The Day The Earth Stood Still... The Day I Picked Up My New Dry Suit ~ For Ace! ;)
Saturday, November 24th, 2007 ~
Well.. the news was good.. my suit had finally arrived at the shop. I tried to contain my excitement, as I still had to face the hard part... making sure it fit. Myself, Steve, and Francois left Ottawa with bright sunshine, a ton of snow on the ground, and a one way ticket to Kingston! By the time we made it to Brockville, the sun had disappeared behind a very grey sky, and a freakin' snow blizzard! We finally pulled up to Northern Tech Diver, where there wasn't much snow on the ground at all, just grey skies.
We went inside, and there was this bright yellow halo surrounding a box on the floor. The name on it read, "DUI." I immediately made my way to it, as if it were calling my name. I still tried to contain my excitement... it still had to fit.. it still had to fit...
One foot...oo... good fit on the turbos... two feet...oo.. nice! Pulled it up... legs perfect... We had to cut the wrist seals in order for me to get my hands through, and were grimmacing with every cut.... one hand in.. second hand in... Omg... this is going too well....
Ok.. have to trim neck seal a bit... sweat is pouring off of all of us.. Me, because I was wearing 4th Element Arctic undies with a drysuit on, Steve and Francois, because they were snipping my seals (and were under serious pressure to get it right :p ), and Vinnie, because.. well.. because he is nice and he cares about us. :cool:
Ok, my head is through.. perfect trim! Now for the zipper... Holy smoke.. did they glue it down? We got it done up.. and OMFG.... perfect perfect perfect perfect... I was so freakin' happy, I didn't even know what to say... :D
Next step was to figure out if my fins would still fit me. My previous suit had giant, funky rubber boots, and I was now in some sexy, slim turbo soles. OO.. they were a bit big... We shortened the springs, and they seemed good to go!
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Now we had to go diving.. I had to give this puppy a test drive! We hit the road for Rockport ~ the same dive that Carm and I had done last Sunday. It is a nice, easy shore dive, and we can get a little bit of depth, for me to test out my suit. I was really wanting to make sure that I could use the dump valve. My previous suit had a cuff dump, and my new one has a shoulder dump.
We entered the water as it was getting dark, I put on my fins.. which felt really loose around my feet. I could wiggle my feet around inside them! Ok.. it's just a bit different, let's see how it goes... I could reach my valves easily, stretch out.. omg.. this suit just feels amazing..
Out we go.. tons of fish, crayfish, mud puppies... life everywhere... Holy smoke... I am in freakin' heaven. My suit just feels like the shizzle on the nizzle. We made our way out to some wreckage, that lays in about 60', and I was getting a bit chilled, so we turned around. I think I had a grin on my face about a mile wide. Ok.. now to worry about the dump...I was wondering if I was doing it right, as I was not hearing the air come out of the valve. My other suit has a cuff dump, and now I was being introduced to a shoulder dump. Apparently I was, as I wasn't getting any air floating around inside. To compensate though, just in case, I dumped a little bit more air than usual from my wing, just to be on the safe side.
Bottom Time ~ 47 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 63'
Water Temp. ~ 45
Vis. ~ Well.. as far as our lights would shine ~ Very clear
My feet did get cold on this dive. The big rubber boots on the old suit were "funky," but did keep my feet warm. Diving all winter long last year, I never once had cold feet. I was wearing the same thing I always wear on my feet (small white socks with fleece MEC socks over top), but it's not going to cut it with the turbos. Since there is quite alot of room in the tubo sole sock, I think I'm going to head out to Dive Tech in the morning, to pick up the 400g DUI booties. It will take care of the chilly toes as well as take up the space in the turbos.
Wow... I am in serious DUI heaven tonight, and can't wait to get my butt in the water tomorrow!! Wooooooooooooooo hoooooooooooooooooo!!!
