It’ s a time of year when we take stock of our fitness … and Yo-Han Cha is no exception to the mystery of the shrinking drysuit
YO-HANCHA
Time to shape up
It’ s a time of year when we take stock of our fitness … and Yo-Han Cha is no exception to the mystery of the shrinking drysuit
As I approach the first dives of 2026, there are various logistics I need to negotiate. For example, I like to get my regulators serviced during the winter and when I get them back, I then need to find dive buddies who are willing to go diving with me during January and February. There will then come the time, no matter how hard I try not to think about it, when I need to get back into my drysuit.
Drysuits apparently don’ t change shape. Well, they definitely don’ t stretch. However, after a few Christmas Dinners, various cheese boards and perhaps one or two mince pies, my drysuit does appear to shrink. Last year I thought that if my drysuit had shrunk any more I might not have been able to get back into it! So, as I write this, just before Christmas and amid all the gluttony, I’ ve resolved to reduce the impact that the festive season had on my drysuit.
After having panettone for breakfast this morning though, this is admittedly going to be tricky. There is a plan to increase the frequency of my runs throughout the holiday season. This plan sounds
“ I’ ve resolved to reduce the impact that the festive season had on my drysuit”
28 great, especially as I’ m reaching for more chocolate. I also think I know what routes I could take for all these extra runs. I’ ve done some planning while laid out horizontally on the sofa watching Christmas TV. It’ s dark in the evenings, so I’ ve even bought some running lights, which, compared to the torch I’ ve bought for diving recently, are disappointingly dim. I’ ll use them if I can find them. I’ m sure they’ re there somewhere in the pile of Christmas cake and Celebrations.
However, the reality is that I’ m ridiculously full every evening, yet somehow still continuously nibbling on crisps all night( there was humous and other dips to use up). I ended up buying far too much cheese, but it’ s too good to waste. With all this continuous eating and a general lack of movement, I am wondering how I’ m going to reduce my impact on my drysuit for 2026!
Nevertheless, a new drysuit is expensive … so I can’ t let these next few weeks cause me to grow out of my current one! So, to that end, there will be more running in my life. All those wonderful plans made while I’ ve been gorging myself, will have hopefully been enacted. By the time you read this, I’ m hoping that my laziness and gluttony haven’ t won and I can still fit into my drysuit, which I hope will have only shrunk just a little bit. �