KITTED-UP
3 . The wetsuit
Now that divers were spending longer in the water , they needed some sort of exposure protection . The early days of British diving consisted of the River Dart , a woolly rugby shirt and a generous dollop of “ just get on with it ”, but in the colder UK waters , something else was needed . Early amateur divers would buy army surplus long underwear , stretch it on a wooden frame , then soak it in rubber solution to produce a waterproof suit that rolled together at the waist .
The invention of closed-cell neoprene provided an alternative . The amateur enthusiast could still make their own using a load of glue , sheet neoprene and paper patterns , but commercial companies started to manufacture ranges of wetsuits to fit all sizes . The first suits weren ’ t lined and were tricky to get into and easy to damage , then nylon lined neoprene arrived making it stronger and easier to don .
Using the water itself as a warm layer next to the body with an insulating layer of bubbly neoprene over the top allowed exploration even in the iciest of places , once the initial shock of jumping in and waiting for the water to work its way into sensitive areas had been overcome .
Sean Connery ’ s orange shortie in Thunderball
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