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Canada's deepest woman in CWTB, Sheena McNally, reveals what's in her dive bag. Curious to see what she uses? Check out her preferred weapons of choice.
So first thing, this snorkel is one of the most simple snorkels, you can get. I've actually had it for about four or five years and somehow I haven't lost it yet, so I'm just gonna keep using that un until I lose it. If you're choosing a snorkel for freediving, simple is better, simple J shape, no purge valve, nothing fancy. In the end, this thing has served me well and it's going to continue to do so.
I've got a lanyard! I like the Octopus lanyards, they have a nice small velcro cuff, which is good for my little baby size wrists, carabiner, quick release, this one's brand spanking new, so I'll be trying that out for the first time today. That's to keep me attached to the dive line which is mandatory in competition, also essential for safety, when you're training hopefully never have to actually use it, but it's nice to have.
My mask, in a mask box, because I'm not super careful and I don't want it to get hurt. So I'll show you which one I'm using. Woohoo, I'm using the Omer Sub, but I think it's called Omer Zero. Kinda looks like an evil superhero or a comic book character but I love it. It's a nice low-volume mask, which just means there's a very small air space between the lens and my face. So I'll give you a sneak preview of this fine mask. See, makes me look way cooler than I am. But honestly, the most important thing in picking a good mask is finding one that fits you and the only way to do this is just to try them out, so if you have a buddy that has a mask, take it for a spin, if you don't have the option of trying it in the water, a pretty good test is to try and move all your hair out of the way without using this strap, press the mask against your face and see if it will stick. Don't inhale, because any mask will stick. Do you hear that? Almost any mask will stick if you inhale, but if you can do it without inhaling and you feel that it's creating a good seal, then maybe it's going to work for you. If you're a guy and you have facial hair, probably this won't work for any mask, so I suggest actually just shaving the little top part of your mustache off, and then you'll get a good seal right there. But don't take it from me because I don't have personal experience with that.
Also in my mask box, I have a nose clip, I use this for my deep dives, I love the nose clip, I actually prefer not being able to see, it's too much visual distraction for me. As you can see from this video, I have a big old European style nose, so the one that works for me is the Octopus, the classic, the round one, doesn't matter how you orient this thing, it's gonna shut my nose down and I trust it completely, so I'm gonna keep on using that one. But yeah, it's small and easily lost, so it's gonna live in my mask box, with the mask.
Neck weight, I have a homemade, about three pounds neck weight, made out of a bicycle inner tube, with a nice clip there, which I have taped somewhat decoratively because looking cool is important you know. So I wear about three pounds for most of my deep dives, I don't adjust the weight too much, depending on the discipline, I get really used to this weight and I'm neutrally buoyant at about 12ish meters with it, which for me is perfect, I don't like to be neutrally buoyant much deeper, I don't like to work too hard on the ascent. So this goes around my neck, I prefer that to wear the weight on my waist, I don't like the feel of the weight belt and I think it helps with the streamlining and freefall. So, nice three-pound neck weight.
I've also got a little travel towel, don't even know what brand this is, I bought it years ago and I've had it for like six years and it's still going, so, great. If you can, get one of these, indispensable.
All right, freediving suit. It's inside out right now, I store all of my smooth skin wetsuits like you can see that's actually the outside, I store them inside out, because they're fragile and the lining is much more durable so if it touches something, it's not going to get injured, as I said earlier I'm not very careful, so, trying to avoid injury to my gear. This wetsuit, it's an Elios Sub wetsuit, it's Yamamoto neoprene, it's 1.5 millimeters thick, that's what I prefer for my deep dives. I've got the pants as well. Once upon a time, the whole suit was this color, which I think is called nano metallic gray or something like this, but now after a lot of love and use it's a little bit darker so yeah. It's my trusty freediving wetsuit, I love it. I have another one that I haven't used yet, I'm gonna bust that out in a couple of days, it's also an Elios Sub, tailor-made, 1.5 mm but black. Stoked to try that one out.
Weapons of choice, I've got my Alchemy fins, I'm using the V330s, I am using them in medium-soft stiffness, I know many people prefer soft, like as soft as possible, but I have some pretty substantial legs, so for me is no problem to use the medium-soft. It gives me a little bit more propulsion at the bottom of my deep dives. I'm using the C4-400 foot pocket, which is for me a little bit easier to get into than the 300, even though the 300 is supposed to provide a better, I guess a better experience for deep dives. But I like the 400 and I'm super lucky, the size 38 39, it actually fits my foot like a glove. My foot is actually like a size 40, maybe even 41, but that pocket, once I get my foot in, it's perfect, there's hardly any wiggle room. It's a good pocket if you've got kind of a long, narrow foot, which I do. I love these, they've served me well, we've been on many adventures together, many deep dives, many meters, and I'm excited to keep on training with them here in Roatan.
And that's it, it's all stored in this lovely Alchemy bag, which has some light padding in it, a nice zippered pocket here on the bottom, and a pretty sweet handle on the side, so you can carry it two different ways. I'm gonna be carrying this all down to the boat today, so first session of training here in Roatan, Honduras, looking forward to... oh two more things! Not in my dive bag but I always bring along.
I'm using a Suunto D4F, it's a freedive only gauge, it's actually only rated to 100 meters but, spoiler alert, I have gone deeper with it and it still survives, so that's my trusty gauge. This is about four years old now, which is really good for a gauge considering how many dives I put on it, hopefully, it will keep working for me.
Hydration is super important, I bring a liter of water out with me on the boat, and I usually drink all of it and yeah, a good old Nalgene bottle which I've pimped out with an Alchemy sticker so that it looks cooler. Hope you guys enjoyed seeing which gear I use, what's in my dive bag, and happy diving!