After about a year and half of diving around the Great Lakes in a wetsuit, I finally bought a used drysuit. I was lucky to find it- it fit well and I knew the guy that sold it to me and how meticulous he was with maintenance. Trying to be a responsible diver, I took the drysuit class from a friend who was also an instructor. We went out to the local training lake and pretty much had the place to ourselves.
I was overweighted and using the suit for inflation, so the first dive was very typical of first time drysuit dives- I was fighting my buoyancy, trying to figure out the exhaust valves, and generally trying to get used to another airspace. Despite all the troubles, I managed to perform the required skills- disconnect the inflator hose and right myself from an inverted position.
After the first dive, my instructor asked me if I wanted to try out his steel doubles that he was diving. I wasn't completely defeated from the first dive, so I thought that I would give it a try. This would be my second dive in a drysuit and my first time using double tanks. Brett helped me gear up, since the whole configuration was new to me, then he started to get into his single tank and BC. He told me that I could get into the water so that I wouldn't have to stand around waiting with all the weight, but that I shouldn't go to far.
I carefully waded into waist deep water, and put my mask on. I put the regulator in my mouth and walked out a little deeper to float and put my fins on. As soon as my face was under, I realized how negative the tanks were- they flipped me over onto my back. All the air that was in my drysuit went to my feet and lifted them to the surface. The tanks settled onto the bottom, and pinned me on my back. Since my feet were above me, I couldn't get any leverage to right myself. I struggled to roll over, but the tanks were too heavy. I calmed down and found some peace as I watched the bubbles from my reg break the surface. After about a minute of this calm, Brett walks over, looks at me through the water, and then pulls me out by the manifold. I was born again as a tech diver.
I was overweighted and using the suit for inflation, so the first dive was very typical of first time drysuit dives- I was fighting my buoyancy, trying to figure out the exhaust valves, and generally trying to get used to another airspace. Despite all the troubles, I managed to perform the required skills- disconnect the inflator hose and right myself from an inverted position.
After the first dive, my instructor asked me if I wanted to try out his steel doubles that he was diving. I wasn't completely defeated from the first dive, so I thought that I would give it a try. This would be my second dive in a drysuit and my first time using double tanks. Brett helped me gear up, since the whole configuration was new to me, then he started to get into his single tank and BC. He told me that I could get into the water so that I wouldn't have to stand around waiting with all the weight, but that I shouldn't go to far.
I carefully waded into waist deep water, and put my mask on. I put the regulator in my mouth and walked out a little deeper to float and put my fins on. As soon as my face was under, I realized how negative the tanks were- they flipped me over onto my back. All the air that was in my drysuit went to my feet and lifted them to the surface. The tanks settled onto the bottom, and pinned me on my back. Since my feet were above me, I couldn't get any leverage to right myself. I struggled to roll over, but the tanks were too heavy. I calmed down and found some peace as I watched the bubbles from my reg break the surface. After about a minute of this calm, Brett walks over, looks at me through the water, and then pulls me out by the manifold. I was born again as a tech diver.
