Betty bought a drysuit . . let the corking begin again!

[princessaprilia]

Get a pee-valve!!

 

[gcbryan]

The only thing I would add is to make sure at first you make any changes in body position slowly and of course don't put your feet above your head (not talking about frog kicking but about getting upside down to look under something.

When you are shallow and possibly going from horizontal to vertical do this slowly as well. The longer you can stay in the horizontal position the better since you have more control that way...easier to kick back down to recompress the air in your suit.

If you are feeling a little light and are starting to ascend and you then suddenly go from horizontal to vertical you have just become much more streamlined and your rate of ascent may increase faster than you can control it.

Stay shallow until you have reasonable control of your suit. It make take a while to master it but at least you will be warm while you are doing this.

 

[TSandM]

Oh, and about the p-valve -- I'm in COMPLETE agreement!

 

[BettyRubble]

One of my issues is floaty feet, which I have gone to great lengths to try to fix, but so far neither me nor a number of instructors have been able to suggest anything other than ankle weights to fix. Of course I get a lot of crap over this but say if you need something like that, just go with it! I did a bunch of uncomfortable dives because people convinced me that it was stupid to wear ankle weights... It might be but at least I'm comfortable now

Try not to make really sudden and sharp movements in your neck or wrist if you can avoid it. Your seals might leak a bit.

Thanks Sas!! Good tips! I'm sure I'm going to jump in unzipped at least once!

did ya get a pee valve?

NOOO!!! I read Sam's 'prep' thread ... OMG ....

Good Luck, I went back to the pool and practiced stuck valves and best ways to swim down and roll back vertical in the event of a stuck inflator. I found that slow and steady wins the race. Most of the time!

I am sooo glad to be near a great training ground - 'our' quarry has training platforms and the like that make training for these sorts of things much easier.

Proper weighting is very important! An extra pound or two may be helpful, but I have found most dive with too much weight and put too much air in the suit which can cause things to bad quick. Just enough air to alleviate the squeeze.

Other tips:

Start with a good "wicking" layer. Since you dive in an area that can be hot but the water is cold, you want you first layer to move perspiration away from the skin. Common to sweat a bit during the gearing up process and then the perspiration gets quite chilly in the cooler water.

Resist trimming one your seals just one more time. As long as there is good circulation they will probably be just fine after a dive or two.

Let me know if I can help, gotta get in the water soon.

Jeff

HEEEYYY Jeff!!! I've heard the wicking tip and will try my underarmour stuff from my snow days . . figure it might work well under the undergarments. And I'll try to resist the over trimming.

You are an awesome instructor Jeff! Will keep you in mind.

Get a pee-valve!!

I know BUTTTTTT . . you know the PRREEEPPPPPP and worst the 'if you didn't prep properly' aftermath!! Really, I'm thinking pissing myself is somehow better.

The only thing I would add is to make sure at first you make any changes in body position slowly and of course don't put your feet above your head (not talking about frog kicking but about getting upside down to look under something.

Stay shallow until you have reasonable control of your suit. It make take a while to master it but at least you will be warm while you are doing this.

I suspect my floaty feet will be above my head a few dives but I'm liking Sas's suggestion of ankle weights already!

Oh, and about the p-valve -- I'm in COMPLETE agreement!

Yeahhhh . .. I know . . . bbbbbuuuuttttt .. . IJS

 

[Sas]

It's really not that bad after the first few dives, the p-valve I must say at first I was like 'why have I spent a small fortune on something this annoying??' but it's really just no problem at all now. It goes on, I can walk around all day in the heat, climbing up and down hills and ladders, do a bunch of dives, never have to worry about the feeling of 'omg if I had a knife I'd just cut my suit off now and go as it will take too much time to unzip and run to a toilet' (actually I never had to do this but it was awfully tempting at times) oh and it just doesn't leak!

That's probably the biggest drysuit modification I wish I had made from the very beginning rather than doing a season without one.

 

[mrfixitchapman]

Betty; Go dive the suit. Just go dive it. You'll get it. As to the air-in-the-suit or air-in-the-wing, I choose to run just enough air to alleviate the shrink-wrap squeeze. And I use polypropylene undergarments to keep the moisture wicking away from my skin. But you? You'll dive the suit and figure out what works for you.

DC

 

[BettyRubble]

Heeeyyy Mr.FIxitchapman!!!! Long time no see!!! ;-)

 

[Sas]

Betty; Go dive the suit. Just go dive it. You'll get it. As to the air-in-the-suit or air-in-the-wing, I choose to run just enough air to alleviate the shrink-wrap squeeze. And I use polypropylene undergarments to keep the moisture wicking away from my skin. But you? You'll dive the suit and figure out what works for you.

DC

Well that's true that people figure out what works best for them. But when I am very new to using a piece of equipment, it is very helpful to get different opinions about how it should be done. I have never found 'just go dive it' that useful to be honest. Advice has always speeded up my learning process.

 

[luckydays]

Congrats BR. You are going to love it. Especially given the water temps at Dutch and other New England water temps.

You are already getting good advice so I can only say to be patient with it and remember diving is for fun. Drysuit diving is more fun than wet suit diving most days.

Oh and get a pee valve. I am getting mine installed before my spring dive season starts. Who cares are about the prep, its about being comfy on and between dives.

 

[luckydays]

Oh yeah, Under Armor or the like will be great. Anything that will wick away the moisture from your skin so you dont get colder.