Show and tell: a Soviet drysuit

[David Wilson]

Whenever this forum's threads become somewhat "regulator-heavy", as a "vintage snorkeller" I begin to get an uncontrollable itch to redress the balance with a thread of my own about other vintage diving gear. Anyway, I thought it was time to report back on my research over recent months into Soviet diving equipment, based on studying

• half-a-dozen Russian-language diving books from the 1960s and 1970s purchased via eBay;
• more recent diving literature scanned and published online on the Russian-language Web;
  
• descriptions of diving gear on Russian-language online auction sites such as Avito.

I'll start with a Soviet drysuit, which happens to be a current offering on eBay:

Online research suggests that the suit, known as a "Tegur", was in production from the early 1970s to the demise of the USSR in the early 1990s. The manufacturer sponsored an annual underwater hunting competition in the Bay of Tallinn and according to the firm's literature, the suit was also intended for use in powerboat racing, water skiing and fishing. Russian spearfishing forums as well as books on the subject published in the new millennium indicate that the suit continues to have a following, particularly when it is used during harsh Russian winters. Its advocates are also adept at on-the-spot repairs of punctures in the suit. Cavers and suba divers also appreciated the suit's benefits.

The suit's "Tegur" nickname derives from its first manufacturer, an Estonian company whose main call to fame was its production of toy animals in general and the summer 1980 Olympics Tallinn sailing regatta seal mascot Vigri in particular:

In 1974, "Tegur" merged with another firm to become the "Polymer Production Association." In 1993, six years after celebrating its sixtieth anniversary in 1987, the company produced its last toy animal and drysuit. The company was privatised and its factory closed as Estonia planned a post-Soviet future within the European Union. The Polymer Culture Factory occupied the premises vacated by the Polymer plant workers.

The "Tegur" suit came in a plastic bag with instructions:
1. The suit is intended for motorboat, waterski and fishing enthusiasts.
2. Included with the suit: 1 jacket with hood; 1 pair of trousers; 1 cummerbund; 1 rubber sheet; 1 set of instructions.
3. When putting the suit on, lubricate the insides of the cuffs and skirts with talcum powder or soapy water.
4. Put the trousers on first, turning the skirt back down over the trousers. Then put the jacket on, pulling the jacket skirt over the top of the trouser skirt. Roll both skirts up tightly together, pulling the cummerbund over the top of the finished roll.
5. Vent the suit, using the rubber tube which is glued to the jacket and sealed with a plastic cap.
6. After use, the suit must be washed down in fresh water and dried. Never dry the suit near heating appliances or fold the suit up during storage.
7. Store the suit in a dry place at a temperature between 5 and 25°C, at least 1 metre from heating appliances, and protect it from direct sunlight.
8. Warranty period for suit storage: 6 months from date of manufacture.

Since diving equipment imported from western countries was seldom available or affordable in the Soviet Union, most underwater hunters had little option but to rely on domestically manufactured kit, including the Tegur suit, and on their own do-it-yourself skills to modify and repair it. The suit has provoked a variety of opinions in the Russian-speaking diving community, which lists the following advantages and disadvantages the suit:

Advantages:

• Simple and accessible for new divers
• Durable: can last fifteen years or more
• Easy to dry when flooded
• Easy to locate punctures and to repair them
• Reasonably priced compared to imported suits

Disadvantages:

• Leaky due to seams at hands and face
• Fragile
• Stiff folds form when air squeezed out

Finally, the "Tegur" suit earned a number of additional nicknames, notably the "Tallinn Toad" (probably because of its dark green version). Some Soviet spearfisherman appear to have had only a hazy idea of the suit's provenance, misassigning the locus of production to "Lithuania" and "Riga" (capital of Latvia). Others played safe by referring to it as the "Baltic suit", which is geographically correct.

I'll pause there. Researching this item of Soviet diving gear has been something of a revelation for me as an outside observer of the USSR, which I visited for a couple of weeks in the 1970s. The domestic criticisms of Soviet gear were more outspoken than I had expected and I admired the way that underwater sportsmen in the USSR were prepared to modify gear to suit their individual purposes. Hope this has been of some interest.

 

[Shotmaster]

I don't think it is any worse than our early wetsuits! Hahahah. I bought a kit and built my own as neoprene was not stretchy like it is now and I couldn't afford to buy a custom suit on a teenager budget in the 70's. Suits literally had to be custom made or they were horrible. Part of being a diver was building your own wetsuit, modifying a used one and doing suit maintenance repairs to seams that always seemed to fail or rips and tears. Modern wetsuits are like rhino hide and stretch so we all get a custom fit, how else can a XL guy cram his ass in a Large?

 

[David Wilson]

Thank you for responding, Shotmaster. Yes, the Soviet design certainly resembles American and European drysuits of the 1950s and early 1960s, e.g. the Aquala, which in the early years was available in a waist entry version as well as the more familiar front tunnel entry version.

I find it interesting that some designs may seem short-lived in the West but remain popular in other parts of the world. This phenomenon lends credence to the fact that technology, whether it concerns diving equipment or anything else, isn't always the simple linear globalised process that many scientists and engineers would have us believe, but more of a complex, multifaceted chain of development, coloured by cultural and national differences. I see that as a good thing, giving us all choice when it comes to the availability of gear and enabling us to employ ingenuity to use whatever is available for our own individual purposes rather than follow slavishly what happens to be the "flavour of the month".

 

[Shotmaster]

I have lived in several different countries. They repurpose a lot of things and use what works, usually due to necessity. In contrast, during the end of the Cold War, a Soviet couple escaped and came here, his wife was paralyzed in our grocery stores, she didn't like the complexity of choices available, I quote "in Russia, you want bread you stand in bread line, wait for long time, sometimes run out and you come back in week, in America there 17 kinds of bread no line and shelves full". Culture shock to say the least. We have so many choices it does get confusing. Soviet equipment is made to last for a limited life expectancy on the battlefield, nothing was over engineered just functional. This came from their harsh experiences from the two great wars. Lowest common denominator, as they threw millions of inadequately equipped souls in front of the Germans. Their post war strategy was quantity vs quality, to overwhelm by sheer numbers. We have won all of our wars by superior logistics. Now we have technology and logistics.