My first called dive

[fjpatrum]

I recently had new silicone zip seals added to my dry suit as the latex seals on it weren't keeping me anywhere close to dry. The hazards of buying a used suit...

Anyway I went out to the local quarry with a sometimes dive buddy and did a couple of dives. The suit worked perfectly, no more wet drysuit dives for me. Unfortunately it was s day of discomfort for me in other ways.

I tried a different set of fins than I usually use in the quarry and found them significantly more floaty. Now, in warm water with good viz I haven't found this to be a problem but I'm not sure if I've ever actually used these fins before, thinking back on it. At any rate, I had a lot of trim issues and ended up getting upside down and vertical when we started our ascent. (I'm still working on dialing in the vent on my suit and I'm too slow at venting manually.) Well, in my struggles I also lost my weight belt (8 lbs) which exacerbated the problem significantly.

Luckily we were near some rocks and with the help of my buddy and some climbing skills I haven't used in a while I got a knee lock under a rock and settled myself. He retrieved my weight belt (minus 4 pounds but better than losing it entirely) and we continued our dive with a nice mellow ascent from that point.

Second dive of the day I added a couple pounds, which I know now wasn't particularly helpful because it was a floaty feet issue rather than incorrect weighting, and we started off again. My legs were tired from fighting my feet but "it's just a quarry dive and I need to practice in this suit". Shortly after I had another upside down moment and grabbed a sunken sailboat to help right myself. Settle again and move on still relatively comfortable despite having two uncomfortable incidents for the day.

Right after we took off again we found a weight belt and I carried it around, still fighting my trim. Second mistake. (For those not paying attention, adding more weight to a diver who's already having trim issues is a bad idea...)

We made another 10 minutes or so and I finally couldn't propel myself well and I was rolling all over the place. I finally had enough and called the dive. I was rapidly losing my comfort and my legs were worn out.

Lessons:

1) Change one piece of gear at a time. I should have used my "regular" fins for these dives rather than switching to new fins and also testing out the suit.
2) Floaty feet suck. Go back to "heavy" fins, which is part of why I changed them out in the first place. Makes a big difference in my comfort.
3) Good buddies are a good thing. I've dived with this particular buddy I think 6 dives or so. He's the only consistent buddy I've had (for more than one "trip") and he's a damn good buddy. We've been diving about the same amount of time but he has almost 3 times the number of dives I have. He's motivated to dive a lot and dive safely. Good features in a buddy.
4) A dry suit really can be dry... that's nice to know, even if it wasn't a requirement for me. Even when my suit leaked I was significantly warmer than diving wet in the same water temps.
5) I knew this before but it bears repeating (to myself and maybe some other folks); there's no shame in thumbing a dive for any reason. Better to call it when you're uncomfortable than to push yourself and become a statistic.

 

[tdtaylor]

Nice call. Most people don't have the confidence to call a dive. It is almost always encouraged but I fear not put into effect often enough.

And you are so right- change one item per dive at most, especially with a drysuit. Much less stressful.

Terry

 

[TSandM]

Good post! I think a lot of people (myself included) underestimate the effect that changing gear can have on your comfort in the water. I took some new fins to Canada in April, and found out after I got there that they didn't sit really solidly on my feet, so I fought the darned things wobbling for three days of what should have been effortless, spectacular diving. At least you took your new gear to the quarry!

 

[BlackPatch]

FJPatrum,

Do you leave your vent on your Shoulder open?
If so it should just vent excess gas when you raise your shoulder to be the highest point on your body.
If it is all the way open, but will not vent, then I would suggest changing the valves or servicing them.

Leaving the valve open while diving will have no detriment to the suits watertight integrity as they are NRV's.

I use SP Jet fins and love the weight of them. I did try out my buddys "lighter fins" and had similar issues that disappeared when I put on ankle weights as an experiment.

Great call on the dive and good for you finding a solid and dependable buddy.

Safe diving.

Pete.

 

[tracydr]

Good post! I think a lot of people (myself included) underestimate the effect that changing gear can have on your comfort in the water. I took some new fins to Canada in April, and found out after I got there that they didn't sit really solidly on my feet, so I fought the darned things wobbling for three days of what should have been effortless, spectacular diving. At least you took your new gear to the quarry!

