As we gear up for the 2026 season, it’ s important to ensure our equipment is fit for purpose. Neil Hope offers some tips and a checklist to help you get on track
KITTED-UP
Under starter’ s orders
As we gear up for the 2026 season, it’ s important to ensure our equipment is fit for purpose. Neil Hope offers some tips and a checklist to help you get on track
With a new season upon us, our fingers are crossed that a summer of great diving lies ahead. However, just as a motor vehicle has its annual MOT, the same level of attention should be given to your diving gear before plunging into the water after any sort of break.
For many divers the winter marks an intermittent period of diving, or for others, a complete shutdown in underwater activity over the colder months. With the winter we’ ve just had, a lot of us have been out of the water for a sustained period. When spring arrives and it’ s time to get wet again, it’ s important to give your gear the once-over before returning to active diving.
Before we start with the kit itself, it’ s crucial that we are physically ready and fit to dive. A long lay-off may have helped recharge the batteries, but physical fitness should have been maintained as a matter of course through regular cardio-vascular exercise. While we carry out an inventory of our equipment, we should also be taking stock of our own physical state.
Exposure protection
A drysuit may have been meticulously checked and packed away for winter but those same checks should be repeated before the first dive of the season, just in case mice or age got to them!
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