Had a chat with an old sat diver last week. Changed how I see dry suits.

I was swapping stories with this guy who did sat work in the North Sea back in the 80s. He told me he had to fix a leaky dry suit valve with a zip tie and a piece of rubber once. Said the suits they used back then were basically glorified trash bags compared to what we have now. It hit different because I spent $2,800 on a new suit last month and I still complain about the neck seal being too tight. Meanwhile this dude was patching holes with duct tape between 100 meter dives. Made me realize how much easier we have it with all these custom fit options. The standards have gone up but so has the gear. Anyone else ever sit down and think about how far the gear has come?

3 comments

3 Comments

rivera.henry1mo ago

Funny how we'll drop three grand on a suit and still find something to bitch about. That old timer probably would have killed for a decent neck seal back in the day. Duct tape and zip ties at a hundred meters, that's some real MacGyver stuff right there. Makes you wonder what modern divers are gonna be laughing at us for in another thirty years.

felix_coleman871mo ago

Hold up, is that really the case with modern divers though? I mean, I see guys in their twenties diving in those fancy heated vests and think they've got it made, but every generation has its own stupid problems. Thirty years from now, someone's probably gonna be hanging on a line in a self-heating suit, complaining about battery life or the zipper failing like we do now. The tech changes but the griping stays the same, you know?

ninaross1mo ago

I mean, my $2,800 suit has a pocket specifically for my phone and I still managed to rip the crotch strap on a boat cleat last week. Future divers are gonna be like "wait, they actually had to put their own dry suits on?