Sonar DiveSkin - Named For Something Truly Special

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhf5_NMR3rU&list=PLnzCczGia3-0zx6OQ67Wh_q0TTHisLG6r&index=2 

Many of you are probably too young to remember the TV show Sea Hunt with Lloyd Bridges.  It was a black & white TV show about scuba diving and all the challenges related to working and finding things underwater. The program started broadcasting in 1959 and continued well thru the late 1960s. I think it was this TV show that got me so interested in scuba diving and the undersea worlds.

I was fascinated by Lloyd Bridges ability to find so many interesting things deep in the ocean and share the water with huge whales and fish of all types.  Starting in 2014, when my partner, Robin Chesnie and I, came up with the idea of creating ways to make it easier to get into and out of  wetsuits, I used to think about how much easier it would have been to film the TV series Sea Hunt using our diveskins.  In 2025, when Opale Ashley presented us with the idea of creating a limited edition DiveSkin called Sonar all those memories of Sea Hunt came flying back into my head.

What will it look like, I asked Ashley?  She kind of giggled and said well I see it in my head as radio waves transmitted and moving through the water.  Just wait she said.  You'll see!

I began to research what Sonar was and I discovered some amazing information.  It became clear to me that it would be a great idea to create something so important to the history of the ocean that people could wear and possibly make their adventures underwater an even more exciting experience.

Historians, Scientists, and Engineers agree that Sonar is considered to be one of the most transformative and consequential invention of the 20th century.  It's name, Sound Navigation and Ranging ( Sonar ) as a device came into existence in 1906.  It was used primarily by the various British and US Navies to stop the German submarines from destroying so many Allied ships as they crossed the Atlantic ocean during WW I  and WWII.  This one invention saved tens of thousands of lives.

Since the end of World War II, Sonar has become humanity's eyes into the underwater world by mapping the contours and details of the ocean floors.  Sonar has helped map the ocean's deepest canyons and impressive underwater mountain ranges.

These remarkable radio waves can locate areas of fish schooling and coral reef hills and valleys giving exacting details of what is out in the water.  This allows fishermen to achieve their end goal.  It allows ship captains to navigate carefully and successfully in questionable and dangerous waters.

Taking an esoteric idea like Sonar waves and turning that idea into something interestingly artistic was the challenge. To make an animate object artistically reflect the feel of moving radio waves was the idea.  Capturing the idea into something that makes the wearer look amazing and excited to become part of the environment is the goal.

Opale Ashley, the artist, produced such a beautiful design for this DiveSkin that when you wear the pattern you can almost feel as though you are the wave moving thru the water. Not only does the Sonar DiveSkin pattern work underwater but it enhances performance art on land. Ashley uses the pattern in many of her presentations.

When under water it's as though you are meant to be there, beneath the ocean's surface.  The Sonar pattern enhances the spirit of adventure that was probably why you wanted to become a diver to begin with.

Now, Sonar has become transformative and consequential again.  It is transforming water wear design by limiting the number of individuals who will ever be seen in this limited edition divesikn to 100 divers. 

The consequence of putting yourself into this sun protective diveskin will be to make you look fabulous and more excited to take part in your water adventures by being one of only 100 people in the world to look this uniquely beautiful.

The whole purpose of Sonar is to find what's out there to be discovered and engage with it.  Now you can do that and look great in the process.  Moving through the water looking fabulous and feeling like you belong is the whole purpose of the Sonar DiveSkin.

The amazing transformation of Sonar continues!