I'm so happy that we have a swimming pool with a 12 foot deep end. Before every dive trip and any time I have new gear, I take it in the pool.
although, if I had the Sound in my backyard I wouldn't need to use the pool so much. Even our local lake is a huge trip, nearly 3 hours driving each direction. I was terribly spoiled in WA and even when I lived in OK, living 5 minutes from diving in both places.
Anyway, my point is that every small change I make, be it new fins or new light, I like to take it in the pool and check out my gear to make sure some new task loading issue doesn't arise that I wasn't expecting.

For the OP- good job calling the dive. I found a huge amount of help when I switched to a different fin with my drysuit.

 

[phoenix31tt]

when possible, i take the old gear along for the trip... if i have to get on an airplane well then thats a different story...

when I first called a dive it was just based on a feeling, during the Surface interval i told my wife i'm just not feeling right with this next dive.. and that was it..

 

[Instructor_Tom]

fjpatrum;

weight belts suck. I don't know why people are still forced to train with these.

by the statement that you where wearing a weight belt ill assume you where diving a single tank with either a backplate and wing or traditional BCD. I would recommend adding weight pockets to you harness or checking into a weight integrated BCD.

as for you problems with the drysuit, try following this simple rule on descent fully close the vent on ascent full open the vent. if you are horizontal with a slight head up posture you will vent continually during you ascent and won't have a runway; even with this you may still need the rise the left arm and pull back to help vent excess gas on ascent if you start moving too fast.

also most folks that dive dry, dive a heavy fin like the hollis F1 or jet fins.

hope this is help full.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[tplyons]

1) Change one piece of gear at a time. I should have used my "regular" fins for these dives rather than switching to new fins and also testing out the suit.
2) Floaty feet suck. Go back to "heavy" fins, which is part of why I changed them out in the first place. Makes a big difference in my comfort.
3) Good buddies are a good thing. I've dived with this particular buddy I think 6 dives or so. He's the only consistent buddy I've had (for more than one "trip") and he's a damn good buddy. We've been diving about the same amount of time but he has almost 3 times the number of dives I have. He's motivated to dive a lot and dive safely. Good features in a buddy.
4) A dry suit really can be dry... that's nice to know, even if it wasn't a requirement for me. Even when my suit leaked I was significantly warmer than diving wet in the same water temps.
5) I knew this before but it bears repeating (to myself and maybe some other folks); there's no shame in thumbing a dive for any reason. Better to call it when you're uncomfortable than to push yourself and become a statistic.

Great takeaways! Two of my biggest pieces of good info are #1 and #5.

1) Change one piece at a time so you can understand how each piece affects your trim, buoyancy, etc. Once you understand this and get comfortable with it, add or change another piece.
2) Floaty feet DO suck. When I'm diving dry, I dive heavier fins. When I dive wet, I use lighter fins because I don't have the added buoyancy of an undergarment.
3) Good buddies are a great thing. Anticipate each others moves, problems, and needs. When communication is limited underwater, having someone who knows your habits is a good thing.
4) I've had dry drysuits, and wet drysuits. The latter is usually still more comfortable, unless you find you tear a neck seal while ice diving. This one is not fun.
5) If you're not 100%, thumb the dive. I've thumbed several in my career and despite "missing out" on a good dive, I know I would have been miserable. I'd rather be uncomfortable on the surface than miserable in an alien environment.

Good for you for making these realizations!

 

[dumpsterDiver]

If you try a good rubber belt, you probably won't have these issues. The other comment: Why carry a found weight belt? Just put it on.

 

[Imla]

Just a thought... are you sure you are feet light, and not top heavy?
Or both... Light feet AND topheavy?
The combo of light fins, drysuit AND topheavy will easily give the effect that if you try to maintain horizontal trim, (and especially if frogkicking) you get air in you feet, which works together with being topheavy on turning you around.

Get your good fins on, experiment with putting 2-4 pounds on the lower camband on the tank. Good luck.