Cold Water Diving

[jbichsel]

I am in a situation similar to yours. In Colorado, the lakes never get very warm and I want to do some ice diving this winter. However, budgetary restraints are keeping me from investing in a dry suit.

I am however, going to buy a Bare 7mm Arctic Fullsuit - $164.99, Bare 7mm Arctic vest - $86.00, Bare 7mm boots - $31.00, Bare 5mm Kevlar gloves - $31.00, Bare 3mm Hooded Collar-Cover vest - $55.00, and Henderson POLYOLEFIN dive skin - $70.00.

Total of $438.00 + shipping.

I would like to go for the Bare SGS series, but again, budget. Later when I can afford the SGS and dry suit, they will come. But for now, this combination will give me at least 4 options depending on water conditions.

1. Dive skin - 75+
2. Fullsuit only - 65+ degrees
3. Fullsuit + 3/5mm hooded vest - 55-65 degrees
4. Fullsuit + 7mm hooded vest - 40+ degrees

I have been diving in Texas lakes in winter where the temps were 38+ in a FJ/step-in with standard hood. The only problem was water getting down my back. I think the fullsuit combined with hooded vests will take care of this.

 

[ColdH20diving]

etype, All I can say is for those of you that dive wet in cold water more power to you. IMO a dry suit just makes the experience much more enjoyable and comfortable. Most if not all of the divers I've met are only diving wet because they are either new divers taking their open water, seasonal divers only diving during summer months, or just can't afford a dry suit yet.

 

[etype]

ColdH20diving once bubbled...
etype,... Most if not all of the divers I've met are only diving wet because they are either new divers taking their open water, seasonal divers only diving during summer months, or just can't afford a dry suit yet.

ColdH20Diving:
maybe those are just most of the divers that you know. Look friend, there are many people in Washington State who dive with a wetsuit year round... I’ve been diving long enough i’ve met a few divers myself.

 

[etype]

nitroxbabe:
i am disappointed by your tendancy to babbitism.To begin with, ‘hyperdictionary’ and the definitions it contains...signify little or less than nothing. It is worse than wrong, it is the usual useless cheaply made junk,...with the same respect for language as a culture as babbitism and censurism.
To begin with, it doesn’t point out that, def 2: of pussy, is ‘pus-sy’...entirely not synonomous nor similiar, nor in any way related to def 1: ‘pussy’...which refers to the cat........ def 2: refers to the discharge of pus. As in a medical term. It is not pronounced the same, it is not the same word. It is only spelled the same when written as a descriptive colloquialism. There is no entomological connection.
As for synonyms: You are either lying, i get nothing from that link...or that dictionary is so poor that it mixes the synonyms of two entirely different words, in the same list of definitions, and completely misleads the reader as to the entomology of these words, which are in no way connnected.
I wonder why that would be?

I have an Oxford English Dictionary, Unabridged, of which the authority is irrefutable:

Pussy:
1: A call name for cats.
(a word common to several teutonic languages, usually as a call-name for cats)
Deutsch ‘Poes’, Swiss ‘Pusse-katte’, Norwegian ‘puus’, Gael ‘pus’, Lithuanian -etc.
Entomology unknown.

First recorded, published use of Puss 1530, in Herwood’s ‘Jonah & Tyb’
First recorded use of Pussy,1726, Mrs. Delaney in “Life & Correspondants”
“ My new pussey is..white, ..with black spots.”

2: Used as a proper name for a hare:

Recorded 1785. Burn’s 1st Ep. J. Lepraik 3,
“Paitraiks scrairachan loud at e’en.
And morning whee Poosie whiddan seen.

Recorded 1790, Tam O’ Shanter.
“An open Poosie’s mortal foes.
When Pop! she starts before there nose!”

