Cardiff BSAC Forums

The choice of what underwear a lady should wear under her dry-suit is one that has interested the male diver since he discovered diving, but this little article is aimed at the lady diver, so chaps you will have to read it discreetly… like Cosmopolitan!

First, swimming costumes, why wear a swimming costume? – You are not going to get wet, so why wear one? Or at least you should be thinking positively about staying dry in your dry suit!
For a one-piece swimming costume the main down side is the practicalities. For example, how do you discreetly pee over the back of the RIB with your butt’ and your boobs exposed while hanging desperately onto both the sleeves of your undersuit and the A frame? There is an argument in favour of swimming costumes for car park dressing, but don’t arrive at the site in underwear and then have to change into ‘swimmers’- unless of course you are a true exhibitionist or naturalist. If you really have a lycra fetish you could wear a 2 piece bikini, if you have the figure to own one, but a tankini is best (read the section on bras below) Anyway, lets move away from the defeatist swimming costume attitude and on to real underwear.

The pretty lacy stuff is fine for normal wear but it just gets ruined under a drysuit. I can find no scientific explanation as to why lace should disintegrate so quickly under pressure, so it must be something to do with the
gas absorption in a restricted area. Opt for simple hardwearing cotton underwear.
To G or not to G? There are those who are fans (my husband included!), but again lets talk about exposure and changing in the car park, if you have one of those all over tans then go for it, but for most of us mortal lady divers the derrière is something for the bedroom not the car park – full undies is a must! The M&S black cotton ones I have found the best, comfy, discreet, full coverage and minimal wedgy factor. Yes, a wedgy (aka ‘taking in the washing’) is nearly impossible to correct once you have your dry suit on, so another factor to consider.

And onto bras. All the above points of minimum lace and maximum coverage apply, but the main ‘don’t’ is boned bras, especially if you have a centre inflate, or the suit is bulky under the arms. Under pressure the bones have a tendency to deform and poke out in odd directions, and there is not yet a diving incident category for being impaled on a bra. The best bras I have found are the sports bras or aerobics sports tops, discreet and comfy, doing what they are designed for… sports, and diving loosely fits into this category for most of us.

So here ends my short bit of wisdom on a topic dear to my husbands’ heart - underwear! Comfy M&S cotton undies and sports tops from now on ladies. The chaps can give up guessing what underwear the girls are wearing under their clothes and go back to checking out the brass instead of bras