UBUC

Basic Kit

Although the club has all the SCUBA kit you'll need to dive (regulator, cylinder, BCD) you will need to get your own personal kit. Kit Sales are held at various times through the year to enable you to gather all this stuff ready to hit the open water. To find out when they are keep an eye on the mailing list or contact the Committee.

Pool Training

What do I need?

• Wetsuit boots
• Mask and snorkel
• Fins

Where can I get this?

There will be a kit sale organised by the committee at the beginning of the Autumn term before pool training begins. We arrange to put in a bulk order with a local dive shop and can negotiate around a 25% discount off retail prices. After you order, your kit will arrive at Stores a week or so later.

The kit sale is organised to provide an easy way to get all you need in one go, but it's not your only option. You can go to local dive shops direct (there's three in Bristol) and of course there's many a bargain to be found on the internet.

Open Water

As well as the above, for diving in the sea you will need to get a suit. There are a few options:

1. Semi-dry suit

Made from neoprene material, in this suit, like a wetsuit, you do get wet. However the suit is designed to restrict the flow of water through it, slow enough that your body can warm the water up and create a water layer of insulation. It is designed to fit snugly on your body, conforming to your shape without restricting your movement to a huge extent. The semi-dry suit that we recommend is a 7mm 2 piece consisting of a full length long-john style piece and a hooded-jacket over-piece or hooded 'shortie', thus creating 14mm on your torso. Anything less than this, we generally think isn't enough to last more than maybe 20 minutes at the coldest time of the year on a dive which will really make your dive miserable at the end. Prices usually range around £150 and upwards, however we can usually get local dive shops to give us large discounts due to the quantity being purchased and there's always bargains to be had on eBay.

Disadvantages: you do get wet. Typically you might find that you are warmer in the water than out! Once you get out and the water drains out of the suit, or even take the jacket off in-between dives, you have the problem of cold breeze against wet skin. It would be in your best interest to dry yourself as much as possible and put on a wind-breaker or anything that could keep you warm between dives. Loads of people in the club dive in semi-drys out of choice, and even those in dry suits have generally used semi-drys for their first few years of diving.

2. Dry suit

The alternative to a wetsuit is the dry suit that, unsurprisingly, keeps you dry! There is the added complexity of buoyancy in these suits, as they trap a pocket of air that compresses as you descend, but this is a skill that you can learn in the pool and with an instructor in the sea. There are 2 main kinds of dry suit:

1. Neoprene dry suit

Made from the same material as the semi-dry, but doesn't allow any water to flow through. The stitches are all sealed on the inside, the seals (around the neck and wrists) are water tight and it has boots built-in. This suit offers some warmth from the neoprene material and so there are less undergarments required (lots of people just wear thermal leggings and tops underneath).

2. Membrane dry suit.

Again, it doesn't allow any flow of water through the suit with stitches and seals being water tight. This one is made from a very thin durable material. It doesn't allow for any thermal insulation like the neoprene one as it's much thinner. However, it is designed to allow for plenty of undergarments to be worn and most people with this kind of suit where a giant fluffy undersuit to keep them toasty. The material of the suit does allow for more flexibility but will need more underneath to keep you warm. More people in our club have membrane dry suits than neoprene.

For either of these suits, there are many different brands and options in each brand to buy. Prices typically start around £350 new and can go well above £1000 for the very rich! However, there have been some highly successful eBay purchases of dry suits recently for much less, so ask an instructor for advice if you're going that route.

Which to get?

Traditionaly everybody started off in a semi-dry and those who did a lot of diving bought a dry suit after a few years. However, recently more and more of our divers are starting off in second hand dry suits. If you feel cold in the pool and can see yourself doing a lot of UK diving a dry suit is definitely a worthwhile investment. But if you're only going to dive in Summer a dry suit may not be necessary. Also, you can take a semi-dry on holiday, but a dry suit is awkward to travel with and over-kill for tropical seas. A dry suit is also high maintainence, requiring rinsing in fresh water after every trip, new wrist and neck seals when the old ones wear out and has a delicate zip that needs careful looking after.

Renting of semi-drys is possible, typically around £8 a day. If you intend on coming to Porthkerris and staying for the week, that is already £56 which is at least one third the cost of a new suit. If you plan to do any more diving... weekend trips or even the next big trip to Skomer at the end of Summer term... you see where I am going with this!