:blinking:
As a brand new diver certified at the end of August 09, I have been looking forward to the weather getting better so I could start getting some dives in. I purchased a basic set of equipment and have a nice easy dive set up in April with a local dive club.
Sadly though, the weather has been unusually frigid! I mean...its March in south Texas and we were just recently running temps below freezing temps, flurries, sleet, hail, etc. All of this weather was causing me to look longingly at the calendar with a desire for warmer temps giving me a chance to get some more dives under my belt and allow me to work on my winter neglected skills!
This week the temps have been pushing around 68 degrees and the thought creeps into my mind that perhaps I can just jump into my sister-in-law's pool. How bad could it be?! Now, when I did my certification dives, the water temp was about 85-88 degrees topside and about 75-80 at the bottom. At the pool, I dropped my gauge in and the water temp showed about 60. Now, as Im standing there in a Tshirt thinking that the 68 degree weather didnt feel that bad so how much worse would that 8 degree temp really be? Besides, I also had a 3mm wetsuit and 2mm gloves, I figured it would keep me warm enough to get in...test my gear and perhaps work on my buoyancy skill.
See the title of my thread...yeah...now I know!
I think that since I wasnt hooded, I was losing tons of heat through my head. When I got out after testing my gear and TRYING to work on my buoyancy I realize how much the cold had affected me. My head was beet red, felt slightly nauseous, and didn't start to shiver until about 15 mins AFTER I got out of my wetsuit and put on new clothes.
As horrible as it was, I did feel like I learned from this experience. I know understand cold water immersion and its effects a bit better. I understand the importance of the various layers of exposure suits (head and hands!) and also have a better ability to gauge what certain temperatures are good and which...not so much.
While I can appreciate what I learned, I thought I would post this here to share with other new divers. I didn't remember ever being told what levels of suit protection covered what range of temperatures (though I did go back and check my OW manual and saw it referenced in there so was my own faulty memory) and didn't fully comprehend the difference between air temp vs water temp or even the difference from my previous dive temp.
So while perhaps bringing a smile to someone's day as they imagine some poor new diver in a desperate attempt to suck air underwater turning into a Popsicle, I also hope it is informative =0
As a brand new diver certified at the end of August 09, I have been looking forward to the weather getting better so I could start getting some dives in. I purchased a basic set of equipment and have a nice easy dive set up in April with a local dive club.
Sadly though, the weather has been unusually frigid! I mean...its March in south Texas and we were just recently running temps below freezing temps, flurries, sleet, hail, etc. All of this weather was causing me to look longingly at the calendar with a desire for warmer temps giving me a chance to get some more dives under my belt and allow me to work on my winter neglected skills!
This week the temps have been pushing around 68 degrees and the thought creeps into my mind that perhaps I can just jump into my sister-in-law's pool. How bad could it be?! Now, when I did my certification dives, the water temp was about 85-88 degrees topside and about 75-80 at the bottom. At the pool, I dropped my gauge in and the water temp showed about 60. Now, as Im standing there in a Tshirt thinking that the 68 degree weather didnt feel that bad so how much worse would that 8 degree temp really be? Besides, I also had a 3mm wetsuit and 2mm gloves, I figured it would keep me warm enough to get in...test my gear and perhaps work on my buoyancy skill.
See the title of my thread...yeah...now I know!
I think that since I wasnt hooded, I was losing tons of heat through my head. When I got out after testing my gear and TRYING to work on my buoyancy I realize how much the cold had affected me. My head was beet red, felt slightly nauseous, and didn't start to shiver until about 15 mins AFTER I got out of my wetsuit and put on new clothes.
As horrible as it was, I did feel like I learned from this experience. I know understand cold water immersion and its effects a bit better. I understand the importance of the various layers of exposure suits (head and hands!) and also have a better ability to gauge what certain temperatures are good and which...not so much.
While I can appreciate what I learned, I thought I would post this here to share with other new divers. I didn't remember ever being told what levels of suit protection covered what range of temperatures (though I did go back and check my OW manual and saw it referenced in there so was my own faulty memory) and didn't fully comprehend the difference between air temp vs water temp or even the difference from my previous dive temp.
So while perhaps bringing a smile to someone's day as they imagine some poor new diver in a desperate attempt to suck air underwater turning into a Popsicle, I also hope it is informative =0