Cold water divers are better?

[DevonDiver]

I reckon the average BSAC diver eats more pies than a Bull Shark eats fish

 

[kaerius]

Throw another on the pile of more frequent/experienced divers make better divers.

I'm primarily a warm water diver, though I've doned the drysuit as well... main things that I experienced was: overheating on land, easier(effortless) to get and maintain good trim, and the leg up hazard to watch out for. Oh and that being overweighted is particularly bad in drysuit.

Low viz - done it in tropical water.
Current - done it in tropical water.

 

[Tomeck]

Dude... in my mind you so much sound like Borat.


I bet I've dived with heavier equipment here in Asia than you've ever done in cold waters My technics are effective and not reflective of the water temperature.

Yes like Borat.

I've dived at 330 ft with three deco in warm and cold water, I find in cold water more complicated, because it must to resist cold.



Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk

 

[fjpatrum]

I said the values I quoted didn't matter, they just give the general idea. Take 2 knots instead of 4 if you like. That's not the point of this thread.

There are places (eg Coiba, Pacific side of Panama) where the currents can be strong (up to more than 5 knots) and some dive sites are small, so you can't drift along. The boat doesn't help in that case. You have to use the boulders for protection, and sometimes you have to fin hard to gain a few meters to the next boulder because there is no rock to grab at the depth you are. If you let go you just screw up the dive. In some other occasions you have to fin hard just to stay stationary. That's often where the big fish are.

That happens also on wrecks, where you take advantage of the shelters provided by the wreck. Just as an example, currents on the Donator (Southern France) range from 0 to 5 knots when people dive it.

In the Red Sea offshore reefs (Brothers, Elphinstone ...) you often have to fight a current up to 2+ knots to go to the end of the North underwater plateau (where the sharks are) from the place where you have been dropped (usually close to the end of the table reef).

In all these cases the typical cold water setup (drysuit etc) doesn't help. Nor does the typical Tech setup (stages etc).

In water not too deep, I believe that a strong scuba diver with a thin wetsuit, no BCD or a sleek one, no or little lead, and adequate fins, can stand (and at least stay stationary) currents up to 3 or 4 knots for a short time ; and that can be useful. British Diver magazine fins' tests have had scuba divers measured swimming at more than 5 km/h underwater for a while (though I couldn't find for how long). But as I said, the exact value doesn't matter much, anyway.

Finally, and for the same setup reason, warm water divers, even when they are not fighting against the current but drifting with a fast, furious and turbulent flow, may have to cope with up- and down-currents that are more challenging than what cold water divers usually meet.

You are aware that 5 km/h is only about 2.7 knots, right? I'd dare say that very few of us, even the really well trained ones, could sustain that rate for more than a minute or two. Even then, you're not able to "stand" a current of 3 or 4 knots without losing ground.

I agree with the sentiment you're trying to express, I think, but the stats you gave aren't really supporting the argument you're making... assuming I am reading your argument correctly.

 

[hg frogman]

You are aware that 5 km/h is only about 2.7 knots, right? I'd dare say that very few of us, even the really well trained ones, could sustain that rate for more than a minute or two. Even then, you're not able to "stand" a current of 3 or 4 knots without losing ground.

I agree with the sentiment you're trying to express, I think, but the stats you gave aren't really supporting the argument you're making... assuming I am reading your argument correctly.

OK I surrender, please take my two previous posts and replace 4 knots by 2.5 knots, and then the half of 4 knots (ie 2 knots) and replace it by 1.25 knots.

As I said already two times, the values I gave didn't matter and were just to make the idea easy to understand (like 2+2=4), but as people seem to focus on these values I agree on changing them.

Cheers.

 

[Gerbs]

With a European setting...

Cold water divers have...
... a longer season (so more diving --> more experience)
... learned to deal with adverse conditions (hence knowing that you need to ask, never assume, and that you can adapt *IF*YOU*PUT*THE*EFFORT*IN*)

The main difference is more between a year-round diver and a vacation only diver. Also, if you are dedicated enough to dive in cold water, you are dedicated to learning it right. With warm water (>10c) you can get away with not being as dedicated and still enjoy the diving.

Exceptions prove the rule...

Gerbs

 

[Rhone Man]

I like how all warm water divers get lumped into the "vacation diver" group.

Yeah, that one bugs me too. Don't hate me just because I can log 120 dives a year in warm, clear waters. I don't mind cold water diving, but I need a good reason. Scapa flow for example.

Throw another on the pile of more frequent/experienced divers make better divers.

I think there is a lot to be said on that score. If you have 1,000 warm water dives, you still have a 1,000 dives, and you can't help but refine quite a lot of your skills in that time.

 

[kanonfodr]

Cold water, warm water; high viz, low viz: people can suck anywhere. Just the same, people can excel anywhere also. I dive locally in Oahu, but have "vacation" dived in Lake Travis, Tx (vis 3-10ft, bottom temps in the 50s) and Monterey, Ca (vis 10-25ft, water temps in the high 50s) and handled it fairly well. Granted, equipment selection and dive planning is more demanding in the colder, darker stuff than the warmer, brighter stuff; but I don't see a reason to lower our standards because the water is "easier."

Every dive site has it's own specific requirements and dangers, and it's up to the diver to adapt to and meet those requirements and dangers. Diving a bunch of sidemount cave doesn't necessarily prepare you for a rough beach entry in swell and waves with 1.5-2 foot faces, it prepares you for diving sidemount cave. On the reverse, rough beach entries in 1.5-2 foot faces in warm water wearing a shorty and an AL80 doesn't necessarily prepare you to do the same in cold water wearing a drysuit, steel doubles, and a deco bottle. It is up to the individual diver to prepare his or her self for the dive at hand, be it equipment selection, team/buddy selection, or training.

Peace,
Greg

 

[Dhboner]

I have had dive guides in the Caribbean tell me that their experience is that divers from colder waters tend to be "better" divers but that probably says more about the number of "vacation-only" divers they regularly see.

While I agree whole-heartedly that water temperature does not necessarily translate into superior skills I do think that those who dive in cold, dark water might be subjected to more task loading as they manage their drysuit inflation etc. with the compromised dexterity of using heavy gloves. Does that make them better divers...not necessarily, but I think it might give them a greater comfort level when conditions deteriorate.

 

[David_57]

I dunno I dive up in Canada average 60 times a year with dry suit, gloves, double tanks, etc in low vis 35 F waters. When down south in warm waters diving with a single 80 in rough seas I have definitely been out of my comfort zone.