3: Applied to a girl or a woman:
1583: Stubbes Anot.
“ You shall haue eury sawcy boy...
to catch up an marie her...So he haue
his pretie pussie to huggle withall,
it forceth not.
----------------------------------------‘Pussy’, a colloquilism of ‘pus’...is not in the list of definitions, because it is an entirely seperate entomology, and has no connection but homonymic, or a similiar sound. It is also of Greek and later French origin;

Pussy: (Grk. Fr. Pus sb. + -y) Full of Pus.

Frst record, 695 AD. Medical News LIII
‘The most pussy gland ruptured during extrication...’
---------------------------------------------------
As for the connection between the two. It is in your mind, it is not in the language. I think you should not attempt to police language, unless you have some knowledge of it.

 

[Soggy]

jbichsel once bubbled...
However, budgetary restraints are keeping me from investing in a dry suit.
Total of $438.00 + shipping.

You just spent the same amount you would spend on an inexpensive drysuit. A Bare neoprene suit or Next-Gen can be bought from Canada for less than that.

 

[nitroxbabe]

"Pussy" as a part of "language as a culture"? Quoting word usage from hundred of years ago to explain away current crassness? Give me a break.

Everyone under the age of 80 knows darn well that the current use of "pussy" is NOT cat, especially when directed at another person as an insult. You're being very deliberately obtuse, as it's quite obvious that your intellectual abilities exceed this crap you've posted.

If you're unable to get the website from the link, and you're really that awfully interested, why don’t you just type it into a search engine. You’ll be amazed. It’s really there, I didn’t lie, I promise!!!

So essentially what’s happened here is this: I didn't like the rude word, and you feel you need to defend it at my expense, even descending to calling me a liar. So please, do me a favor and lay off the gleeful attack. You were crass, I didn't like it, get on with your life now. Let's hear more about your wet cold water diving exploits: it’s far more entertaining than this.

etype once bubbled...
nitroxbabe:
i am disappointed by your tendancy to babbitism.To begin with, ‘hyperdictionary’ and the definitions it contains...signify little or less than nothing. It is worse than wrong, it is the usual useless cheaply made junk,...with the same respect for language as a culture as babbitism and censurism.
To begin with, it doesn’t point out that, def 2: of pussy, is ‘pus-sy’...entirely not synonomous nor similiar, nor in any way related to def 1: ‘pussy’...which refers to the cat........ def 2: refers to the discharge of pus. As in a medical term. It is not pronounced the same, it is not the same word. It is only spelled the same when written as a descriptive colloquialism. There is no entomological connection.
As for synonyms: You are either lying, i get nothing from that link...or that dictionary is so poor that it mixes the synonyms of two entirely different words, in the same list of definitions, and completely misleads the reader as to the entomology of these words, which are in no way connnected.
I wonder why that would be?

I have an Oxford English Dictionary, Unabridged, of which the authority is irrefutable:

Pussy:
1: A call name for cats.
(a word common to several teutonic languages, usually as a call-name for cats)
Deutsch ‘Poes’, Swiss ‘Pusse-katte’, Norwegian ‘puus’, Gael ‘pus’, Lithuanian -etc.
Entomology unknown.

First recorded, published use of Puss 1530, in Herwood’s ‘Jonah & Tyb’
First recorded use of Pussy,1726, Mrs. Delaney in “Life & Correspondants”
“ My new pussey is..white, ..with black spots.”

2: Used as a proper name for a hare:

Recorded 1785. Burn’s 1st Ep. J. Lepraik 3,
“Paitraiks scrairachan loud at e’en.
And morning whee Poosie whiddan seen.

Recorded 1790, Tam O’ Shanter.
“An open Poosie’s mortal foes.
When Pop! she starts before there nose!”

3: Applied to a girl or a woman:
1583: Stubbes Anot.
“ You shall haue eury sawcy boy...
to catch up an marie her...So he haue
his pretie pussie to huggle withall,
it forceth not.
----------------------------------------‘Pussy’, a colloquilism of ‘pus’...is not in the list of definitions, because it is an entirely seperate entomology, and has no connection but homonymic, or a similiar sound. It is also of Greek and later French origin;

Pussy: (Grk. Fr. Pus sb. + -y) Full of Pus.

