I think that to many people get caught up in the idea of what gear they WANT to have to do a sport. I was listing the minimums needed to get your feet wet so to speak.
I've skied/snowboarded in jeans and my regular winter top. Sure I was fairly cold and wet at the end of the day (since I'm not very good at snow sports), but I was able to do it. Of course I'd love to have had gore tec snowpants and jacket, but I didn't NEED it to start up.
As for kayaking, I've gone river kayaking and calm open water kayaking with just a sit-on inflatable kayak, paddle and pfd, no dry top or bib, helmet, tow line, etc. Certainly for white water kayaking, you should have a helmet, but for a minimum of getting into the water, you don't need two different boats, two different paddles, helmet, pfd's, etc. You may want them if you get serious, but you dont NEED them to start up.
Any sport that you get serious with and start to buy gear to be able to perform at a higher level than intro will cost much more than for a beginner renting/borrowing their gear. Diving is no exception and is definately NOT inexpensive in comparison to most other sports.
I've skied/snowboarded in jeans and my regular winter top. Sure I was fairly cold and wet at the end of the day (since I'm not very good at snow sports), but I was able to do it. Of course I'd love to have had gore tec snowpants and jacket, but I didn't NEED it to start up.
As for kayaking, I've gone river kayaking and calm open water kayaking with just a sit-on inflatable kayak, paddle and pfd, no dry top or bib, helmet, tow line, etc. Certainly for white water kayaking, you should have a helmet, but for a minimum of getting into the water, you don't need two different boats, two different paddles, helmet, pfd's, etc. You may want them if you get serious, but you dont NEED them to start up.
Any sport that you get serious with and start to buy gear to be able to perform at a higher level than intro will cost much more than for a beginner renting/borrowing their gear. Diving is no exception and is definately NOT inexpensive in comparison to most other sports.