3 things to tell a new guy (In Monterey)

[eric gundrum]

A few months ago I replied to a similar topic in a thread in the New Divers forum. My top tip for divers new to cold water was

1. Avoid an uncontrolled ascent (porpoising). Take the time to practice buoyancy control at the beginning of your first dive. A typical cold water wetsuit adds a lot of compressible air and weight to counter it. As a result, your buoyancy can get out of control much more quickly than in warm water.

What I've found (and seen in others) is that it is very easy to get a runaway ascent on your first dive in 7mm. When your depth decreases by more than about five feet, the suit (or BC bladder) expansion is enough to accelerate your ascent. You may find yourself heading to the surface before you have time to get the air out of your BC.

To manage this, use your BC dump valves. (The inflator hose may not let air out fast enough.) You've got to be familiar with finding them by feel -- sometimes hard to do in a rental BC. Take time on your first dive to practice buoyancy control at about 20'. Notice how quickly you will begin to ascend as soon as you exceed that five feet of movement off neutral. Make certain you can quickly find those BC dump valves and learn to watch your depth closely.

I had a runaway ascent on my first Monterey dive. And, I did not handle it well. Shortly after that, my dive buddy (a former DM) and I took a new dive buddy on a checkout dive at Breakwater; his first in cold water. Having fewer than a dozen dives in my log, I didn't feel comfortable giving advice to another diver. Still, in our briefing we discussed my runaway ascent experience as a potential hazard. He still had the same problem (more than once). A few months later I got an insta-buddy while boat diving out of San Diego. She had logged more dives than I; I really didn't want to give advice. But she was diving cold for the first time, so I shared my experiences. And sure enough, she had a runaway ascent as we began following the bottom to shallower water. It seems I either have to stop telling buddies about this, or I need to make sure we practice for it. At the very least, I make certain those buddies in rental gear can find their dump valves.

Some of my other tips may seem obvious, but learning them has helped me to really enjoy diving in Monterey. To summarize:

2. Get a well-fitting wetsuit. (It keeps in the body warmth.)
3. Consider a hooded vest. (It keeps in the body warmth, too.)
4. Have a hot drink between dives. (Helps restore core temperature.)
5. Preheat your wetsuit with some warm water. (So your body doesn't have to warm up that in-rush of sea water.)
6. Prepare for regulator free-flow. (More common in cold water, but maybe not for Monterey.)
7. Dives will be shorter. (You consume air faster when you are cold.)
8. Log detailed info about the weight and other gear you dive with. (After several dives, especially in rental gear, it helps to figure out the right weight and what gear you might like to buy.)

You can find details in my original post and more tips in the full thread: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ne...-diver-seeking-cold-water-dives-opinions.html