Speardiver 7mm wetsuit vs. freezing water...

Being an island boy... diving in Northern California is brutal.
Water temperatures range from 45-55 degrees YEAR ROUND!!! :@

I'm a wuss when it comes to the cold, so I take my wetsuits very seriously. Curious about the new Pursuit suits, I sent a quick PM to Dan. Before long, a prototype Pusuit 7mm wetsuit had arrived at my doorstep!

First impression - nice suit. Pattern is a bit more olive than I expected. Not a negative in the least, just a random observation. The camo is abstract and a good distribution of light/dark values. Wetsuit panel cuts are ergonomic and construction appears to be solid. Love the knee & elbow pads... I'm hard on my gear & the knees are the first place wear shows. Neoprene looks good, but most open cell suits are made of good material nowadays, so ocean-use will be the real test.

Like any gear whore... I had to try it on.

The weekend arrived and I met up with a buddy to hit Big Sur. A beautiful stretch of remote coastline just south of Monterey, Big Sur is a stark contrast to the hustle & bustle of Silicon Valley. Upon arriving, we decided to try a new shorediving entry.

Kicking out with a bodyboard float, we worked various reefs and pinnacles. The visibility ranged from 20-30ft. The water temperature... a brain-freezing 47 degrees! :crazy:

Despite the freezing cold, the fish were still around. Small herds of female sheephead circled curiously. Schools of blue rockfish clouded the mid-water column while perch milled near the bottom. With a wide assortment of game around, I took my time to explore the grounds thoroughly.

A couple lingcod were found deep in cracks and carefully extracted from their respective caves. A surprisingly skittish vermillion rockfish played hide & seek with me... but half a dozen dives later, it made a fatal mistake. Despite the smaller female sheephead being friendly, a male sheephead lurked in the distance and wouldn't come close. Breathing up & tucking up under an outcropping, I lowered my head and waited until the male sheephead's curiosity got the better of him. Slowly lifting my gun, I put it to sleep. Gutted the fish in the water & snapped a couple pics.

On the way in, I found a shallow fishy spot. A few quick dives and I finished off the stringer with a pair of olive rockfish. Here's a short vid of the last fish of the day. Was just doing a short dive with camera to check out the schooling perch & the fish surprised me. Had to settle for the safe gillplate shot.

http://vimeo.com/11644554

When we got to shore, I realized that I had spent over 8 hours in the 47degree water! Lots of exploring, a bit of shooting, & some photo/video work... definitely one of my longer shoredives. I did get a bit cold, but I can guarantee that if I was using my 7mm Picasso Ghost... I would've been out of the water in half the time. The Pursuit prototype suit worked great & from a features/fit/construction standpoint... I'd say it's in the top 10percentile of open cell suits I've used.

Quote from Alan

very nice fuzz

the sheepshead looks very similar to hogfish we have here?? In the way that the male and female are different. and the fact that they are all born females and eventually convert to
males as they get older.

I know they are the same wrasse family?

You're right - they're like your hogfish & do convert from females to males. Typically there's an alpha male with a harem of females in a small area. If the male is taken, one of the females will turn male. Very similar to parrotfish - in Hawaii, we have whiptail parrotfish that frequently travel in small herds... with a male & several females. To confuse things more, we have a species of Mexican hogfish down in Baja too... that looks absolutely nothing like your hogfish... & does the sex change/harem too.

Ironically, sheephead are plentiful in southern California, but I've never taken a sheephead in any of my dives down there over the years. My trips to Socal have always been with a purpose, and focused on WSB, YT, and/or bugs.*

Up here in northern California, sheephead are more of a challenge to find and hunt. Being the northern limit of their geographical range, sheephead are only found in very isolated pockets. When I dive an area where they do reside, I limit myself to one male per day; a nice addition to our standard game. Probably only take 2 or3 a year.

In contrast to Florida hogfish which are highly regarded food-fish... sheephead meet mixed reviews. I don't particularly care for them in traditional cooking styles - frying, steaming, or baking. However, I do enjoy the larger ones as ceviche, smoked, or as fishcakes.

* I did shoot one male sheephead for Nationals.

Quote from Gobig

Nice review, thanks! How would you guess the durability of the suit?

Being a wuss, and an avid shorediver, my main concerns are always warmth and durability. I'm willing to give up a little comfort as long as the suits last, and are warm. The super stretchy, poorly stitched suits are not for me.

Also, price? This is the last season I'll be wearing my 7mil and probably this summer will be purchasing another for next season.

thanks for the input

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I'm not qualified to comment on the durability since I've just started testing on it, so I'll defer to Hau who has put the most water time on this suit by far.

As far as my initial impressions... it appears to be a solid suit. Only time will tell, but the elbow/forearm & knee/shin reinforcements are key in rock-based dive combat.