Close call in the dressing room

[Surface Interval]

and you sort of look like the little brother in "A Christmas Story" when he's got all his winter gear on. Your arms stick out a bit to the sides and lord forbid it's going to be a while before you get in the water.

 

[csamto]

This thread has been absolutely Fantastic. I found it by accident at the beginning of the week and have read it whenever I get a chance. I figured I would share an experience as well.

I am new to diving (although caught the bug hard), and just started diving in December of 2010. I am currently living in Israel for my job and figured since I was so close to the Red Sea, what better time (or place) to start diving. I found a school that seemed to be decent, made reservations for OW showed up nice and early for my first day. The lady behind the counter sizes me up and gives me all my gear, to include an xl Scubapro wetsuit. After learning how to set up the gear, my instructor asks me if I am ready for my dive (I am very much ready to go). She hands me the wetsuit and tells me to "go get ready", and then adds, "if you have trouble getting the wetsuit on, try taking a shower". I thank her and enter the dressing/shower area thinking, "How hard can it be". Well, as there are currently 411 entries, apparently, people do know "how hard it can be". I had NO idea how to put this thing on. My only exposure to wetsuits had been watching movies that had divers in it and I never remember any of the actors falling over on their faces while trying to put a leg into the wetsuit. After about 15 minutes of tugging, pulling, falling over, and generally being very happy nobody else was in the room with me, I finally got both legs in and had it up to my hips. My instructor walks into the room and says, "Oh, good. You are almost dressed. Sometimes I have new students take over an hour to get that on".

Half way dressed and I am ahead of the curve. I am excited now. At least until I tried getting my arms in.... I start to wiggle and pull and get the wetsuit up to my chest and slowly start working my arm into one sleeve. Following her sage advice, I turned the shower on and worked my left arm in. After what seemed like an eternity (30 minutes), I finished getting dressed and felt "Ready to Dive" accept for the thought the creeped into my head repeatedly after the first 10 minutes of trying to get that stupid wetsuit on...."If getting dressed for Scuba diving is this hard, am I cut out for the actual act of diving"?

After my first dive, I was hooked and knew without a doubt, diving was for me...Until I tried getting the stupid thing off.....

I will not even begin to describe my first attempt at trying a hooded vest as the op covered that experience in great detail that seems to have mirrored my own.

For me, the thing that makes all the pain, suffering and occassional face plants while getting dressed is that serene moment of deflating the BC and sinking into the water. During that time, I forget about the pain of getting dressed and undress.

 

[Wantonmien]

So I went into the dressing room to try on a new hooded vest. It had some kind of a slick inner lining that is supposed to cling to your skin. It certainly did. It was a tad tight, and I had a difficult time getting it on.

Getting it off was even harder, I pulled on it with everything I had, and my now heavily perspired skin seemed to make moving it impossible. I managed to get it halfway off, and then I realized two things:

1. It really wasn't going anywhere.
2. I couldn't breathe.

The mouth and nose area were surrounded by wet suit. As the hypercapnia breathing reflex swept over me, I managed to pull the hood down and breathe. Once my breathing returned to normal, I gave it another shot. Same result. I thought I was having a near death experience, but the light at the end of the tunnel turned out to be coming through the face hole in the hood.

I managed to pull it back on fully and went out to the floor, where I got help to peel it off.

Questions:

If I had died, would this have been considered a scuba accident?

Should I notify DAN?

Brilliant Thanks for resurrecting this thread, I'd never seen it before but am going to enjoy reading through it and wonder what advice boulderjohn received for that near death experience !

 

[boulderjohn]

Brilliant Thanks for resurrecting this thread, I'd never seen it before but am going to enjoy reading through it and wonder what advice boulderjohn received for that near death experience !

Believe it or not, I still have the hooded vest. It still has the price tag on it. It is a ScubaPro, size Large. If anyone wants to buy it, i will accept an offer.

Life has changed for me quite a bit since then. For cold water diving I almost always use a dry suit now. A dry suit is much warmer, and much easier to get on and off.

 

[TSandM]

I think the horror of getting into a wet wetsuit (much worse than a dry one!) is a big part of the reason I simply dive dry everywhere nowadays . . .

 

[Hatul]

This thread has been absolutely Fantastic. I found it by accident at the beginning of the week and have read it whenever I get a chance. I figured I would share an experience as well.

I am new to diving (although caught the bug hard), and just started diving in December of 2010. I am currently living in Israel for my job and figured since I was so close to the Red Sea, what better time (or place) to start diving. I found a school that seemed to be decent, made reservations for OW showed up nice and early for my first day. The lady behind the counter sizes me up and gives me all my gear, to include an xl Scubapro wetsuit. After learning how to set up the gear, my instructor asks me if I am ready for my dive (I am very much ready to go). She hands me the wetsuit and tells me to "go get ready", and then adds, "if you have trouble getting the wetsuit on, try taking a shower". I thank her and enter the dressing/shower area thinking, "How hard can it be". Well, as there are currently 411 entries, apparently, people do know "how hard it can be". I had NO idea how to put this thing on. My only exposure to wetsuits had been watching movies that had divers in it and I never remember any of the actors falling over on their faces while trying to put a leg into the wetsuit. After about 15 minutes of tugging, pulling, falling over, and generally being very

For me, the thing that makes all the pain, suffering and occassional face plants while getting dressed is that serene moment of deflating the BC and sinking into the water. During that time, I forget about the pain of getting dressed and undress.

In Eilat you were probably diving with a 3mm suit. A 3mm suit is a cinch. Try a 7mm full suit with a 5 mm hooded vest for California diving.

Adam

 

[Hatul]

I think the horror of getting into a wet wetsuit (much worse than a dry one!) is a big part of the reason I simply dive dry everywhere nowadays . . .

Diving in the north west you need a drysuit. But admit it, if you're in an area where you don't need a drysuit, you're trading one set of problems for another.

 

[Insta-Gator]

I'm sure there's some noobs that haven't enjoyed this thread, so here's a bump. Tell your story ...

 

[Nylorac]

[QU!=TSandM;6014659]I think the horror of getting into a wet wetsuit (much worse than a dry one!) is a big part of the reason I simply dive dry everywhere nowadays . . .[/QUOTE]
Yes! The absolute horror of getting into a cold wetsuit after the first dive convinced me to love my drysuit - I could always handle dive #1 but #2......dry suits rule.

 

[Insta-Gator]

$400 wet suit $2000 drysuit


What's the choice again?