obvious example, and the Sea of Cortez (Baja California) has the widest range of temperatures I have come across.
I foresee these suits turning up in Egypt during the January-March period, too, if people can afford them.

Comparable drysuits to consider:
Otter Travelite, £820
Whites Fusion, £870
Scubapro Fjord HD, £1000

SPECS
PRICE £1000
MATERIAL Lightweight Trilaminate
INFLATION SYSTEM Apeks
SUPPLIED WITH Bag, hood, hose, talc, zip wax, woolly hat, repair patches
SIZES S, M, L, XL, XXL
CONTACT www.silentplanet.info
DIVER GUIDE