Lucky 13 for DUI
Posted By admin on April 30, 2009
It was 13 years ago when Susan Long accepted a temporary job working for her dad in the marketing department of the family business. She had worked there while growing up, but vowed that she would never be back. Susan had different plans for her career and scuba diving was not a part of them! Susan’s father, Dick Long told us that Susan left saying, “I don’t want to work for a little company…icky poo, and off she went to work for the Marriott!” YES…Dick Long said “icky poo” it’s a quote! LOL! Now, years later, Susan is the driving force behind the successful drysuit company, Diving Unlimited International (DUI)!
Susan Long
Susan grew up around the ocean and diving!
Susan's childhood transportation!
She had her first wetsuit when she was about 2!
Susan had been certified an open water diver when she was 18. She explains the experience as less than fun….”we sang songs as we kicked out to our dive site to keep from feeling nauseous and when we came in from our dive we had to crawl out, it was not much fun.” Once certified, Susan put diving out of her mind…went to school, and then began her job with the Marriott where she led a successful career.
When Susan turned 27 the Marriott transferred her to New Orleans. It was this year that her dad came to her asking that she accompany them to Bonaire. “Your father is getting old and won’t be around much longer…you should really spend some time with him.” says Dick lovingly manipulating his daughter to go on a family trip. She decided to take off work and met her parents in Bonaire where she dove again for the first time since being certified. Dick explained that on her first dive she immediately went to 110 feet to check out a sand eel! He put his hand on his heart as he told this story and expressed his concern. After this trip Susan said to her dad, “I don’t care where you are going next year, I am going with you!” And so it began…Susan was hooked back in to the diving world, and I am sure her father was smiling from ear to ear!
Susan left her lucrative career as Director of Catering for Marriott Hotels and went to work in Roatan as the General Manager of Half Moon Bay Cabins. After a year in Honduras, Susan talked to her father about her desire to return to the States. He suggested that she come and work for him for a year until she found something in her line of work in the San Diego area. She took him up on the offer and returned to help in the marketing department. Not long after starting, Susan looked around DUI and said to herself “this must go on!” She had come to know the workers and interacted with divers on a regular basis. She realized the dedication the workers had to DUI and what an amazing company her dad had built.
Dedicated DUI Employees
She also found that she really liked people who dive…”they are such great people.” She heard over and over from drysuit owners that nothing effects their diving more than being warm and comfortable under the water…it is what continues to drive her to produce a stellar product but also continue to make improvements!
While working at DUI, Susan began to dive more and more. Still, she considered herself a person who dives and not really a diver. Then something special happened. While diving with a group in British Columbia, her friend Sue showed her all of the little stuff and that was the turning point. Seeing the beauty of the ocean through those little sea anemones, she became a diver! From that point forward, passion was added to Susan’s drive and intelligence and there would be no stopping her from taking this industry by storm!
About three years into her “temporary” job she walked into her dad’s office and said, “Father, we need to have a talk.” Then she dropped the bomb “I am taking over, I am the best person you have here, so get used to it!” Then Susan turned and left. Dick had been looking for someone to buy DUI but all prospects had wanted to turn all the manufacturing overseas…Dick did not want this…so when Susan told him the news, he was thrilled! They made her President and Dick taught her everything he knew. Shortly after she was given the title of President, Dick found her sitting behind his desk. She said, “Isn’t this the Presidents office? Time for you to get out!” and with that…he was “semi retired” and Susan was running the show!
Dick Long...the man behind it all!
Susan jokingly told us, “My dad tells everyone I fired him, well, he says that I let him work on Thursdays but only to clean the bathrooms…and then I tell him he doesn’t hang the paper right!” It is endearing the way Susan talks about her dad…you can feel the beauty of their relationship even when he is not in the room.
Susan and Dad!
Susan has many mementos and pictures of her childhood hanging in her office. There on the wall in a shadow box is her very first wetsuit and a picture of her in it. Each time she showed us a picture, she had a great story to go with it and her face showed pure pride! Here is Susan showing us the picture of DUI in the beginning! Everyone had on their nifty 70’s clothes!
Susan showing us the original DUI crew!
After getting to know each other a little, Susan took us on a tour of the DUI operation. It was obviously an interesting experience just seeing how the drysuits are made, but what really caught my attention was the way Susan interacted with the staff. She is an amazing manager. We walked by Eddie in repairs, Susan explained, “the drysuit he is repairing is from before my time!” and then she says, “Some of our best people work in repairs, they have to be able to work on everything.” I turned back as we walked away and Eddie was looking at Susan beaming from the compliment! I told Susan, “You made that guys day!” and she said, “It was sincere…I really meant it!” She went on to talk about how important each worker at DUI is to the operation and told us some of the employee programs they have put into place over the years. “We have employees who have been here for over 20 years!” It is important to her to be sure they can keep these employees busy!
