cold water diving, no wing

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Crush

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Location
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I am not sure where to post this, but the Beginner Forum seems a bad place.

I just got back from some fun dives in non-challenging conditions. The catch is that I forgot to re-attach my drysuit inflator hose and no one had a spare. I decided to dive anyway (50 ft max depth in a lake w/20 ft vis) and, luckily, my wing inflater mated with my drysuit valve. To my surprise I didn't have to orally inflate my wing underwater - at depth a very small amount of extra air in my suit (which caused a small bubble of air to roll about between my shoulders) gave me all the extra lift I needed. Attention to my trim prevented a feet-first ascent.

Interesting note: in a horizontal position I had more lift than when vertical at the surface since the loft in my drysuit undergarment was compressed at my feet, venting air through my dump valve and causing me to not float high enough. I learned (at the surface) to close off my drysuit valve and inflate it, orally inflate my wing, and keep my reg handy in case my face fell below the surface.

Summary: it was a calm but instructive dive. I invite you to try something similar.
 
You weren't taught to use your dry suit for buoyancy while underwater?
 
I HAVE my BCD connected, but rarely use it (Other than on the surface) when in a drysuit. As long as youre not severely overweighted you dont really need a BCD when youre in a drysuit.

Come to think of it they didnt really use one at all back in the "good old days" - you know when my grandfather had to walk 20 miles uphill in both to and from the school in 6 feet of snow, while it was 20c below zero and raining :eyebrow:
 
When I took my Rec Triox class from AG, he disabled my wing . . . he wanted us to be able to manage with or without it. As a consequence, when doing OW dives in cold water, I maximize gas in the suit for warmth and mobility; when diving caves, where one must assume "unusual attitudes" at times, I squeeze the suit and put the gas in the wing. Both work. Different tools for different conditions.
 
I've always preferred using the BCD, and only taking the pinch off with a drysuit. That said, the PADI Drysuit course does teach buoyancy control with the drysuit (BCD as a redundancy and for surface support)...so I always assumed that the technique was pretty common knowledge.
 
I found the whole use your D/S vs BCD for buoyancy control was a non-issue for me (a single tank diver) when properly weighted. The amount of air needed in the BCD or extra in the suit was minimal (4lbs). Someone in doubles is playing a different game of course.
 
You weren't taught to use your dry suit for buoyancy while underwater?

Nope. I learned to dive a drysuit by asking the shop for some pointers, then going out and practicing.

Some divers have mentioned that they primarily use their wing for lift, not their drysuit - this has been my approach - just enough air to keep the suit from squeezing. My rationale is that, while inverted, I can vent air from my wing better than I can vent it from my toes.

I found the whole use your D/S vs BCD for buoyancy control was a non-issue for me (a single tank diver) when properly weighted. The amount of air needed in the BCD or extra in the suit was minimal (4lbs)...

That is pretty much what I "discovered."

I did not post this to begin a thread on which is better for buoyancy - wing or suit. I just wanted to share an experience which was novel for me.
 
Back in the day (when my father first started diving) wearing a drysuit was enough. That is, you were not expected to wear a BCD with the dry suit. He has a "tank pack" that essentially is a bp+harness that held the tank only. The only way to control buoyancy was the drysuit.
 
Back in the day (when my father first started diving) wearing a drysuit was enough. That is, you were not expected to wear a BCD with the dry suit. He has a "tank pack" that essentially is a bp+harness that held the tank only. The only way to control buoyancy was the drysuit.

One of our club members dives like this. He's been diving since the 70s and that was how he was taught.
 
Some of my friends dive the antarctic with just the drysuit and a plate. I've done a few dives with just the drysuit for buoyancy, but I didn't like it. I've dropped a lot of lead since then though, so perhaps it was that I was overweighted so the air was too squirly in the suit as a result. I usually don't hit my wing inflator until about 20' with my drysuit on.
 

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