Roda
- Type:
- shipwreck, freighter, England
- Built:
- 1897, England
- Specs:
- ( 315 x 44 ft ) 2516 gross tons
- Sunk:
- Thursday February 3, 1908
ran aground in heavy fog - no casualties - Depth:
- 20 ft
debris field, bow, stern, boiler
The heavyweight cold-water wetsuit is probably responsible for the premature demise of more nascent diving careers than any other factor. These awful things are simply uncomfortable and ineffective. For all the stiffness, squeezing, bulk, and extra weight of 5-7mm wetsuit, in the end, it really doesn't keep you warm, and most cold-water wetsuit divers are pretty miserable creatures. I have seen the constriction and topside overheating of one of these things make its poor wearer sick on dry land, never mind on a boat out at sea.
For an excellent guide to drysuit use, pick up a copy of DUI's drysuit owner's manual, available at most dealers for under $10.
The argument that heavy cold-water wetsuits are easier to use is patently false. A wetsuit has a mind of its own and will make wide depth-dependant swings in buoyancy over which the wearer has no control. How is that better than a drysuit, which the user can consciously trim for constant buoyancy during the descent, and which semi-automatically trims itself during ascent?
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