Oh and yes I wanted to do the dry suit course so that I could keep up my scuba skills doing some UK diving...it's getting warmer now so I'll take the suggestion of a thick wet suit and build up my skills first.
Dry suit course failure
- Thread starter lozadora
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Most folks where I am from dive with dry suits. If they plan on diving here, they usually make the transition to the dry suits quickly, once they are familiar with conditions. Once you are comfortable with the conditions, don't wait too long to learn to dive dry. You might as well get used to it sooner rather than later.
In fact, we teach most of our open water students in dry suits from the "get go". It's the folks that get certified in the "tropics" that have to figure out the transition. I got certified in St. Lucia. Tried some diving up here with a couple of orientation dives and decided then to learn to dive dry.
PeterNBiddle
Contributor
I don't think it was too soon to learn to use a dry suit. I think it was too soon to do your first cold water, low viz dives in an unfamiliar site, using a piece of gear that definitely complicates diving.
One of the things I've learned (unfortunately, at least several times) is to change one thing at a time with my diving. If I change a piece of gear, I do it at a familiar site under conditions where I'm comfortable. If I'm going to challenge some difficult conditions, I make sure I'm totally at home with all the equipment I'm going to do it in.
You took a lot on yourself at once. I totally agree with the folks who suggest doing a few dives at whatever site this is in more familiar gear. It may be that you are going to have to work at coping with low visibility. We have had one student who just couldn't. She loves warm water diving, but she won't do Puget Sound, not because it's cold, but because not being able to see makes her too anxious.
One of the things I've learned (unfortunately, at least several times) is to change one thing at a time with my diving. If I change a piece of gear, I do it at a familiar site under conditions where I'm comfortable. If I'm going to challenge some difficult conditions, I make sure I'm totally at home with all the equipment I'm going to do it in.
You took a lot on yourself at once. I totally agree with the folks who suggest doing a few dives at whatever site this is in more familiar gear. It may be that you are going to have to work at coping with low visibility. We have had one student who just couldn't. She loves warm water diving, but she won't do Puget Sound, not because it's cold, but because not being able to see makes her too anxious.
I know what it is like to qualify in warm clear water and then come back to diving in the UK. I was fortunate enough to be able to get over 30 dives before the transition, so at least had the start of a grip on the basic skills.
I dive with Oxford Dive Centre, going down to Vobster Quay near Bath.
Seems big enough to not be crowded. Visibility can be variable - 1 to 2 metres where an open water class have stirred up the silt, but have had up to 10 metres.
Further for you than Wraysbury, but might be worth considering
I agree that you do need the pool session to get used to the feel of the dry suit, practice the skills and get some idea of your weight requirement.
Good luck with it. Stay safe.
John
I dive with Oxford Dive Centre, going down to Vobster Quay near Bath.
Seems big enough to not be crowded. Visibility can be variable - 1 to 2 metres where an open water class have stirred up the silt, but have had up to 10 metres.
Further for you than Wraysbury, but might be worth considering
I agree that you do need the pool session to get used to the feel of the dry suit, practice the skills and get some idea of your weight requirement.
Good luck with it. Stay safe.
John
MattDW
Registered
Hi Lozadora,
Yeah echo'ing what others have said, don't see this as a failure - you should have discussed with your instructor before leaving the opportunity to return at a later date (soon!) to try again. Did you get in the swimming pool first to do the skills involved in a dry suit. You should get in the pool with exactly the same thermals that you'll wear in open water, then your weight requirements will be similar.
I use 16kg in salt water in my neoprene drysuit with a couple of warm layers under it.
Its not too early to be learning to dive a drysuit in the UK - its a necessity if you want to do UK diving this time of year, and much more comfortable using one even in the peak of summer. But you do need to be aware, as you are now, that the visibility is going to be a world apart from what you enjoyed on holiday. Particularly in a busy lake, with lots of students - and the visibility is often at its worst around the areas of the training platforms which is where you were.
The skills are REALLY quick to complete for the drysuit course, so if you can get yourself certified its just then a case of getting a bit of practice in and getting used to the crappy vis we have to endure in the UK! My advice though is to get a number of dives in < 10M water in lakes before you head deeper - it does take a little while to get used to the buoyancy.
