We used ours last weekend camping at El Capitan Canyon. It was a cold night in the tent and none of us wanted to take the Surf-fur off before getting into our sleeping bags so… we slept in them!

The parkas are everything you’ve claimed of them and will be a standard part of our dive gear in the future.

“I really like the snap features on the Surf-fur water parka. I pictured myself accidentally falling off the boat with your average dive parka on…one with zippers…and it would be pretty hard to take that coat off under water. I would drown. The Surf-fur snaps will just need a good yank and all snaps pop open.”

He continued to purchase one for all of his kids and his wife. Thanks for that interesting new insight on snaps!

“My name is Brad Latimer, I crewed on the M/Y Steve Irwin last year. We got sent a few boxes of Surf-furs from somewhere, when we got the box it had no return address….Anyways, I would just like to thank you for the gift as they kept us warm all through winter and when we went to Antarctica they were super for going out on deck. 

I left the Steve Irwin in Hobart last September and went to Mauritius and picked up the ship Bob Barker there. We took it down to Antarctica to stop the Japanese whaling fleet. We had the most successful campaign ever this year so I was stoked to be a part of that.
But, I also took my Surf-fur with me and all the Bob Barker crew were jealous. It takes at least 15 min to put a mustang suit on and the action could be over before then….” 

 
Thanks again,

Brad Latimer
 

The first one is at Kerguelen Islands while we were hiding out from a storm.

 The second is well down in the Southern Ocean right up the backside of the Nisshin Maru where we stopped them from whaling for weeks.

there are also a few extra in there.

All credits to Brad Latimer/Sea Shepherd

http://blog.wetcatscuba.com/?p=842#more-842

For those of you who dive the Pacific Northwest, or other cool climes, you know that even though you may be warm and cozy during the dive in your heavy undergarments and dry suits, before and after can get chilly.  Also, in the cold or crowded parking lot of the dive site, you may need to don or doff garments to get ready.  There might be no changing facility available or your car may be packed tight with gear making changing clothes a bit tricky. The Surf-fur™, a full length light-weight coat with “Zen Changing Pockets™” (slits inside the pockets) to enable access to the under-layers, may be your answer.

Made by a company called Heatlab, The Surf-fur™ is a mid-calf length coat.  Made of two layers of soft polyester fleece with an inner membrane of  Polytetrafluoroethylene, the coat is advertised as windproof, water-resistant, breathable and warm.  To test these claims, I recently took a Surf-fur™ out for a spin in Egmont, British Columbia, Canada.

We had been assured that the weather at the Strong Water retreat, in Egmont, BC, would be mild and sunny during our four day stay.  Instead we were greeted with cold rain and early spring temps of high 40s to low 50s.  I whipped out my Surf-fur™ and put it on.

It has a row of snaps down the front.  A generous hood.  When all snapped up and hood in place, I was fully protected from the rain.  My dive buddies suggested that we further test the water resistance of the coat by pouring water on the arm (what a bunch of kidders, these guys).  We did and no water got inside.  When it got windy, the coat kept the wind out.  On one dive in particular, I was quite cold after I surfaced.  I put the coat on and was instantly warm.  It really does a great job at providing insulation.

I started to really like my Surf-fur™ and found it hard to part with it on this trip.  It kept me warm and dry when walking to and from the boat.  It provided warmth and protection when walking down to the hot tub at night in my swim suit.  It made a soft seat at dinner.  A cozy blanket at night.  When it was windy, I was warm.  Cold, I was cozy, Rainy, I was dry.  In short, this coat does the job promised.

Although boat coats are normally used in temperate climates by wet suit divers we found that this coat would provide a great hypothermia safety net at any latitude.

A few minor issues

Here are a few minor things that I did not like about the coat:  Not a fan of snaps, but I did see the value of having snaps over zippers for durability.  When the hood was in place and the coat was not snapped at the top, the hood obscured my vision. Be sure to have the top snaps snapped so that you can still see.  When I stuffed things in the pockets, a couple of times they fell through the Zen Changing Pockets to the ground. It is made in China so you need to inspect for defects. We found one Velcro patch that was not sewn properly on a small inner pocket and it pulled off the coat.

I’ll be trying it out on the boat going to and from the dive sites in Palau this fall.  While Palau is MUCH warmer than the Pacific Northwest, a boat coat is recommended on the dive charter because divers can get cold on the moving boat in between dives.  We’ll let you know how the Surf-fur™ handles the tropics.  It performed beautifully in the Northwest and will get a lot of use beyond diving.  We give it a 4.5 our of 5 star rating.

Wanted to touch bases with you regarding the surf-fur you sent me for evaluation.  Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to use it diving yet, but we have certainly given it a good check-out in the snow.  I think you should consider marketing it as an Apres-ski (or in our case Snowshoe) coat as well.  As you can see by the attached pictures, my wife was delightfully warm as me and our friend hopped around trying to stay warm.  As I noted in my initial email to you, that’s pretty unusual for Pearl, so quite the testimonial for the coat in a purpose it wasn’t really intended for.  Pearl also definitely prefers the zipper over snaps (although we have actually never tried one with snaps).  She says that snaps would not only have more opportunity for coming undone inadvertently, but would also provide less wind-proofing.   She was definitely impressed with not only the wind-proofing of the coat, but also its waterproofing (you only need to take a look at the picture of her rolling around in the snow in it ….more than ample testimonial from a true cold blooded person.

Anyway, hope you had a good trip to the Arctic; hopefully we’ll be able to book a dive trip soon to give you some more feedback.  Attached are several pictures that you are free to use as you see fit.

 Thanks

 Bill (and Pearl)

Happy customer

Ps  It also works well as a hot tub robe

Snow Angel

Pps  It would be good to get the weight down a little for packing/travel purposes (those darn baggage fees/limits), if that can be accomplished without impacting performance adversely.