Cousteau Wetsuit

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Here are two wetsuits of The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau series.

Best regards
 

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I remember once i had seen a documentary of Cousteau showing the creation of the "new" silver wet suits. Is it available in you tube?
 
I recall hearing the silver suits were painted silver.
 
Also interesting to note that Cousteau would not allow BCs to be worn because he didn’t like the way they looked during filming.
 
My 1st wet suit was a USD 1/4" "seal skin" suit. No nylon, not much stretch to it either. Kept me warm but was a project to don. I used talc to help the donning process.
After that was a USD 1/4" "sharkskin", this one had a nylon lining inside and a textured outside. Then I bought what turned out to be my favorite "old school" wet suit. A orange farmer john style USD 1/4" "taskmaster" it was marketed for commercial divers but was a fine suit for diving the cold waters of NE. I wound up buying another one after out growing out of the 1st one. I was 12 years old when I got my 1st suit and 18 when I bought my 2nd Taskmaster suit.
My 1st stretchy, nylon in and out wet suit was a Parkway 1/4" farmer john style around 1980 something. Still have that one, it's 30+ years old still divable and it still fits.
Between wetsuits, I had 2 Posiden dry suits and 2 Henderson dry suits, all neoprene with nylon in and out.
I also prefer todays wet suits and crushed neoprene dry suit over the suits of the past.
 
Those suits were a nightmare. I had one for a summer season that was given to me by a local diver, at that point it was something like 30-35 years old and still divable.
It actually fit me quite snugly. Every day I would use it for 4-5 hours while spearfishing. The insides of my elbow and knees were raw after every dive, to the point i had trouble sleeping. Quite warm and good for deep dives (I was freediving to 20-30 meters at the time and used very little lead maybe 2 kg). Also puting it on without tearing it up was a adventure, lots of talcum powder and a short haircut were a must.
Modern wet suits are way warmer and comfortable, but not as lasting. Get one that is made from quality neoprene like Yammamoto 45 or Daiwaboo (closed cell preferably, easy to rip but worth the risk) and you will be happy. My current 8 mm is made of Heiwa soft and it was really nice, but 3 dives to 65-70 meters turned it into a permanent 6.5 mm.
 
Also interesting to note that Cousteau would not allow BCs to be worn because he didn’t like the way they looked during filming.
Those were mostly horse collars "BC" back then, not anything like we have now. The first types didn't even have auto inflators, just 1 or 2 CO2 cartridges and an oral inflator.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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