Although we enjoyed the entire DUI tour, Scuba Diver Girl Stephanie and I each had our favorite parts. I liked the testing room where they attempt to detect leaks in the suit. They blow up the entire suit inside out in a big tub of water. Once full of air, they can detect any leakage. The funny thing is…the suit looks like a HUGE person! LOL
Margo in the Drysuit testing room!
Steph liked the spinner, it looks like a tub turned on its side where you would expect to see cement being mixed, but instead…you will find drysuits rolling around in there. This helps them determine the wear and tear of the suits.
Another DUI Testing Machine!
These are not the only two tests but by far our favorites! Susan also explained to us the importance of using crushed neoprene in their suits. She walked us through the process they use to crush it and said that when the cells are flattened no gas can get in and cause the cells to rupture! This is definitely a competitive advantage…but more importantly, an advantage to the consumer!!!
Susan and Scuba Diver Girl Stephanie talking about Neoprene!
Dick Long explained to us how they got into designing drysuits for women. He said that Faith Ortins who owned Northeast Scuba in Boston back in 1990 kept calling and asking for “adjustments” to her orders. The sales team at the time was getting frustrated and wanted to drop her as an authorized reseller. Instead, Dick decided to take a trip out there and meet some of her divers. She had 30 women and they were all different shapes and sizes! This is when he realized that if DUI was going to be in the business of designing for women, they would have to throw all the size patterns out the window and start from scratch! They did that and ended up with 100 different sizes for women…this changed how DUI did business…forever. Today DUI has custom computer software that ‘assists” in the cutting! Plus with Susan’s influence, you can now get overlays in a whole myriad of colors!!
When asked by PADI about whether or not women like pink gear, Susan made the following statement which really says a lot about her as a designer, a women diver, and a fore thinker in the industry!
“As a diving equipment manufacturer and one that specializes in designing equipment for women, I agree that choice is essential. I believe that women want to feel special but not different. If a woman’s piece of equipment (it says women’s on the label) and it only comes in pink, that is definitely stereotyping but not really demeaning.”
“It’s demeaning when it says it is for a woman and it really isn’t, the only thing they did to it is make it pink. Actually, it’s more stupid than demeaning because women know better than that!”
“Women come in many more sizes and shapes than men. 75% of men can be lumped into M, L and XL. That just doesn’t work for most ladies. Women also come in an infinite number of combinations, i.e. big bust, small hips, big hips, thin legs, long legs short torso and so much more. Then God went and put different size feet on all of us, too!”
“So my vote is – yup – pink is great. So is blue, yellow, aqua, purple, gray, neon yellow and the all mighty “all black.” Choice is King … or should I say Queen. And that is what we strive for every day at DUI.”
Stephanie and I walked out of the office at the end of the tour, we gave hugs all around and were all happy to meet each other! I think each time we meet another woman who is passionate about diving, we feel excited and uplifted! As we exited, I looked at Steph and we both said together, “I want a DUI drysuit!” Jinx! We started talking about which one we would get with what accents and even about putting our Scuba Turtle on it! Do you want to see how happy a DUI drysuit will make you? Check out Laura James, you remember her from our She-P article, doing her drysuit happy dance when she got hers!!
Laura says, “First time I’d been completely warm and dry in a loooooong time! Thank you DUI for making the suit I’ve been waiting to get for 16 years absolutely PERFECT!”
Susan Long has obviously been instrumental in where DUI is today! She is an amazing, impressive woman! I feel lucky to have had the opportunity to meet her and look forward to diving together someday soon! But first…DRYSUIT shopping is in order!!!
I also think that she is one of those divers who you want to stick next to because she is the “lucky diver!” Take a look at these great pics…the first one is a picture she shot herself of the smiley shark!
And the next is a great shot with a Giant Sea Bass:
If you ever meet Susan or Dick, make sure and ask them about the Giant Sea Bass picture! It is a great story…but I don’t want to tell ALL the stories! 
I hope you enjoyed this inside look at Susan…I sure enjoyed getting to know her!
Scuba Diver Girl Margo
Extra: Do you think because you are a warm water diver you don’t need a drysuit? Think Again! Check out this article written by Susan about her trip to the Red Sea! For other drysuit questions, check out DUI’s comprehensive FAQ.
Are you already a drysuit owner! Get your Scuba Diver Girl Drysuit Diver T-Shirt!
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