Frst record, 695 AD. Medical News LIII
‘The most pussy gland ruptured during extrication...’
---------------------------------------------------
As for the connection between the two. It is in your mind, it is not in the language. I think you should not attempt to police language, unless you have some knowledge of it.

 

[KrisB]

nitroxbabe once bubbled...
"Pussy" as a part of "language as a culture"? Quoting word usage from hundred of years ago to explain away current crassness? Give me a break.

Everyone under the age of 80 knows darn well that the current use of "pussy" is NOT cat, especially when directed at another person as an insult. You're being very deliberately obtuse, as it's quite obvious that your intellectual abilities exceed this crap you've posted.

Well, etype is mostly right, though I think his Oxford is a little dated.

From the "New Oxford Dictionary of English" (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998)

pussy -> noun (pl. -ies)
1 (also pussy cat) informal a cat.
2 vulgar slang a woman's genitals.
o [mass noun] offensive women in general, considered sexually.
o N. Amer. informal a weak, cowardly, or effeminate man.

Considering these definitions, I think its use here falls under the N.A. informal use meaning "a weak, cowardly, or effeminate man". Note that it did not say "offensive" or "vulgar" next to that one.

Now, we both used the Oxford definitions, because it is best known for providing an appropriate and complete definition to a word. The Merriam Webster dictionary, which is available online at http://www.m-w.com is also fairly trustworthy, but provides chiefly US definitions without respect for international meanings. Here is its entry:

1 pussy (noun)
1 cat
2 a catkin of the pussy willow

2 pussy (noun)
1 usually vulgar Vulva
2 a usually vulgar Sexual intercourse b usually vulgar the female partner in sexual intercourse

3 pussy (adjective)
1 full of or resembing pus

Hyperdictionary is not loading for me right now, so I cannot compare its sources. Suffice it to say that I doubt they are as time-tested as either the Oxford or Merriam-Webster. However, between the Oxford (most trustworthy) and the Merriam-Webster (second most trustworthy) definitions, I think we can clearly see that the first and primary definition is that of a cat.

I also don't think that the intent was to use a vulgar definition, so we're stuck with the Oxford's North American informal definition as the one that most likely details the meaning for us.

 

[jbichsel]

Soggy once bubbled...


You just spent the same amount you would spend on an inexpensive drysuit. A Bare neoprene suit or Next-Gen can be bought from Canada for less than that.

I searched the internet for a couple of weeks and the best I found for the Bare Next-Gen was $475 + $100+ for underwear. The neoprene's are around $598 and up.

Personally, I am more comfortable in a wetsuit. I have dived dry before and will again. Just not right now. Plus, I got everthing for $359.00, and it gives me more options than a dry suit alone.

 

[Soggy]

jbichsel once bubbled...
I searched the internet for a couple of weeks and the best I found for the Bare Next-Gen was $475 + $100+ for underwear. The neoprene's are around $598 and up.

Have you tried divesource.com and dansdiveshop.ca?

Personally, I am more comfortable in a wetsuit. I have dived dry before and will again. Just not right now. Plus, I got everthing for $359.00, and it gives me more options than a dry suit alone.

If you are more comfortable in a wetsuit, great, but a drysuit offers you far more options than any combination of wetsuits. You can dive from 28 degrees all the way to 80 degrees in complete comfort simply by varying what you wear underneath.

 

[jbichsel]

in a dry suit? I'd be a heat stroke statistic before I hit 10'. If the air temp is above 80, I'm in my basement laying on the tile floor. I don't start to sleep well until my breath can freeze on my moustache.

I just checked out divesource.com and their lowest priced drysuit is $749.99CA ($536.51US) . Their price on the fulsuit I bought is $299.99CA ($214.60US) vs. my $164.99US. So far, I'm still ahead, but thanks for the info.

As to dansdiveshop.ca, it seems their hyperlinks are fouled up. The only one that seems to work is for the regulators. Everything else just brings up a page for Tusa masks.