Yeah echo'ing what others have said, don't see this as a failure - you should have discussed with your instructor before leaving the opportunity to return at a later date (soon!) to try again. Did you get in the swimming pool first to do the skills involved in a dry suit. You should get in the pool with exactly the same thermals that you'll wear in open water, then your weight requirements will be similar.
I use 16kg in salt water in my neoprene drysuit with a couple of warm layers under it.
Its not too early to be learning to dive a drysuit in the UK - its a necessity if you want to do UK diving this time of year, and much more comfortable using one even in the peak of summer. But you do need to be aware, as you are now, that the visibility is going to be a world apart from what you enjoyed on holiday. Particularly in a busy lake, with lots of students - and the visibility is often at its worst around the areas of the training platforms which is where you were.
The skills are REALLY quick to complete for the drysuit course, so if you can get yourself certified its just then a case of getting a bit of practice in and getting used to the crappy vis we have to endure in the UK! My advice though is to get a number of dives in < 10M water in lakes before you head deeper - it does take a little while to get used to the buoyancy.
PeterNBiddle
Contributor
Isn't it great that we get to keep learning the same thing over and over again until we don't need to learn it anymore? I finally learned that its never a good idea to do tequila shots last Wed night when I successfully didn't do them. Was a much better evening and morning after.
My dive buddy feels the same way. I'm not sure ill ever get her into the Sound because: "murky!"
Lozadora, don't look at it as a failure, taking it as a learning experience, what you think you did right or wrong, or what you feel was good or bad about the course/instructor and the conditions you were trying to dive in. A lot of people do their OW course in drysuits as has been mentioned, so with 4 dives under your belt, it's hard to say it's too soon, but too many new things at once (cold water, low viz, using the drysuit, the busy site, etc) can make things much more difficult.
As a few words of encouragement, I did my first drysuit dives today, so I can kind of relate to your experience. For the first bit, I was thinking "this is really easy"... I had a good hover going, good trim... and then NOPE, I find myself ascending. There were times during the dives that I felt like a brand new diver all over again, struggling with my buoyancy, going up, going down, finding the sweet spot for a while, then whoops, going up and then down... like anything, it'll take some practice. Good luck and enjoy your local diving.
As a few words of encouragement, I did my first drysuit dives today, so I can kind of relate to your experience. For the first bit, I was thinking "this is really easy"... I had a good hover going, good trim... and then NOPE, I find myself ascending. There were times during the dives that I felt like a brand new diver all over again, struggling with my buoyancy, going up, going down, finding the sweet spot for a while, then whoops, going up and then down... like anything, it'll take some practice. Good luck and enjoy your local diving.
Ken T
Contributor
My wife and I did our dry suit course after just 6 dives.
Like you we did our OW in a warmer area of the world and decided to keep up our skills we had better dive locally.
The pool sessions were comical...we had also switched to backplate/wing as well as added the learning process of the dry suit.
Lots of time on our backs, turning turtle, some rapid ascents, unable to hover in anything resembling a trim position.
The lake dives were not much better, the vis was probably 10 feet.
As I look back on it...I'm not sure I would have passed us.
Perhaps our Instructors had seen some improvement and decided not to with hold the card.
So, after some 20 dry suit dives now, we are fairly comfortable with our setups, buoyancy and trim are not too bad.
Like others have suggested, do some wetsuit dives with 7mm and a farmer john to get used to the visibility conditions and try again.
You'll do fine in the end.
Like you we did our OW in a warmer area of the world and decided to keep up our skills we had better dive locally.
The pool sessions were comical...we had also switched to backplate/wing as well as added the learning process of the dry suit.
Lots of time on our backs, turning turtle, some rapid ascents, unable to hover in anything resembling a trim position.
The lake dives were not much better, the vis was probably 10 feet.
As I look back on it...I'm not sure I would have passed us.
Perhaps our Instructors had seen some improvement and decided not to with hold the card.
So, after some 20 dry suit dives now, we are fairly comfortable with our setups, buoyancy and trim are not too bad.
Like others have suggested, do some wetsuit dives with 7mm and a farmer john to get used to the visibility conditions and try again.
You'll do fine in the end.
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