A note to all the newbies, just dive!

[Far_X]

Far X, Dive that drysuit! Then, dive it some more! You now have another goal and a skill that you can and eventually will master. The answer IMHO(newbie) is to stick with it and it will truly become a skill of "second nature". Go back to the wetsuit when you feel the same comfort(skill) level no matter what you are wearing. Before you know it, you WILL be there and dive 200 will come before you know it. As far as DM course goes, my LDS wants 100 dives logged before they will take a candidate. I believe that is standard. My DI keeps harping me to do it.

I guess the wetsuit is going back into the closet. It feels really weird with the air up in the boots. I seem to be convinced that it is going to woosh me up to the surface - I guess that does mean I need more practice at diving head down to overcome that. Tomorrow sees me diving deep to complete my AOW and I am now wishing I had more than just beach dives in the dry to prepare me for the straight up ascent. In you experience, does the value release most of the excess air from the suit as you ascend and it is not something that I need to be overly concerned with?

 

[Snowbear]

FarX, I agree that you should keep diving the drysuit. Putting it away now when you are not completely comfortable diving it will not make you more comfortable next time you need to use it. The only way you'll get comfortable controlling the suit, rather than the suit controlling you, is to dive with it. If you can, get a competent, experienced buddy to help you and practice, practice, practice with it in the shallows. When you can master it in 20', deep will be easy and your dives will be more fun

 

[Far_X]

Snowbear, I agree with all you say. How could I not when I am just a mere newbie. The main reason why I bought a dry suit when I moved to NY was to extend the diving season up here. I was hoping that this winter I could experience ice diving under one of the lakes - do you think that would be possible? (I noticed where you live and the type of diving you are probably doing.) I am diving every week and thought I was getting the buoyancy in the dry suit almost there until I did the night dive. With visibility of 2 feet and the point of reference was whatever was captured in my light beam, buoyancy suddenly became a challange again. I didn't like the idea of putting the dry suit away because I was uncomfortable last dive out but thought if I get used to the night dive in poor visibility first... I guess you are not buying that one either. Okay, I will be diving dry for the immediate furture. Thanks for everybody's advice - it is greatly appreciated and I feel as if I can make better decisions.

Now has anybody done a kayak dive in a dry suit or is that too impractical?

 

[Snowbear]

I was hoping that this winter I could experience ice diving under one of the lakes - do you think that would be possible? (I noticed where you live and the type of diving you are probably doing.)

Don't see why not - just make sure your instructor is COMPETANT and safety oriented!!
I'm thinking I may try the ice diving thing this winter, but here there's not much to see in the lakes in summer. The ice just makes not seeing anything a colder experience.

I didn't like the idea of putting the dry suit away because I was uncomfortable last dive out but thought if I get used to the night dive in poor visibility first... I guess you are not buying that one either. Okay, I will be diving dry for the immediate furture.

Good for you for sticking with it - you're right, I'm not buying it. Get comfy in ALL conditions and when a new problem comes up, you won't even have to think about the suit, just deal with the new problem....

Now has anybody done a kayak dive in a dry suit or is that too impractical?

There's a couple folks here that do it. I would rather dive off a motorized boat, though...

 

[Far_X]

The kayak dive is planned for next weekend, hopefully Sunday, as I am already diving elsewhere on the Saturday. The first dive is defintely dry but I may have to switch to wet for the kayak dive unless I hear otherwise. I tried contacting Mad Dog Expeditions for the ice diving but I heard nothing back from them. Good luck with your ice diving this winter and watch out for them polar bears!!!

 

[Jetwrench]

I guess the wetsuit is going back into the closet. It feels really weird with the air up in the boots. I seem to be convinced that it is going to woosh me up to the surface - I guess that does mean I need more practice at diving head down to overcome that. Tomorrow sees me diving deep to complete my AOW and I am now wishing I had more than just beach dives in the dry to prepare me for the straight up ascent. In you experience, does the value release most of the excess air from the suit as you ascend and it is not something that I need to be overly concerned with?

Good for you, Far-X! Stick with it and ask your instructor questions when you have problems with buoyancy in the suit. It may be a weighting issue. I went through that problem and have since found the "happy place". A little air in my feet feels comfy warm when the lake is 40f.

