No Short Cuts
Diving in a wetsuit is all very well but where do you keep all your stuff? There are many of us that just don’t feel comfortable diving without a spare mask, line cutter, SMB and reel, not to mention our wetnotes and the proverbial kitchen sink. But in a wetsuit, where do we keep it so it’s easy to grab but doesn’t get in the way of our gear?
If only we had the pockets of a drysuit on our wetsuit, we hear you cry. So we listened, we designed, we tested, we listened some more, we tested some more and now the fourth element Technical Shorts have landed.
How gutsy are the pockets?
Easy answer – very gutsy. We know you guys like to push our gear to the max, so it’s no good giving you small pockets that don’t drain fully or start coming away at the seams as soon as you load them with a couple of cave arrows. We’ve given a massive amount of attention to the pockets – they’re built to the same design as our Argonaut drysuit pockets, using hardcore Cordura® fabric for durability. Big enough and deep enough to fit all your dive extras including a tightly wrapped bacon sandwich for later if you so wish, the pockets have a strong velcro closure, an inner wetnotes sleeve and bungee loops with the addition of a mesh panel in the bottom to assist fast drainage. And they are fully reinforced, especially at any potential weak spots. These pockets aren’t going anywhere.
I don’t want the crotch ending up round my knees.
No. Neither do we. The shorts are made using hardwearing Supratex (made with recycled polyester) to reinforce the seat and crotch, and a major feature that we’ve added is the wide waistband which we’ve lined with an anti-slip mesh – it hangs on to your wetsuit like a limpet on steroids. The waist itself is adjustable using a low profile buckle which is offset to avoid getting in the way of your releases. And this is where those fast-draining pockets come into their own – it’s so much easier to get in and out of the water when you’re not carrying gallons of the ocean out with you and your shorts are staying firmly where you want them.
They look great but they cost a bit more than the others?
Yep. You got us, they’re not the cheapest shorts out there. But that’s the point and we’re unapologetic about it. We don’t want to make gear that doesn’t last. Cheaper gear that you end up wearing out or throwing out is no good for the environment, no good for the diver and definitely no good for your wallet. Technical shorts have got a lot to put up with (and our testers went pretty mercenary on them), so producing shorts that are hardwearing, rugged and that will stand the test of time has always been the driving force behind getting these Technical Shorts designed, made and out there.
