Check the diving gear: why not forget!

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Check the diving gear… a necessity

February 2019, Didier my buddy buys a semi-dry diving suit to go to Egypt in early March. He takes care to check the diving gear before leaving to forget nothing. His suit is beautiful, brand new and it is a pleasure for him to dive with all week.

Back from the Red Sea, he cleans it, dries it and stocks it since we dive all year round in cold waters with a dry suit. With the exception of trips that are usually done with much less thick diving suits like this one for example.

August 2020, we go down to Marseille. For the occasion, Didier pulls out his suit and, just before leaving, as he likes to check his diving gear, tries the suit “to make sure”.

I’s impossible to put it on (and yet I helped him, but impossible 😱). Immediately, we think that the effect of containment was really severe (unless it was the ruthless reality of the Neoprene). Also, we put this on the negative effects of covid-19 for divers.

In the rush of departure, Didier decides to put his 5mm suit in his suitcase. After all, the water is not that cold in August in Marseille, he says.

The surprising discovery

Back in Belgium two weeks later, intrigued, he decides to check the diving gear and look at his semi-dry suit and observes it carefully .

With amazement, he realizes that the suit is a size L. While his size is very clearly XL. He can’t believe his eyes, check the purchase bill: he did the acquisition of an XL. And then, he remembers well the comfort and simplicity of putting on this suit during his stay in Egypt. Similarly, he thinks that if he can have gain some weight, he can’t have grown up ! However, it’s the question of height (mainly 😁) that looks like a problem.

He then remembers that during this particular trip to the Egyptian waters where I had this incident (you, remember?), there was a very nice German diver who had the same suit as his, just as new as his. What was supposed to happen… Do you understand that? He did not take the time to check his diving equipment well enough when he left Egypt.

Didier left with the nice diver’s suit. And the German diver took over Didier’s.

If you notice a brand new L-size suit on a yard sales, you now know how it got there. And if you see somewhere around the world a very nice German diver floating in his suit you will also know why.

Morality: ~~Better an old suit all torn, but recognizable than a new one that you can confuse~~. It is better to check your diving gear before you put it in your suitcase, even if it is marked in a clearly visible way to avoid confusion.