Henderson Hyper Stretch wetsuits I can’t remember how many times I have told people in the last three years that I dive exclusively dry suit when asked what people use around here. My response is typically something like this: “yes we use wetsuits all the time, but I dive dry now.” I have taken for granted the wet suit experience; we’ve all done it, some of us are still doing it. The other day I did it and was reminded of some of the more important aspects of wetsuits. At one point or another we’ve all been around the dive shop watching open water students flailing away, rolling on the ground, tugging, yanking, and wrestling with a wetsuit that was inflexible and stiff. This is the traditional 7mm wetsuit experience. I have been spoiled lately owning a Henderson Hyper Stretch 3mm full length pool suit. Life was simple. But lets back up and tell the whole Henderson story. Two years ago I was contacted by Bob and Evelyn from Pro Dive Henderson. They were going to be in the area and asked to come by and show us the product. I said sure why not ( I see a lot of sales reps, 3-4 times a month trying to sell us stuff ) . Most of the time the I say thanks for stopping by and we file the product catalogue under “G”… there is a lot of junk out there on the market. But Bob showed me a product demo that I’ll never forget, in fact I tell customers about it all the time. He handed me the ankle of a 7mm jump suit, then he took the other ankle and walked to my front door with it ( about 20’) I was like…wow. Immediately I thought of the implications, got a sizing issue?? Not anymore: these wetsuits will fit anyone, any size. No really!! I’ve seen it. I had a customer come in and fall in love with a Henderson full length 7mm suit, problem was they were leaving out of country next day and that suit was NOT her size….she insisted on trying it on and I saidooook sure why not ( I thought to myself there was no way). She came out of the change room with a huge smile on her face proclaiming “IT FITS !! Feels great !! Wow this is really flexible.” I just about fell over. I thought “now I have seen everything”. So the other day I had a private fast track open water course to teach and I wasn’t able to get pool time at Panorama so we used a private outdoor pool that I have access to. I fitted the client with a farmer john and grabbed one of my Oceaner San Juan 7mm suits out of rentals for myself ( leftover from when we used to sell that product). I was reminded quickly of difference between conventional neoprene and Hyperstretch. Yes I flailed, rolling on ground, tugging, yanking, and wrestling. Never again. Damn, I think I pulled something. The other thing I noticed was that there were cold spots because the suit didn’t fit very well. This isn’t always the fault of the suit, mind you, but for anyone out there reading this that has seen what I look like - stereotypical 6’-185lb stock large size person – might not expect me to have difficulty. This suit was like wearing PVC tubing after my Henderson. I felt like the Michelin man or like that guy from Ghost Busters - stay puffed marshmallow man. Henderson is one of the largest manufacturers of wetsuits/neoprene products in the world and have been around for over 30 years. They have a product catalogue that is HUGE. If you have not seen it yet, you should. Go to our dive gear page on this website and check it out. Or just come in to the store and have a look. “Breathe continuously “ Dan Sidney Dive n Surf |