A Freediver's Christmas Bleg
Posted By Nicolas Danan on 12 December 2005
Santa Claus is coming not with reindeer but Seahorses this year! As a freediver I am hoping I am not going to get the inevitable pen from Aunt Clara. If you are facing the same situation, just point your peeps to this article, as I am about to explore some possibilities for Christmas presents for the direct descendant of the aquatic apes that we are.
I have to say most of these delightful freediver gifts ideas were found at DEMA, the scuba diving trade show that I attended this year. DEMA is becoming more and more a freediving show as well,thanks to Performance Freediving, USAA and of course the ever present and totally omnipotent Deeper Blue crew. Enough of propaganda for now: here come the goodies…
Rubbers, as the Solomons call them “...are one of the most important if not the most important equipment a freediver can own!”[Ed. Note: Ain't never gonna do without !] Wetsuits also happen to be one of the most challenging pieces of equipment to shop for. From Cressi to Picasso even venturing outside of the box with Exceed wetsuits, a young company out of Fort Lauderdale, FL which, by the way, make one really cool-looking suit but one which might not be suited (ouch !) for the competitive sort.
There is also the PFD (Performance Freediving) suit. Martin says “They are great!”. Now, 'tis hard to figure out what to make of that comment since Martin would even manage to break records with a suit made out of cardboard!
Since I don’t have the money and time to test every suit on the market I decided to go with a good friend's advice (don’t we all do that?) backed up by world champions Natalia Molchanova, Carlos Costes,and Tom Siestas. Frenchy that I am, I still have to say the Italians are as good as it gets when it comes to custom suits, from a dress up suit to a wet one. I got in touch with EliosSub in Cattolica, Italia right after DEMA and started a conversation with the secretive, brilliant mind hiding behind Info@eliossub.com. After 10 emails and an inconceivable amount of data exchanged (water temps, PB’s,size,density,depth,color,smooth skin open cell only,nylon or superelastic lining, ….and I spare you the further details) we figured out what would be a long lasting, flexible wetsuit that would be ideal for my kind of diving.
Although smoothskin open cell only is better suited for monofinning (as it is extremely flexible) I went for the superelastic lining, which made the suit less fragile and requires no soap to get in! On the first dive I instantly fell under the Italian spell, this rubber was it! After these years of wandering in “neopreneland” I had found my Holy Grail. No problem stretching my hands over head in proper monofinning position and the suit felt like a second skin in perfect symbiosis with my own body. The no soapinbeforeIgetin [Ed. Note: That's Flemish for "soap in before I get in"] was a definite plus, and since I am not planning to break Carlos’s record anytime soon I'm happy I went for the lining.
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