Finding a wetsuit that fits well is often one of the first obstacles women face when first getting into scuba diving -- and frequently remains a challenge even for experienced divers. This is especially true for women who are shorter, and/or curvier or wider than average. When I did my open water certification, I had to dive in a wetsuit that didn't fit well at all, resulting in a much colder, more frustrating experience than it would have been if the dive shop had had some wetsuits with a better sizing system for women divers.
Usually the problem we supposedly "non-standard" women encounter when trying on wetsuits is this: Wetsuits that are large enough to accommodate our curvier areas (read: hips, butt, chest) are way too long in the arms and legs. Wetsuits that are the right length are too small or too straight to fit our curves. This applies to most wetsuits that are designed for women...trying to fit into a men's wetsuit is even worse.
Fortunately, despite the excessive cold brought on by my ill-fitting wetsuit, the beauty and excitement of the underwater world (along with the benefit of a good instructor) outweighed the thermal discomfort enough that by the end of my open water scuba certification, I was hooked on scuba diving anyway. Knowing that I wanted to keep diving for a long time, I set out to find a suit that would actually fit.
I found one. BARE wetsuits makes some of their women's wetsuits available with an alternate sizing, which they indicate with a plus (+) sign. Unlike what we typically see referred to as "plus" sizing in women's apparel (usually meaning size 16 or larger), BARE's poorly named but excellently designed "plus" sizing means something different. Essentially, a BARE wetsuit labeled as size "12+" means that it is around a size 12 in the torso, but the legs and arms are shorter, and I think that the hips and chest area may also be more rounded. They still make women's suits in the "regular" sizes (8, 10, 12, 14, etc.) but for shorter, rounder, less-streamlined women like myself, the 12+ was almost perfect, while their regular 12 would never have worked for me. (As the years went on and my weight increased but my height stayed the same, I later switched to a 14+ suit from BARE, which was also great.)
For those women out there who have the opposite problem (i.e. they are taller than the supposedly "standard" woman's proportions), BARE also makes women's wetsuits in some sizes with a "TALL" designation.
You can take a look at the sizing for BARE's women's wetsuits, and the differences between the regular sizes, the "+" and the "TALL" sizes, here.
Why BARE only makes the "+" fit available for sizes 10, 12 & 14, and why they only make the "TALL" fit available in sizes 8, 10 & 12 is beyond me, considering that they make their wetsuits in standard women's sizing from 4-18. Still, the "+" and "TALL" wetsuits that they do have available represent a great improvement in comfort and fit for many women who dive, without having to go through the additional hassle and expense of ordering a custom wetsuit.
No comments:
Post a Comment