I think WetSuits are Safer and Better than Dry suits for the vast majority of divers

[00wabbit]

Split fins make you slow too! :banana:

 

[tomfcrist]

Split fins make you slow too! :banana:

And you will die if you use them in any kind of current. LMAO

 

[danvolker]

Liability??? Are you suggesting now that diving insurance companies raise the cost of insurance for people who dive drysuits?

Liability in the physical sense.....If I drop down on a 100 foot deep wreck, the days with the most spectacular fish explosions going on, will usually be high current dives.....so if I want to move around, and go from one end of the wreck to the other....it is a liability to have to work twice as hard with the high drag drysuit, to get to the other end....If I want to just hang in one place like a lump..then sure, there is no liability.
Now the way this conversation has been running, everyone is going to enjoy saying that Dan dives stupidly fast, and that's not the way they want to dive....this entirely misses the point....we are supposed to do things that increase safety on these challenging dives...and if you can absolutely negate any current issue with one set up, and with another there is the real probability that the diver could be blown off the wreck and be helpless like a leaf in the wind...this is on the same dive...and the two could be identical twins, one in wetsuit and freedive fins, the other in a drysuit and jet fins. To me there is an unsafe choice being made by many.....that is the liability.

 

[al248005]

OK 1) if you are diving a "high drag drysuit", that is your own fault because it don't fit like it should and 2) if you are getting blown off the wreck and be "helpless like a leaf in the wind" you probably shouldn't be diving in the first place if theres that strong of a current. If I was in your shoes in that of a high current situation I would probably just stay around a central point versus trying to fight the current all the way over to the other side of a ship. To me that is a personal option. Diving in strong current and staying around a central point is just common sense to me.

 

[danvolker]

OK 1) if you are diving a "high drag drysuit", that is your own fault because it don't fit like it should and 2) if you are getting blown off the wreck and be "helpless like a leaf in the wind" you probably shouldn't be diving in the first place if theres that strong of a current. If I was in your shoes in that of a high current situation I would probably just stay around a central point versus trying to fight the current all the way over to the other side of a ship. To me that is a personal option. Diving in strong current and staying around a central point is just common sense to me.

Of course you miss the reality....with the wet suit and freedive fins, it is not feeling like high current, and it is not a challenge...it is just a great and beautiful dive--and you can be anywhere on the wreck you want to be, with ease.........with the high drag drysuit ( the DUIs and many other commonly considered the best in the dry suit universe), and with jet fins ( standard for Drysuit divers), or even worse with splits... ....the dive is unsafe because of the bad gear choice for this environment.....Again, it is an awesome environment, but it requires low drag gear and efficient fins...and a diver with good trim..etc.

 

[Tigerman]

Oh, I see the reality of it clearly now...
SuperDan can dive, the rest of us mortals are just n00b morons who should stay out of the water, cause we have NO IDEA what diving is all about, how different gear makes us a liability or how to get from A to B..

 

[tomfcrist]

I think dan also implies that us NC wreck divers in our drysuits and jetfins are inherently unsafe diving in our local environment without a wetsuit and free dive fins........

Here's an idea......when the current is ripping, go inside the wreck.... Or the leeward side if not proficient at that level

 

[Tanked]

. It's shocking to see how many of you guys are clueless as to how slow a drysuit is in the water...I can only imagine how extremely slow you swim. I hope you are a macro photographer.

I didn't realize diving was a race.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

Didn't realize how few tropical dives are conducted in Australia, Hawaii, Indonesia, PNG, Maldives, Micronesia, Philippines.. well the rest obviously don't count at all:doh:

 

[KevWind]

seems like a lot of commotion about something that is kinda self evident even to us new divers. Kinda have to agree with Mr. Volker to some extent but not exactly in the way he is approaching it i.e. (wet suite safer and better therefore the vast majority should use wetsuit ) maybe so maybe not. I wont even go there because, regardless. IN fact that is already the case, the vast majority of divers that spend the majority of time in 70 to 80 degree water buy and use wetsuits. Seems a bit like an issue in search of a non problem. The sales numbers I am certain reflect this pretty clearly


On the other hand I can see the possible practical uses of the thermal shirt and vest for tropical wet suit divers that get chilled easily

second or third dive, night dive, I would suspect that with any kind of sales success $500 price tag will drop