Until I get my darn Zip Seal Dry Gloves sub-forum (neck in neck with the Hog sub-forum, I'm sure) I'll post this here.
I dive in SoCal. That means waters in the mid-to-high 60's in the summer to the low 50's in the winter. Hardly dry glove weather, I'll admit. Until last year I dove with 3mm (now 5mm) wet gloves with the index and thumbs lopped off so I can clip and unclip my long hose reg, can light and SPG, as well as use my wetnotes, etc.
Last September I dove with Uncle Pug and some other SB guys in WA - specifically Puget Sound. I roll up there in my DUI 50/50 and 3mm cut gloves thinking I'm all prepared.
Dive #1 - 51 at the top, 47 at the bottom.
Excuse me? Who left the freezer open?
I've never been in water this temperature. After the initial lip-cracking, face-numbing brain freeze, my hands start to get it bad. By the end of the dive my hands (in my mighty So Cal 3mm cuts) are like blocks of wood. I couldn't even re-clip my light and reg. I sort of clawed my way up the ladder.
Fortunately, one of the guys on the trip was a little green, so I borrowed his 5mm full fingers as he sat out and was mucho bettero the rest of the week.
Fast forward a year - I get Zip Seals put on my DUI this Spring, and last week order the Zip Seal Dry Gloves - and today were the first dives in my new Dry Gloves (AKA Smurf Hands.) No way am I diving in Pug-et Sound in a couple of weeks with my So Cal weenie gloves.
It took me all of about 4 - 5 minutes to install them, on site, sitting on the wall of the Cat Dive Park this afternoon. A little soapy water, and zip, zip, zip... ready to roll.
As I am still want to do, my first dive with them I went in without my DS inflator hose hooked up (I'm such a block head with that thing...) So I drop to about 15 or 20 feet, get a nice suit squeeze AND the hand squeeze (kinda funky) and notice there is no hose. (A month of Warm Water diving has made me soft...)
I attach the hose and over fill, throwing my hands in the air in a "thank you, Jesus" sort of way to try to relieve the hand squeeze...so now I got mickey mouse hands. I vent some gas before I go all Macy's Day and get things back under control. But my first dive with these things sucked. I hated it. I never realized how much I relied on the tactile sensation of water rushing over my bare fingertips to help me determine and interpret speed, direction, an oncoming thermocline, finding stuff in my pockets, etc.
So after that lame dive, I went to lunch, chilled out, and Dive #2 with the gloves was night and day different. It was perfect. I was able to turn on my light, clip and unclip my reg, light head and SPG, push the buttons on my Vytec, reach into the pocket and effortlessly pull out my wetnotes, write a note to my sweetie and dive partner, Jaye (wifie) and just had a kickin' dive.
I'm not gonna say I got them completely dialed in after two dives, but I will say that they are not overly complex. With a little bit of squeeze the dexterity increases. Donning, I put the liners on my hands first, then slide into the attached gloves - makes for a perfect fit every time (well, all both times!)
I didn't feel the UPWD (Uncle Pug Warmth Divident. It goes like this: When he went to dry gloves, his FEET got warmer.... uh, ok) but then again, it was water that was 68 to 55' and then 64 below 55' today. Maybe I'll get that (highly suspect) Ug Boot thing going on up there when I dive these Smurfy things in cold-cold water.
I'll dive them a few more times before I wing it to the PNW (The Pug Northwest) in a few weeks, but I'm confident I'll be much more comfortable up there this year.
eBay rocks. Got a great price, came the next day (for $5.50 total freight) and its likely I'll put away my wrist seals from November to May this winter.
I give the DUI Zip Seal Dry Gloves two enthusiastic fat blue thumbs up.
K
I dive in SoCal. That means waters in the mid-to-high 60's in the summer to the low 50's in the winter. Hardly dry glove weather, I'll admit. Until last year I dove with 3mm (now 5mm) wet gloves with the index and thumbs lopped off so I can clip and unclip my long hose reg, can light and SPG, as well as use my wetnotes, etc.
Last September I dove with Uncle Pug and some other SB guys in WA - specifically Puget Sound. I roll up there in my DUI 50/50 and 3mm cut gloves thinking I'm all prepared.
Dive #1 - 51 at the top, 47 at the bottom.
Excuse me? Who left the freezer open?
I've never been in water this temperature. After the initial lip-cracking, face-numbing brain freeze, my hands start to get it bad. By the end of the dive my hands (in my mighty So Cal 3mm cuts) are like blocks of wood. I couldn't even re-clip my light and reg. I sort of clawed my way up the ladder.
Fortunately, one of the guys on the trip was a little green, so I borrowed his 5mm full fingers as he sat out and was mucho bettero the rest of the week.
Fast forward a year - I get Zip Seals put on my DUI this Spring, and last week order the Zip Seal Dry Gloves - and today were the first dives in my new Dry Gloves (AKA Smurf Hands.) No way am I diving in Pug-et Sound in a couple of weeks with my So Cal weenie gloves.
It took me all of about 4 - 5 minutes to install them, on site, sitting on the wall of the Cat Dive Park this afternoon. A little soapy water, and zip, zip, zip... ready to roll.
As I am still want to do, my first dive with them I went in without my DS inflator hose hooked up (I'm such a block head with that thing...) So I drop to about 15 or 20 feet, get a nice suit squeeze AND the hand squeeze (kinda funky) and notice there is no hose. (A month of Warm Water diving has made me soft...)
I attach the hose and over fill, throwing my hands in the air in a "thank you, Jesus" sort of way to try to relieve the hand squeeze...so now I got mickey mouse hands. I vent some gas before I go all Macy's Day and get things back under control. But my first dive with these things sucked. I hated it. I never realized how much I relied on the tactile sensation of water rushing over my bare fingertips to help me determine and interpret speed, direction, an oncoming thermocline, finding stuff in my pockets, etc.
So after that lame dive, I went to lunch, chilled out, and Dive #2 with the gloves was night and day different. It was perfect. I was able to turn on my light, clip and unclip my reg, light head and SPG, push the buttons on my Vytec, reach into the pocket and effortlessly pull out my wetnotes, write a note to my sweetie and dive partner, Jaye (wifie) and just had a kickin' dive.
I'm not gonna say I got them completely dialed in after two dives, but I will say that they are not overly complex. With a little bit of squeeze the dexterity increases. Donning, I put the liners on my hands first, then slide into the attached gloves - makes for a perfect fit every time (well, all both times!)
I didn't feel the UPWD (Uncle Pug Warmth Divident. It goes like this: When he went to dry gloves, his FEET got warmer.... uh, ok) but then again, it was water that was 68 to 55' and then 64 below 55' today. Maybe I'll get that (highly suspect) Ug Boot thing going on up there when I dive these Smurfy things in cold-cold water.
I'll dive them a few more times before I wing it to the PNW (The Pug Northwest) in a few weeks, but I'm confident I'll be much more comfortable up there this year.
eBay rocks. Got a great price, came the next day (for $5.50 total freight) and its likely I'll put away my wrist seals from November to May this winter.
I give the DUI Zip Seal Dry Gloves two enthusiastic fat blue thumbs up.
K
