GUE Fundamentals – 20-23rd October 2010

GUE Tech 1 – 25-29th October 2010

Malta is a perfect training location as we head into the Autumn. The water is warm, there is good visability and the logistics are great. There is also the opportunity to extend the visit and do some great wreck diving out there.

If anyone is interested or wants to book a space then please get in touch.

As part of this year’s MD Fest, we will be running GUE demo sessions. A mixture of both dry and wet sessions this gives you an opportunity to meet some of the UK GUE instructors, and ask those burning questions that you might have.

More details can be found on the MD website.

scooter small

So off went my measurements and around 4 weeks later a parcel arrived. Opening the box and the first thing I saw was a Santi Holdall bag. This is a nice touch. Opening the bag and out came the suit. My first thought was that it looked a bit stiff, however when I tried moving the material it felt very flexible. My next thought was suprise at how light the whole thing felt.

Starting at the top of the suit and working down. The first thing we see is the warm neck collar. This is available in Grey or Black, and I think in hindsight I’d have gone with the black. However in an attempt not to have a totally black suit I went with grey. Coming down the suit, I asked for an Apeks inflate and Sitech dump valves. Santi were quite happy to do this. The inflate valve is slightly off center, but close enough that there are no issues with it and the dump valve is pretty much in the perfect place for efficient dumping.

The zip is covered by a zip over cover, which protects the waterproof zip, and the positioning of this makes it easy to close and open without assistance.

Coming down the suit, we come to the telescopic section, This allows more movement while wearing the suit than the traditional design and so allows for a more snug fit without compromising movement. Next we come to the pockets. These are awesome. Nice and big, they have 2 bungees sewn into each pocket and the right pocket has a small zip section in the flap.

Further down we get to the boots. These are the best footwear that I’ve seen on a Drysuit. Santi call them Flexsoles, these are a compressed neoprene boot with a rubber sole. However unlike the DUI turbo sole, the flexsole is fully moulded and so should survive the rigors of diving better.

Finally I should mention the overall quality of the suit. The whole thing looks smart and well made. The material is light, flexible but gives the impression that it should be tough.  And on top of all this, Santi have a 3 year warranty on the whole suit (excluding zip – 12 months and seals – 6 months)

The Santi ELite is available now and costs £1600 Made to Measure.

First Impressions:

The HDVT16 is based on the SUEX Xjoy14 scooter (which we have 1 off here as well) but with a few bits and pieces added. Firstly, the Halcyon comes as standard with the 3-blade proplock (which allows the whole prop assembly to be removed underwater without using any tools) and a custom halcyon version of the N-Handle. Both of these can be fitted to the Suex, however the Halcyon has a couple of things that can’t be fitted to a Suex Xjoy 14. First of these is the cave over-ride. This is a bypass switch that connects the battery to the motor without the electronics. While not necessarily needed for Openwater diving this is a very nice addition for Cave diving. The other thing that is different is that the Halcyon has an aluminium body instead of the plastic body of the Suex. This gives the Halcyon scooter a deeper rating that the equivilent Suex. One other little touch that I think is great is that Halcyon have fitted a little drip tray into the tube. When you take the nose cone off, there are always a few drops of water that make it into the bottom of the tube. The Halcyon drip tray stops these making there way too far into the scooter.

In addition to all of this, there is everything we have learnt to expect from a SUEX scooter. It comes charged, weighted and ready to dive, all you have to do is fit a tow leash.

The Halcyon HDVT16 scooter costs £3900, and is available now.

If anyone wants to have a go with either the Halcyon or Suex scooters then please get in touch. Watch this space for Photos.