WETSUIT SEAC-SUB BODYFIT

NOW THAT I'VE WRITTEN AN ARTICLE about how to be stylish (The Stylish Diver, August), I have to be a bit careful in my choice of suits, or I might find myself hoist with my own petard.
I hasten to add that I don't often get to choose the suits I wear - I just try to wear those most appropriate for the prevailing conditions.
July in Egypt should be hot. The water tends to stay the same all summer, but wearing a suit too thick at the surface can be something of a trial.
The Seac-sub Bodyfit wetsuit is available in 1.5mm- and 3mm-thickness Neoprene, and although I didn't expect the water to be warm enough for the thinner suit, the 3mm version seemed ideal.
One can usually rely on the Italians to provide a stylish design. By way of illustration, I was recently waiting for a flight back from Ibiza to the UK, and two planes boarded at the same gate before mine. The first was to Germany, and I could say that the people looked smartly dressed if functional, whereas the Italians on their way back to their homeland looked amazing. Most of the Brits queuing last looked more like characters from Viz. Sad but true.
Like so many suits now made of super flexible Neoprene, the Bodyfit will cling to your form and reveal what it touches.
What it touches is down to you. I used to have a six-pack, but I drank it. I may have needed help to do up the zip at the back, but I blamed that on the suit being a little tight rather than me not being flexible enough. It soon loosened up after a few dives.
After a week's diving in the Red Sea there was no sign of any of the stitching of the seams becoming unravelled. That's a good sign. Don't kid yourself that this suit was made by a skilled Italian tailor. It comes from the same suit-mine in China as almost every other wetsuit made.
The "toroidal" rings, large O-rings enclosed in shiny Smoothskin at wrists and ankles, help to stop water flushing through and, although I probably could have done with one larger size, I managed to climb in and out of the suit reasonably easily. So how does it look? That's for you to judge!

COMPARABLE SUITS TO CONSIDER:
Fourth Element Proteus 3, £159
Cressi Summer, £170
O'Neill 3000X 3, £100

SPECS
PRICE £85
THICKNESS 1.5 or 3mm
SIZES XS, S, M, L, XL
CONTACT www.blandfordsubaqua.co.uk
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