July 1999

John Bantin has been a full-time professional diving writer and underwater photographer since 1990. He makes around 300 dives each year testing diving equipment.

Pioneering the Buddy way

• Pioneering the Buddy way - Buddy Pioneer BC
• Who's waffling now? - Mares Rapida fins
• Long name, long fins - Mares Plana Avanti Quattro Power fins
• Less blow, more show - C-Kit LV-SMB
• Get dressy with Cressi - Cressi Summer wet suit

German divers have recently discovered a new and exciting piece of equipment. It is a 400ml cylinder of air that is attached to the BC and allows a diver to inflate the BC even if his main cylinder is empty.
Club divers might recognise this as that good old favourite, the ABLJ cylinder. German divers think it is something new on the market because AP Valves has expanded operations into Europe, beginning with Germany, and German divers are taking to Buddy BCs like... well, like ducks to water! And in line with its philosophy of always having someone knowledgeable answering queries on the end of the phone, AP Valves has employed German-speaking staff at its factory in Helston, Cornwall.
In the meantime, it has refreshed the Buddy range in the UK with the introduction of new models of its classic designs. I was sent the Buddy Pioneer to try.
Now I must own up to the fact that the conventional Buddy BCs have never been my favourites, unlike the Buddy Trident wing. My aversion - which is no secret to AP Valves - is to the over-engineered approach, the appearance and weight. It is probably because of my reservations that I received a four-page fax carefully detailing the merits of the Pioneer!
These include the twin-bag construction, the tough 1100 denier fabric of the outer bag and the patented studded-cell buoyancy chambers which, it is claimed, give better under-water manoeuvrability.
Then there is the emergency air cylinder, operated by a front-mounted tap which has PTFE compounded into its valve-seat for smooth operation, and the Auto Air combined alternate air source and inflator valve, which will either take air from the diver's main cylinder or automatically from the interior of the jacket if none is available elsewhere.
The Pioneer comes with a single cam-band which I chose to swap for Buddy twinning bands so that I could use it with twin cylinders. There is certainly sufficient maximum buoyancy for this.
The waist strap is similar to the 5cm webbing of a weightbelt. There is also the option of a cummerbund.
A long time ago AP Valves responded admirably to my criticism that the knobs on its BC dump valves (right shoulder and lower back) were too floaty. It now supplies negatively buoyant knobs. See, someone listens to me! These are in high-visibility grey and the valves also function as over-pressure relief valves.
A departure from normal Buddy design is to include a dump valve at the left shoulder too. This is operated on the Pioneer by pulling on the corrugated hose.
Other features include the unique valve-protectors - hidden away under every fitting, and very effective in preventing damage to the material of the buoyancy chamber - Velcro-covered hose clips and runners, and reusable inflator-hose fittings.
These last allow you to customise your direct-feed hose. If you want to shorten a hose you simply unscrew the end, cut the hose to the right length, and screw it back again.
The list goes on: reusable corrugated-hose couplings, quick-release buckles on the shoulder straps - which you need to operate with opposite hands - integrated SMB pouch, zippered pockets with internal D-rings and draining gussets, two big stainless-steel D-rings at the front, a net-cutter with a large toggle in its own rapid-release pocket, and a colour scheme which includes high-visibility reflective strips, and main colours which don't include those used by the men who do motorway maintenance!
There is also an all-black technical version (TD) with more stainless-steel D-rings. And every Buddy comes with a first-buyer lifetime guarantee.
So what did I think of it?
The ubiquitous Buddy jacket reminds me in some ways of the Volkswagen Beetle. It is extremely well made, reliable, and ideal for every diver - so long as it isn't me!
A bullet-proof jacket on a Heathrow policeman might not look good or comfortable, but it is worn for a reason. And that is how I feel about the Buddy Pioneer; there is no doubt that it does its job, but it doesn't become part of me when I wear it. You may well think differently. A lot of British, and other European, Buddy customers will.
The Pioneer, with the spec as tested, costs £392 in sizes S, M and L and £416 for XL. It comes in black with navy blue, graphite or burnt orange trimmings.

AP Valves 01326 561040

PLUS	MINUS
+ Renowned Buddy quality + Full of features + Auxiliary cylinder + Bags of lift	- Not very stylish or comfortable

Who's waffling now?
Waffling? It will take more than a snazzy new-design fin from Mares to stop me! But "waffling" is said to be reduced with the use of the new, bottom-of-the-price-range Rapida fins.
The Plana Avanti, followed by the even better Plana Avanti Quattro fin, has continued to put Mares at the top of the performance league. And I can say that, worldwide, more instructors and dive guides seem to be using them than any others. However, they are also at the premium end of the price league.
The Rapida is the result of a radical rethink to come up with something that is much cheaper but looks as high-tech and performance-promising as its more expensive stable-mates.
Two thermo-plastic compounds - one hard, one soft - are combined to put a flat slab of plastic on the end of a soft foot-pocket. The blade continues the line of the upper part of the foot. What could be simpler?
The Mares quick-release buckles, or what it likes to call "ABS" (Adjustable Binding System), see to it that the fins are easily tightened or removed by way of a cammed locking system.
In the water, however, they were something of a let-down. Jan Ellingsen, Red Sea pioneer diver, thought they felt as if they hinged at the point of the toe. "These are useless," he said. "I don't go anywhere! It's like having two lumps of plywood attached to your feet."
Rose Evans, a dive guide from Emperor Divers, said she thought they were "very disappointing - not nice at all".
No spooning effect. No elasticated flick to speak of. What more can I say? You see? No waffling! And that's notbecause they left me speechless!
Mares Rapida fins come in sizes small and regular, and in blue, light blue or pink. Price 40.