 

[Daryl Morse]

[deletia]As the visibility was bad and I was diving dry, following the instructor diving under a bridge head first made the air rush to my feet and that totally upset the buoyancy I had achieved so my next dive I am diving wet. I have been using my dry suit regularly up here so I can get used to it. I shall be diving wet for the rest of the season after Sunday or do people think it might be a good idea if I alternate depending upon how deep I plan to go? [deletia]

As another newbie with less than 20 dives, I think you should reconsider your decision to dive wet. I dive in the Pacific North West where the water is cold. I've never dived in anything but a drysuit. Sure, the drysuit adds complexity to diving, but like anything worth learning, you have to keep working at it.

I've had a few issues with drysuit buoyancy as well. Nothing serious, but enough of a concern that I did a pool dive last weekend to work on my skills. I figured out what my problem was and I feel good about the accomplishment. I'm looking forward to diving next weekend.

I'm sure there are more advanced divers that will comment on your problem, but from my [limited] experience, if you had enough air in your suit for your buoyancy to be upset that much, you had too much air in your suit and you're probably wearing too much weight as well.

There are a lot of people that will suggest using the drysuit for buoyancy. In my opinion, that just increases the possibility of an air bubble moving around. Strictly speaking, you don't need air in the drysuit for any reason but to prevent squeeze and keep warm. If you're lacking confidence due to the amount of air in your drysuit, put less air in the drysuit and use your BCD for buoyancy control instead.

If you fall off the horse, get back on the saddle! You won't learn how to dive dry by diving wet.

Anyway, good luck and tell us how you're doing.

 

[Far_X]

As another newbie with less than 20 dives, I think you should reconsider your decision to dive wet. I dive in the Pacific North West where the water is cold. I've never dived in anything but a drysuit. Sure, the drysuit adds complexity to diving, but like anything worth learning, you have to keep working at it.

I've had a few issues with drysuit buoyancy as well. Nothing serious, but enough of a concern that I did a pool dive last weekend to work on my skills. I figured out what my problem was and I feel good about the accomplishment. I'm looking forward to diving next weekend.

I'm sure there are more advanced divers that will comment on your problem, but from my [limited] experience, if you had enough air in your suit for your buoyancy to be upset that much, you had too much air in your suit and you're probably wearing too much weight as well.

There are a lot of people that will suggest using the drysuit for buoyancy. In my opinion, that just increases the possibility of an air bubble moving around. Strictly speaking, you don't need air in the drysuit for any reason but to prevent squeeze and keep warm. If you're lacking confidence due to the amount of air in your drysuit, put less air in the drysuit and use your BCD for buoyancy control instead.

If you fall off the horse, get back on the saddle! You won't learn how to dive dry by diving wet.

Anyway, good luck and tell us how you're doing.

Well, if I hadn't already decided to keep on diving dry after all people had said, then this post would definitely made me decide to keep diving dry!!! I realised that I was being silly deciding that because something was difficult that I would not continue to do it. I need to be doing the opposite because when it came to diving dry again, after a summer of wet, then I would immediately think of my only night dive in a dry suit and start sucking air!!! You have given me more options to think about and a greater excuse for getting in that water and trying all these out till I gain the experience and knowledge to do this automatically. Thanks!!

 

[eponym]

http://www.scubaboard.com/images/smilies/More%20Smiles/icosm14.gif You have given me more options to think about and a greater excuse for getting in that water and trying all these out till I gain the experience and knowledge to do this automatically. Thanks!!

This has probably already occurred to you (or been suggested): use as little weight as possible, which means less air in the suit, so there's less of a bubble to move around. Use just enough weight to allow you to relieve the wort of the squeeze. That gives you a more stable configuration to learn in.

Good luck, and remember that those who learn to dive in cold water and low viz (and succeed) are usually good at task loading.

_bryan

 

[DandyDon]

There are a lot of people that will suggest using the drysuit for buoyancy. In my opinion, that just increases the possibility of an air bubble moving around. Strictly speaking, you don't need air in the drysuit for any reason but to prevent squeeze and keep warm. If you're lacking confidence due to the amount of air in your drysuit, put less air in the drysuit and use your BCD for buoyancy control instead.

I don't think I know any experienced dry suit divers who would suggest using the suit for buoyancy? :11: Do I...?

No, I think you're right, in that you want just enough air to prevent a squeeze - especially for guys, and use the BCD for buoyancy adjustments.

If you fall off the horse, get back on the saddle! You won't learn how to dive dry by diving wet.

Actually from this ol' cowboy, anyway, if you get bucked off, you get back on. If you fall off, get training wheels.

Well, I ride trained geldings, so I've never been bucked off. Had one fall on me once, but that was on the leg that had not been recently in cast, and I had a saddle cinch break once unloading me, but the previous is the actual suggestion...