Close call in the dressing room

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This has been a hilarious thread! Well worth the time and laughter to read the years of "adventures".

My girlfriend and I decided we should get drysuit certified because of where we live and the fact that every training dive happens in this really deep, cold, cow pond down in New Mexico.

The lds at that time only had a couple drysuits to rent. I'm just shy of 6’, 175#, she's 5’2, oh, right, she weighs a lot less. They bring out the 2 suits, I can't tell the difference in size, so we each put one on. I can see the gap in the seal around her neck and mine seems snug, so we decide to trade. A little better, but her suit sure looked big. Time to get in the pool.

Geared up, went through all the reminders with the instructor. He explained what drills we would do and off to the deep end. So far, so good, but I'm getting damp.

When we reached the bottom, the idea was to do a roll to get the air out of the legs. When she went legs up, both fins squirted off with the boots when the air hit the bottom. There were 4 of us trying to pull the boots back on with her upside down in a drysuit that had about 10” more leg than she did, in 15’ of water. Meanwhile, when I went vertical to help, I learned that my neck seal was way bigger than my neck as all the air left, to be replaced with water!

We finally had to just swim her back to the shallow end. It's amazing we didn't knock her reg out, but she handled it pretty well.

I took my drysuit off in the pool. Not sure the seams would have held with the volume of water.

We bought our own drysuits before we went to Blue Hole. That's another story….
 
Lol, I was just looking at my sharkskin tonight thinking back to the day that I purchased it. I'd first tried on another and darn near had a medical event too.
 
I bought a new undersuit this summer. Lightweight, fleece type. Fits like a wetsuit, unlike my old Thinsulate undersuit. Had to try it on in my living room, with my normal wicking layer underneath.

Trying an undersuit indoors is a sweaty experience even if you are able to take it off when you want to. This one really didn't want to get off of me. SWMBO was not in the house, so no-one to help me. Have you tried wearing one layer of wool plus one layer of fleece for an extended period of time in 23 degrees C? I won't recommend it.

After a bit of acrobatics I was able to hook a fold in the undersuit on one of my door handles and wriggle out of the suit. Which I then opted to hang up to dry. It needed that. And I won't be donning that undersuit again unless there's an extra pair of hands close by.
 
I emerged alone at Dutch Springs from 38F water needing to get to the bathroom urgently. My hands were too cold and refused to cooperate with me to unzip suit. Took me 30 minutes squirming on the change room concrete floor before someone else entered and unlocked me from my prison. Never wear a backzip again.
 
Not sure if this counts, but I was doing my pool work for Open Water in the hot, inland part of the Bay Area, in summer. In preparation for the chilly 12C/55F waters of Monterey Bay, we were wearing full 7mm wetsuits. I am a moderately active guy, wear long sleeves and pants all summer, but I was just melting in that wetsuit. Put it on and you feel like you've literally stepped into a sauna. Air temperature was a roasting 40C/104F and even the pool felt uncomfortably warm. Literally the first time in my life I got heat stroke, and I was training to dive in Monterey!
 
I have a 9mm wetsuit for cold water diving. It’s. PITA to put on and take off. Water based lube makes it a helluva lot easier. Thank goodness I only use it at the beginning and end of the season.

I am in shape and it still kicks my ass getting in and out.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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