Blandford Sub-Aqua 01923 801572

PLUS	MINUS
+ Low-cost Mares fin	- Disappointing performance

Long name, long fins
Remember when British car manufacturers began to add suffixes to the names of their models? The TR4 became the Triumph TR4 PI IRS. PI stood for petrol injection and IRS stood for independent rear suspension! Ford was just as bad. It came up with the Granada Scorpio with an added Ghia (the name of the stylist) and Chasseur to indicate that it was an estate car - for those who hadn't noticed the extra half-ton of metal at the back.
The Italians, however, were quite happy with simply giving their cars girls' names like Giulietta.
But it seems that this foolishness is reaching Italy after all. First we had Mares Plana Avantis, then Plana Avanti Quattros. Now there are the new Mares Plana Avanti Quattro Power fins!
Imagine the scene on a busy dive boat.
"Which are your fins?"
Are you really going to say: "Those Mares Plana Avanti Quattro Power fins over there, please"?
No. You'll say: "Mine are the blue ones!" Then again, as they are over 75cm long, you'll probably say: "The big blue ones"!
In a response to the sudden increased interest in free-diving in Britain, Mares has decided that we are now a ready market for these fins, which until recently have been seen gracing (not the best choice of expression) the feet only of continental exponents of that activity.
I put on a pair to try with scuba gear and wondered if my spindly legs would get any real advantage from them. They really suit the legs of those with short, powerful thighs.
My buddy commented that as I was already 2m long in the water, adding almost another metre just seemed to mean there was a lot less room for him in the sea!
I set off at a leisurely pace. He trailed behind with ordinary fins.
A lot younger, smaller and fitter than I am, he would usually have a lot more air left in his tank than I did at the end of a dive.
Not so, once I was equipped with the MPAQPs. He was very irritated at having to work hard to keep up and used a lot more air than me. So they work after all - providing you have enough space to use them!
For those who need to power down quickly on one breath, Mares fin technology is now available for them. Before it was Cressi-sub Rondine Garas or nothing. Now there is a choice. As they always say at the end of French movies - Fin!
Available in sizes small, regular and XL and in a choice of seven different colours. Price 87.

Blandford Sub-Aqua 01923 801572

PLUS	MINUS
+ Big performance for those fit enough to take advantage	- Don't try to get into confined spaces - you might become the object of ridicule among fellow divers!

LESS BLOW, MORE SHOW
We all want one - a sausage which will stand tall and proud, get everyone's attention and yet take very little effort to get fully inflated.
It's easy enough to send up a late-deployment surface marker buoy from 30m. The small puff of air needed to send it on its way will expand four-fold by the time it reaches the surface, fully inflating the sausage.
However, we are all familiar with the dilemma when faced with sending up an SMB from a decompression stop only 6m below the surface. Put enough air in to fill it, and you risk being dragged up past your stop depth before your time is up. Put in only the small amount which will not upset your buoyancy, and you suffer the ignomy of seeing it wilting at the surface or merely popping its head above sea-level - so to speak.
The designer of the C-Kit LV-SMB - LV for low volume - showed me a drawing of a device which was composed of a number of narrow yet interconnecting tubes which needed little air to inflate them, yet the collective effect was a tall column at the surface.
Alas, it can't have made it off the drawing board, because the one sent to me to test was more conventional in its look. And, alas again, it seemed to need just as much inflation as the familiar Buddy late-deployment SMB.
As far as it goes, it works. Fully inflated, the C-Kit LV-SMB measures 140cm tall. It has a constriction at the filling end which makes it ideal for sending up from depth. This stops it falling over at the surface, spilling its air and wandering back down to meet you. It also has a simple valve for oral inflation if you want to use it as a conventional SMB.
It looks different to the Buddy buoy both in shape and colour, so you should be able to differentiate yourself from other divers decompressing on the end of buoy lines nearby. It has a dump valve to help you deflate it once out of the water, and a Velcro strap and stainless-steel ring so that you can roll it up and stow it away nicely.
Price £34.50.

G & H Diving Services 0181 751 3771

PLUS	MINUS
+ Lower volume than some other late-deployment buoys + Different look helps identify a diver	- Volume not as low as we had hoped

Get dressy with Cressi
The sexiest thing at the DEMA dive show in New Orleans earlier this year was the plastic mannequin wearing the summer wetsuit on the Cressi stand. I am sure that many lads from the British diving trade wandered past a few more times than was strictly necessary, so alluring were her curvaceous lines and so far from home were they.
Diving does not absolve Italian women from the need to dress with style, and Italian wetsuits, like Italian clothes, are designed to en-hance and flatter rather than simply function. And who's complaining?
My wife certainly isn't. She has often said that wetsuits are cut by those with no sense of style and she particularly dislikes having her breasts forced together into some neoprene-wrapped, sausage-shaped bundle.
Versace, Armani, Ferretti, Capellino, Mares and Cressi: these are the top Italian names, but only the last two do it for divers.
The Cressi Summer 3mm wetsuit is a one-piece item equipped with a rear-entry zip and zips at cuffs and ankles, and stretchy sections at the knees.
It costs 135 in a range of stock sizes to suit both sexes. My wife thought it was brilliant. Judge the effect for yourself!

Cressi-sub UK 01484 310130

PLUS	MINUS
+ Stylish and sexy	- You need to have the right figure to carry it off!

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Appeared in DIVER - July 1999

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