Dry suit course failure

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lozadora

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Feeling pretty deflated heading home from Wraysbury without completing my dry suit course.

So I got to Wraysbury (muddy bottomed reservoir in the UK) at 9am and it took until 11am to finally get kitted up and into the water. I just wasn't sinking so had 18kg added to my pockets!! When we made our way down suddenly a guy surface under my legs.This place was crazy - so hectic, too many people so I think this started making me nervous.

As we went down I realized I could barely see half a meter. I've only done 4 open water dives in 20m viz. I was trying to hover on a platform but started ascending. Managed to get control but then was totally freaking out about the viz so signaled that I wanted to surface. I took 5 mins floating on surface then agreed to go back down. I managed to do a bit of a fin pivot then had a swim around this platform staying really close so I could see it. Then I started feeling a trickle down my neck so had to surface again. Instructor was surprised I was leaking, but I had pointed out my neck seal wasn't that tight before we went in but was told it was ok. It's not like I could just swim around the platform and I was soaking wet, so the thought of getting back in and having to swim in the open with no point of reference terrified me.

Any words of encouragement or similar stories or am I just a big jessy??I'm going to Malta for a week of diving, I think I'll rebuild my confidence and then try again at a better location. Feel utterly deflated :-(
 
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It seems to me that you are just trying to do too much too soon. I would suggest you put in more hours in the water getting used to what you have already learned and when these things start becoming second nature move on to the next thing. Based on your explanation of that dive I would say that you did NOT fail the course, the course failed you. When you are ready to move on you might look for a different operator.
 
From your Blog, you took your OW certification in Crete. Those conditions are very, very different than what you find in your location. I would hazard that you are facing a number of "firsts" that can be overwhelming.

You might want to take a few local "orientation" dives to simply get familiar with cold, dark, etc. conditions that are different than your OW experience before you add learning how to use a dry suit. That way, you will know and understand what to expect. You learned the "basics" of diving when you learned in Crete. You did not learn how to dive in your local conditions. I would hazard that a lot of what you experienced had more to do with that fact, than learning to use the dry suit.

Sure, you still might be cold using a 7mm wetsuit and would still have the learning curve of less flexibility, more weight, etc., but you will see what local diving is like. Add the dry suit course once you have had a couple of dives locally.

Don't beat yourself up over this....richkeller has great advice.
 
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Four dives and taking Dry Suit? IMO vastly too soon. Getting certified only gets you far enough to begin really learning by much practice. As richkeller said, when your diving becomes natural and a trained reflex you are ready to move on. If you have to think about what you are doing it is too soon.

You said "having to swim in the open with no point of reference terrified me". Before Dry Suit, I would suggest courses in Navagation and Night/Low Vis.

If you took dry suit because the water is cold I have a tip. Here in upstate New York most dives below 20-30 feet or so hit temps around 50°F and the minimum suggested wetsuit is 7mm or more. Lots of weight needed. I dive a 3mm BUT I layer 2 neutrally bouyant suits (Henderson polyolefin or LavaCore) plus a 3mm vest underneath and of course hood and gloves. My 3mm seals well (good fit - extremely important) and while the initial entry is chilly I've never gotten cold diving from April through November. By doing this I'm able to use only 12# of weight and I've got way too much blubber (I'm fat=buoyant).

Regarding weight. You say they added nearly 40# to what you already had on board. I have to believe you were very grossly overweighted. That makes any attempt at neutral buoyancy extremely difficult to impossible. Don't feel deflated and don't use that shop/instructer again. For any future class discuss with any prospective instructer/shop the conditions to expect during certification dives. If they don't sound like fun look elsewhere.
 
I'm wondering how well the pool excersices went? Did you not cover weighting in the pool, having to add 18kg (39 pounds) seems excessive. Just guessing given we do not know your body weight and the amouht of undergarment worn.
Limited visibility can be challenging if it is your first attempt, that added to the tasks of a drysuit and your limited number of total dives. I can see the potential for a not so perfect experience.
I condcut a number of dry suit courses a year in less than perfect conditions. I get the sense that the confined water sessions were lacking something. The reason I say that is, you should have had a good indication of your weighting before heading to open water. What were you pool sessions like?
 
I had 400+ dives spanning 30+ year and felt I was a competent diver when I went to a dry suit. Instantly I felt the same way I did on dive #2, inept, not in complete control and made multiple rookie mistakes. Silted up the bottom (bad trim), overweight on dive 2, under weight the next, leaked at my neck one time, leaked from a zipper not closed a couple dives later. I thought I was a freaking idiot and had just blown a wad of cash. It was 8 dives later before I regained my confidence. Doing it with minimal experience is going to take time and some "learning experiences". It does get better, don't beat yourself up. You just doubled your task loading, that's all.
 
It does sound like you may be really overweighted. I didn't properly adjust my weight to go from one type of tank to another between dives in my Drysuit/"A"OW class and felt I was a disaster on the dive I was overweighted by only a few pounds. Can you spend some more time in a pool to gain some confidence and make sure you are properly weighted?
 
It is not unusual for our conditions to do OW certification in a dry suit. I know many who were certifying down south and immediately started diving dry suit coming back home.
So I would take it easy, practice a lot in a pool and then redo the certification.

Four dives and taking Dry Suit? IMO vastly too soon. Getting certified only gets you far enough to begin really learning by much practice. As richkeller said, when your diving becomes natural and a trained reflex you are ready to move on. If you have to think about what you are doing it is too soon.

You said "having to swim in the open with no point of reference terrified me". Before Dry Suit, I would suggest courses in Navagation and Night/Low Vis.

If you took dry suit because the water is cold I have a tip. Here in upstate New York most dives below 20-30 feet or so hit temps around 50°F and the minimum suggested wetsuit is 7mm or more. Lots of weight needed. I dive a 3mm BUT I layer 2 neutrally bouyant suits (Henderson polyolefin or LavaCore) plus a 3mm vest underneath and of course hood and gloves. My 3mm seals well (good fit - extremely important) and while the initial entry is chilly I've never gotten cold diving from April through November. By doing this I'm able to use only 12# of weight and I've got way too much blubber (I'm fat=buoyant).

Regarding weight. You say they added nearly 40# to what you already had on board. I have to believe you were very grossly overweighted. That makes any attempt at neutral buoyancy extremely difficult to impossible. Don't feel deflated and don't use that shop/instructer again. For any future class discuss with any prospective instructer/shop the conditions to expect during certification dives. If they don't sound like fun look elsewhere.
 
Hi guys, thanks for your comments. I will definitely do what a few of you said and try some low viz wet suit dives in the local area.

The course guide says you are meant to do a confined dive and a couple of you asked about this...I didn't have the opportunity to do a confined or pool dive. I assumed that because we were in a reservoir that must have counted. Sounds like I should find somewhere that gives me the opportunity to practice skills in a shallow confined area first. Worrying...
 
It depends on the type of the suit, undergarment and body size. Having a thinsulate low loft 400g undergarment and a shell suit places me (195lb) into 30lb+ realm even in fresh water. So the same config pushes towards 40lb in salt water.

I'm wondering how well the pool excersices went? Did you not cover weighting in the pool, having to add 18kg (39 pounds) seems excessive. Just guessing given we do not know your body weight and the amouht of undergarment worn.
Limited visibility can be challenging if it is your first attempt, that added to the tasks of a drysuit and your limited number of total dives. I can see the potential for a not so perfect experience.
I condcut a number of dry suit courses a year in less than perfect conditions. I get the sense that the confined water sessions were lacking something. The reason I say that is, you should have had a good indication of your weighting before heading to open water. What were you pool sessions like?
 
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