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Real World Diving
The Great British summer is living up to its reputation and it’s tipping it down. I don’t just mean it’s raining, I mean it’s torrential... cats and dogs! Whatever that means!
As an avid UK diver I really couldn’t care less about the weather. I’ll dive whatever, come rain, shine, snow or even ice! Providing it’s safe enough to dive, then I’m in!
But there are some practicalities to being an all year round UK diver. And keeping your clothes dry is just one of them!
I’m a huge fan of Dry Bags. I have several of them, of various sizes, that I use for various things.
I find the Stahlsac range to be particularly robust and practical. They come in a variety of sizes and I have a couple of the 30 litre ones that I use to keep my undersuits in and my every day clothes when I’m in my drysuit get stored in another. This works well as it doesn’t matter where I’m diving or what the weather decides to do... my clothes will be dry at the end of the dive, when I’m likely to be cold and need them the most!
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The practical aspects of diving in mines and caves also means that my clothes are protected from the damp environment and are again kept warm and dry for when I exit the water.
'I hadn’t realised just how useful these dry bags would be until I had them... now I really couldn’t be without them!’
I also use another, smaller version, when diving off the club RHIB. This dry bag I use to keep my essentials in. Car keys being the main thing. I also usually carry a few boiled sweets, some indigestion relief and a couple of antihistamine... just in case. Without fail, most others on the boat then ask to put their keys in the same bag! This is then attached to the boat, in the hope that it won’t then go overboard. But even if it did, it would float!
I also make good use of two large Hollis duffle bags. I use one of them for my pool kit and the other as a travel bag.
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As a pool kit bag it’s absolutely superb. I can fit all of my kit, including fins, inside with ease and I can carry it like a rucksack on my back. Once my pool kit is wet it then keeps all the moisture in the bag and prevents it from going all over the back of my car. I keep an additional plastic bag inside the duffle bag that I put my wetsuit in once it’s used.
For travelling these bags come into their own. I frequently take them all abroad with me.
The Hollis duffle bag is the perfect travelling companion. It’s lightweight and so doesn’t use up any of the valuable weight allowance if flying and it’s big enough to fit all of your dive kit in.
If you combine this with the Stahlsac dry bags then you can put all of your clothes inside those and then keep everything together within the Hollis bag. Making it a lot easier to transport all of your essential kit together.
I hadn’t realised just how useful these dry bags would be until I had them... now I really couldn’t be without them!
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“JUST GET A BAG AND DROP A DREAM IN IT, AND YOU'LL BE SURPRISED WHAT HAPPENS.”
— Charles Nelson Reilly
The quality of the Stahlsac range is remarkable. I have several of these bags now, but I would really like to add theiur flight bag to my collection, as that looks incredible.
I am also a big fan of their waterproof rucksack, I keep all of my base layers in that.