DIVE LOG AUSTRALASIA ISSUE 413 AUGUST 25

Sharkskin: Australian made wetsuit technology

I t’s winter time! The last few weeks have been a good time to start using my Sharkskin T2 Chillproof wetsuit. I am closely monitoring how it fares and trying to understand the technology. The water temperature has dropped to 16 to 17 degrees here in Sydney. Every dive day has been windy. Last Saturday, it was a nice sunny day; as usual, a stiff Westerly wind was blowing. I did notice that the surface interval was a lot more comfortable. One of my dive buddies was diving in a wet suit; he told us how cold he was in the surface interval. He even said that he hardly dives in winter because of that. The constant chilly breeze on his wet suit was robbing his body of heat faster than he could rewarm himself. This is where the new Sharkskin technology comes into its own. It has the same thickness and offers all the traditional benefits of the early standard Chillproof material - it is neutrally buoyant, non-compressible and blocks wind on the surface for up to 100% protection from windchill. Sharkskin is not gas filled neoprene so you also need less lead weight to dive. The design of the Sharkskin T2 includes a windproof layer that protects your skin from heat loss due to evaporation. Along with the rapid draining feature of the material and its ‘quick dry ‘feature, it helps to keep you warm. If you really want to understand and fully appreciate how the Sharkskin works, read on! It helps to look at the science of energy loss from warm body. Our bodies lose heat in 3 ways. Firstly, Heat conduction tells us that heat from your body is transferred to the cold water touching your skin. Your body is literally trying to warm up the ocean! Cold water washing over your skin means that as you heat water in contact with your skin and this warm water moves away, another layer of cold water replaces it. Your body the tries to warm the cold water up. You are conducting heat from your body to the water again and again. The second effect is heat loss by convection currents. As the water is warmed it expands slightly and rises up. Cold water rushes in to

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replace the water movement. A convection current is circling cooler water onto your skin. The third way your body loses heat is by Infra Red Radiation. 50% of heat energy is lost as Infra-Red Radiation. Imagine your body is a radiator at 37 degrees sending out heat rays in the form of Infra-Red radiation. If you can stop this radiation, you will stay warmer for longer. What Sharkskin does to combat heat loss. Conduction: Sharkskin works in a way that is similar to the way wetsuits work. How a wetsuit works. When you do your giant stride into the water, you get the initial rush of cold water into your wetsuit. This thin layer of cold water is quickly warmed up. The snug fitting wetsuit traps a thin layer of warm water between the neoprene and your skin once. The theory is that you warm up that tiny bit of water once and it becomes trapped inside the wetsuit. That is why loose-fitting wetsuits are an absolute No No! The warmed-up water sloshes

www.divelog.net.au Sharkskin protects against sunburn and wind chill.

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Dive Log Australasia #413 August‘25