Thank you ClayJar for that thoughtful and scientific analysis. I am glad you can make it. I haven't harrassed you in a year. 
ABWA - 2nd Annual Feb Dive.
- Thread starter mwhities
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
OP
mwhities
Contributor
Actually, that's not a difficult question at all. Dive dry first.
If you lose buoyancy control and head up not completely in control, you'll have less gas loading. If you start dry, your core temperature should still be warm for the later wet dives; that's less likely for the reverse. If you start wet, you're wet (or damp) both dives, but if you start dry, you'll only be wet the second dive (unless you have a flood, in which case, it's a wash). If you end up calling dives for thermal considerations, the wet dive is likely to be shorter, and therefore may as well come when you have reduced NDLs due to repetitive diving. If you (like many) have to wear more lead for the dry dives, you'll be doing more work while you're fresher.
And finally, you have to start dry to get a real comparison of what drysuit diving's supposed to feel like, so for purely academic reasons, dry first.
(I'm not sure who else from here may be there, but unless something happens, I'm officially scheduled now. :biggrin
Makes sense to me.
I plan to hit (not literally) the first platform from the "staging" area. I want to make sure I can control it somewhat. After a few minutes of getting trim and buoyancy somewhat in check, I'll venture out to the 25' platform. From there, I think I'll slowly make my way down to the platform and hoover above it a few feet and get used to the suit there too. Maybe I should be a little heavier than I should be to help fight against ascending feet first if it's to happen. (I'm going to try to get into the pool this weekend to test it out. Maybe I can get a few pool dives in to get really used to it and be able to dive at Pelham right away.
If you're like me, descending and hovering are going to be easy. Just don't get behind the ball when you're descending, as it's much easier to get into a "significantly accelerating descent" when you've got that much more compressible space. It shouldn't be a big deal, and the squeeze will alert you to any excessive negative buoyancy. :biggrin:Makes sense to me.
Now, when it's time to ascend, if you happen to have a line right there, all the better for your own peace of mind. I didn't really use the anchor line on my first "real" drysuit dive, but having it available (especially at safety stop depth and shallower) allowed me to relax and stay on the bubble. The worst feeling is getting to stop depth or shallower and feeling yourself go buoyant. Swimming down for a whole stop (and for the terminal ascent from the stop) will *certainly* remind you never to underestimate your ballast requirements.
As long as you're splitting your buoyancy between the wing and drysuit, adding some extra weight may be acceptable, assuming you can easily dump your wing from the pull dump, since that's what'll be up at the time. If you added weight and balanced it with air in the drysuit, it would actually make feet-first ascents more likely, as you'd have more air capable of moving to your feet.
Personally, I've never had, nor come close to having, an uncontrollable feet-first ascent. I've intentionally gone into headstand mode, but I simply don't dive with enough air flopping around in my drysuit to make it unrecoverable. As soon as I feel "light", I flip the air toward my shoulders and dump a bit. (Also, should you ever go into a feet-first ascent and ride it all the way to the surface, it may be useful to remember that you may need to add a lot of air to your wing to swing your head toward the surface. Divers who didn't remember that have on occasion dangled from their legs unable to right themselves -- especially if they were diving doubles or heavy steels.
)Other than the obvious drills (intentionally going floaty-feet and recovering by the swimmersault maneuver, quickly disconnecting the inflator hose with gloves on, achieving and maintaining neutral buoyancy), I'd say spend extra time practicing dumping air a little at a time. That seemed to be the part that came least naturally to me. It's not at all hard, but it takes some getting used to before it's a perfectly natural way to ascend without having to think about it. (The only other thing that still annoys me is when I roll dump-side-up and hear half my drysuit air burble out toward the surface -- some day I'll remember to keep that shoulder down or close down the dump valve first. :biggrin
(If you're in the "you should be able to turn your own valve" camp, as I am, you already know that may be more difficult in a drysuit. In my first pool session in my new drysuit, I blew a yoke O-ring during the dive. Yep, I could reach my own valve.
)
OP
mwhities
Contributor
If you're like me, descending and hovering are going to be easy. Just don't get behind the ball when you're descending, as it's much easier to get into a "significantly accelerating descent" when you've got that much more compressible space. It shouldn't be a big deal, and the squeeze will alert you to any excessive negative buoyancy. :biggrin:
Now, when it's time to ascend, if you happen to have a line right there, all the better for your own peace of mind. I didn't really use the anchor line on my first "real" drysuit dive, but having it available (especially at safety stop depth and shallower) allowed me to relax and stay on the bubble. The worst feeling is getting to stop depth or shallower and feeling yourself go buoyant. Swimming down for a whole stop (and for the terminal ascent from the stop) will *certainly* remind you never to underestimate your ballast requirements.
As long as you're splitting your buoyancy between the wing and drysuit, adding some extra weight may be acceptable, assuming you can easily dump your wing from the pull dump, since that's what'll be up at the time. If you added weight and balanced it with air in the drysuit, it would actually make feet-first ascents more likely, as you'd have more air capable of moving to your feet.
Personally, I've never had, nor come close to having, an uncontrollable feet-first ascent. I've intentionally gone into headstand mode, but I simply don't dive with enough air flopping around in my drysuit to make it unrecoverable. As soon as I feel "light", I flip the air toward my shoulders and dump a bit. (Also, should you ever go into a feet-first ascent and ride it all the way to the surface, it may be useful to remember that you may need to add a lot of air to your wing to swing your head toward the surface. Divers who didn't remember that have on occasion dangled from their legs unable to right themselves -- especially if they were diving doubles or heavy steels.
Other than the obvious drills (intentionally going floaty-feet and recovering by the swimmersault maneuver, quickly disconnecting the inflator hose with gloves on, achieving and maintaining neutral buoyancy), I'd say spend extra time practicing dumping air a little at a time. That seemed to be the part that came least naturally to me. It's not at all hard, but it takes some getting used to before it's a perfectly natural way to ascend without having to think about it. (The only other thing that still annoys me is when I roll dump-side-up and hear half my drysuit air burble out toward the surface -- some day I'll remember to keep that shoulder down or close down the dump valve first. :biggrin
(If you're in the "you should be able to turn your own valve" camp, as I am, you already know that may be more difficult in a drysuit. In my first pool session in my new drysuit, I blew a yoke O-ring during the dive. Yep, I could reach my own valve.
I'll TRY to remember all of this.
BTW, to those of you that think I'm going to call this at the last minute. I just booked my room.
I'll see you all there.
iScuba(ed)
Registered
hey y'all... I want to go, but I don't have $140 for gas money. I live in Pascagoula, MS and was wondering if there were some that are near me who wouldn't mind splitting gas cost...
iScuba(ed)
Registered
OP
mwhities
Contributor
I wish my waist line and feet would(ed).
Yep...you're a newbie on here..
Once on Scubaboard, men's brains shrink and they have a tendency to lose most of their brain activity and the ability to reason, function or get any work done. 
iScuba(ed)
Registered
....That shrinkage never fails to happen. Similar threads
Trip Report
Alor Tanapi Dive Resort
