Dry suit woes

[MrMojo]

Hi All,
Did my first dive in uk waters ( s.coast) yesterday and i am still trying to work out if i enjoyed it or not.
The dive was in 8 m of water out side a harbour wall and my first ever time in a dry suit .We decended the line me another student and two instructors the idea of this dive was to get used to the suit and go through various exercises and drills .When we decended the line i realiised the vis was about <1 m and due to the shoppy waters breaking against the wall a heavy wash of water back and forth .Once i got to the bottom i kneeled on the bottom to calm my self down and to then try an get n.bouyant but due to the wash kept getting knocked over.After i while i got bouyant and started to swim around and and did some exercises but it was very hard due to the only dunp for the suit was on my arm ( wrist) and if i inflated the suit the ascended alittle i started to rise quickly and found it difficult to get the air out of the suit and yo-yoed abouut .We was then asked to do the roll to get yourself out of feet high ascent the other student went first and flounded about and the just dissapeared upwards one instructor went after him and i was thinking god please don't make me do that .Swam about with instructor and then asended up the line.The other student was vomitting at the surface and had to be towed back to the boat . During our SI the other student did not want to get back into the water and was looking a funny colour.
The next dive was inside te harbour to a depth of 18 m and we visited a wreck, water a lot better and vis 2-3 metres but my biggest problem was controlling the bouyantcy of the suit.If i went down one or two metre and added air to take away the squeeze and then asened one or two metres i suddenly start to asend fast and had to right my self and empty my lungs to bring me back down and some times i was unable to get air out of the suit at the arm.This became very frustrating as i spent the whole dive trying to remain boyant and not seeing what was around me.I did the roll exercise well and that gave me alot of confidence.Just as i was getting the hang of things one of the instructors came over and pushed my chest inflate and i shot up but managed to regain myself ,i found it easier to keep my self slightlt neg bouyant .The instuctor said i need to fin more to move up and down but in the dry suit ifelt my feet were just moving around in the boot and not being able to get a good contact with the fin .Next week i have 3 more dives in the dry suit in a quarry and if any one out there can give me some advice on what i am doing wrong or how to improve iwould be grateful.The instructor said i did good for my first time in the various bad conditions but i feel so frustated and it was like i was starting out all again.

Regards,

MAL..

 

[scubakat]

Hey MrMojo, keep it up. I'm sure that you will get a feel for managing the gas in your suit after a few more dives. Is this your own suit?

-K

 

[Uncle Pug]

MrMojo once bubbled...
if i inflated the suit the ascended alittle i started to rise quickly and found it difficult to get the air out of the suit and yo-yoed abouut .

and you will find useful information about diving drysuits.

BTW... your above quote is why I find it unadvisable to use the drysuit for bouyancy control and prefer to use the aptly named buoyancy compensator for buoyancy compensation.

I only add enough gas to the suit to take the excessive squeeze off... some instructors, agencies and manufacturers feel that it is too difficult for divers to manage two devices that contain air so they recommend using the BC as a surface support (life jacket) and to use the suit for buoyancy control

However I find that it is possible to control three devices in concert to achieve the buoyancy I want at any given time, neutral, positive or negative. Those devices are:

Suit ~ minimal gas to relieve squeeze, needs to be dumped on ascent and when in horizontal trim I leave the dump open all the time and let as much gas escape as possible.

BC (I use a wing) ~ gas added or dumped to achieve neutral buoyancy with lungs half full.

Lungs ~ main buoyancy control device... can be used hands free and with practice semi-automatic... able to accomodate desired vertical movement through water column while remaining neutral.

As with anything it will take time and practice. I am not special. If I can do it you can do it too. As ScubaKat said... keep at it

 

[Ber Rabbit]

My buddy and I have 7 "pleasure" dives in our dry suits and I still have many problems with mine while he has no trouble at all. My dump is on my left bicep and it often dumps too slow to avoid an uncontrolled ascent. Worst part is, I didn't have this much trouble training with the suit, it has gotten worse as I go.

I had the "floppy foot" feeling too until I put on 2 pair of thick socks so my foot would fill the boot. MUCH BETTER!

