Cold water divers are better?

[jcfahy]

OK, I admit from the outset that I am being deliberately provocative in raising this often uttered phrase in the interests of the safety of less experienced divers. While we all acknowledge that each diver is responsible for his/her own safety, gas management, training, knowledge and dive plan, the simple fact is that many recreational divers dive only/mainly in warmer "vacation" waters where the challenges of buoyancy control with thicker skin protection, low visibility, unpredictable currents etc may be more formidable than first imagined. I have roughly half of my dives in temperate and colder waters (and grew up surfing in these waters and respect their capricious nature) and believe these dives accelerated my training and knowledge. Expect the unexpected. In the interests of safety and on-going training, should the certifying agencies encourage some recognition of the difference in say the advanced open water cert? (Yes, all the skills for both types are taught but it might raise awareness and preparedness).

 

[fnfalman]

Much ado about nothing.

Dive your dive.

 

[tstormdiver]

Cold water diving is only another skill set. I primarily dive fresh water quarries where the temperatures at depth (below 60ft) are usually at about 38- 45 degrees, regardless of surface or air temperatures. I also dive year round, including the winter months. I'll be the first to admit, handling currents really isn't my forte. There aren't many currnets in quarries, strip mine pits & lakes to deal with. I would say "yes" cold water diving makes me a better cold water diver (& probably helps with the warmer waters too), but when it comes to currents, I usually struggle a bit. There may be many warm water divers who can handle currents much better & probably safer than I can (not that I am really unsafe,.... just not good at them),... that's their skill set. There are different environments & different skill sets to handle those environments. It doesn't mean a diver is overall a better diver, just because they dive a particular skill set for a particular environment.

 

[DevonDiver]

Cold water divers have smaller willies....

 

[marinediva]

Tropical divers do it more often/

 

[ZenDiver.3D]

:cool2:

 

[tstormdiver]

Cold water divers have smaller willies....

Ahem!!...... :ermm:

 

[hg frogman]

"Unpredictable currents" are not specific from cold water. Nor is "bad visibility".

In fact, warm water divers do cope with stronger currents than cold water divers.

The reason for that ? The same diver that can manage, an even fight again, say, a 4 knots current in warm water, with a 3 mm wetsuit and powerful full foot fins, won't be able to manage more than a 2 knots current in cold water, because of his/her drysuit (especially if it's a trilaminate) and the huge extra amount of lead he/she has to carry with. (Exact values of the current don't matter, the point is one can't face the same current with a drysuit than with a thin wetsuit).

Warm waters have some very nasty currents (eg Komodo, Nusa Penida, Papua New Guinea, Coiba, Brothers Islands) that divers usually can't and don't cope with in cold waters.

I don't mean that cold water divers cannot become good warm water divers. I just mean it takes as much (or more) time to learn how to understand and manage the extreme currents of tropical seas, than it takes to learn to dive with a drysuit.

Bottom line is, one cannot generalize. Sure UK wreck divers are more prepared to demanding conditions (cold, viz, current ...) than lazy resort guests in the calmest seas of the Caribbean. But not all warm seas are calm !

 

[Jim Ernst]

Cold water divers have smaller willies....

Hey Buddy, I NEED that shrinkage........

 

[tstormdiver]

warm water divers do cope with stronger currents than cold water divers[/U].

The reason for that ? The same diver that can manage, an even fight again, say, a 4 knots current in warm water, with a 3 mm wetsuit and powerful full foot fins, won't be able to manage more than a 2 knots current in cold water, because of his/her drysuit (especially if it's a trilaminate) and the huge extra amount of lead he/she has to carry with. (Exact values of the current don't matter, the point is one can't face the same current with a drysuit than with a thin wetsuit).

I can attest to that. The Galapagos with its cooler waters & strong currents kicked my little drysuited butt massively!