Feeling like you're starting over isn't unusual. My instructor and I learned to dive dry together and even she said she felt like a brand new diver! Just stick with it, it's bound to get better! Don't let the suit get the better of you!
Ber

 

[MrMojo]

Thanks for advice,
Scubacat
No the suit was provided by the instructor,where as they all had 1 inflator ,2 dumps wrist and soulder/chest i only had the auto on my wrist.but the suit was a good fit except for feet !!

UP
I had read a few of the threads before i went and using the BC vs Suit the way you described made perfect sense .But i could not turn round and say this to the instructor as i would be a cyberscuba guy thinking i know best but had nothing to back it up with.I was hoping to get the basics right under the instructor and practise some more and then as i get more experienced try out the different options.But first i must at least get the basics right.
next weekend i am doing three more dives in the same suit so hopefully i will get better .my biggest problem was there was so many new challenges Dry suit ,uk waters,low vis,water movement that it was hard to concerntrate on dealing with them all at once ,this morning i woke up and felt like i had done 10 rounds with mike tyson.(no i wasn't missing any ears).

Ber Rabbit
Yeah this had crossed my mind as a solution during the SI but i was only wearing ankle socks as they do look cool with my sneakers and the only spare pair i had were ankles as well looks like i will have to invest in some thick wolly socks, boy does this sport get expensive


thanks for the encouragement as it does really work and makes me push harder to achieve results,as i could not come on this board and tell all you great guys that i had given up.

REGARDS,

MAL..

 

[barb]

Uncle Pug once bubbled...

I am not special.

Uncle Pug: I think you are Special. You have a lot of experience and are kind, considerate and honest in giving advice - this makes you special and a great asset to scubaboard!

 

[lakesdiver]

Like everyone else has said, keep at it. We found our local quarry a great place to practice, as the water conditions (except viz) were so predictably flat calm. If you can do a dozen or so practice dives in the quarry you mentioned, I'm sure it'll help your confidence level a lot.

Like UP said, the suit ain't your BC. It's just to keep you dry.

If your boots are a bit loose, Trident makes a kind of rubber stirrup. I can't remember what it's called, but it's a y-shaped piece that fits over your boot and snugs it up. Also good at preventing air getting into your boot if you're inverted.

Lastly, (don't get depressed) it IS kind of like beginning again. It takes practice to learn how that bit of air moving about affects your buoyancy. But it's not really complicated, it's just a practice thing. You learn it, and faster than you think.

Good luck.

 

[lakesdiver]

lakesdiver once bubbled...
If your boots are a bit loose, Trident makes a kind of rubber stirrup. I can't remember what it's called, but it's a y-shaped piece that fits over your boot and snugs it up. Also good at preventing air getting into your boot if you're inverted.

They're called "fin grippers", part number RP57. Here's a link.

http://www.tridentdive.com/page101.htm

Hope any of the above is of some help, 'cause dry is the ONLY way to go in our chilly climes.

 

[MrMojo]

Thanks for the encouragement ,yesterday i finished and passed my AOW and the 3 dives i did were all in the dry suit.Those thick socks worked a treat.My first dive was a deep dive down to 30 metres which i was very nerous about as i was not confident in the dry suit and as we arrived at stoney cove there was an ambulance and then a air lift helicopter apparently some diver passed out underwater which added a bit more nervousness.But at the bottom we only did exercises to try and prove narcosis.my second dive was navigation which was in the 7-20 metre range whicch was real good fun as this was with me and my buddy and no instructor which took alot of pressure off and i found my bouancy just feel into place it all seemed so much easier,The instructer followed are progress from the surface by a bouy we was carrying so he could check our bearings .The third dive was decided on at the last minute(it may have been planned ) and was a fun but serious dive and we had to use DPV's and follow the same route as before but only using natrual navigation from the previous dive ,hell was that fun or what all these divers sruggling to fin back to the exit point and we would just glide by hooohaaa ,but we had to carry these thing out of the lake in full gear but hell was it worth it.

Thanks all for your words of encouragement and it truly was worth the effort and persistence and i fell alot more confident in a drysuit.

Regards

MAL..