Drysuit And The Feet Up Ascent

[ingreevox]

Heres A Question For All Experianced Drysuit Divers.

Recently I Aquired A Drysuit, Took The Class, And Today Did My First Non Instructor Dry Suit Dive. At First My Decent Seemed A Bit Bouyant, As If I Was Underwieghted, But Upon Losing All My Air In The Bc, And Suit, I Got Down Fine. 20 Minutes Into My Dive, I Noticed I Was Getting Bouyant And I Started To Off The Air In My Suit To Stay Down (i Was At 67 Feet And I Wasnt Into The Rocket Effect).
I Noticed I Was Getting Alot Of Lift In My Feet, So I Got Vertical And Started To Bleed Alot Of Air. I Dont Know Where It Came From, But I Had It.
Lucky For Me I Had Planned Ahead So I Could Use A Rope To Ascend, Just In Case I Had Troubles, And I Ended Up Fighting To Keep Horizontal The Whole Time.
I Did The Somersault Move, And Kept Letting Air Out. My Feet Kept Getting Me Up Ended Though. Afetr 3 Mins At 15 Feet, I Ended Up Feet First At The Surface.
I Was Bummed, I Felt Like An Idiot.

I Was Using Gators, To Help Keep Air Out Of My Feet, And I Was Probably Underweighted.

Heres The Question. :06:
How Do Any Of You Keep The Air From Living In Your Boots, And Doing The Feet Up Thing? Foot WEIghts? Let Me Know, I Will Be Looking For Your Input.

Thanks...ing

 

[d33ps1x]

I don't use the suit as my primary buoyancy device. I only add enough air to keep the squeeze off and use the wing on my back.

 

[Snowbear]

I Did The Somersault Move, And Kept Letting Air Out. My Feet Kept Getting Me Up Ended Though. Afetr 3 Mins At 15 Feet, I Ended Up Feet First At The Surface.
I Was Bummed, I Felt Like An Idiot.

Heres The Question. :06:
How Do Any Of You Keep The Air From Living In Your Boots, And Doing The Feet Up Thing? Foot WEIghts?

You are not alone in your frustration - learning to dive in a drysuit is like learning to dive all over again!

Like d33 said - though you were most likely taught to use your suit for buoyancy, you will have much better control if you use your wing or BC for buoyancy and just keep enough air in the suit to keep the loft in the undies. If you are horizontal, you'll inevitably get a bit of air in the boots, but I've found lately with a borrowed suit with HUGE boots, if the rest of your trim is squared away, and you don't have a huge amount of gas in the suit, a little air in the boots is managable - besides, it helps keep your feet warm

I would seriously recommend you stay away from ankle weights if you can. I was put in 2 pounders by my OW instructor and were the first weights I dropped when I struck out on my own in my quest for perfect weighting and trim. Boy was that a relief!

Anyhow - another thing to remember - it takes a little bit longer for gas to vent from your suit than it does from your BC, so as you start your ascent, anticipate the need to release air from the suit. It really helps a lot to let air out of the suit a bit before you start feeling buoyant. Don't forget to vent the BC as well! I've noticed it takes most people 10-20 dives to really start feeling comfortable in a drysuit.

 

[d33ps1x]

...and just keep enough air in the suit to keep the loft in the undies.

hehe.

 

[Diver0001]

Heres A Question For All Experianced Drysuit Divers.

Recently I Aquired A Drysuit, Took The Class, And Today Did My First Non Instructor Dry Suit Dive. At First My Decent Seemed A Bit Bouyant, As If I Was Underwieghted, But Upon Losing All My Air In The Bc, And Suit, I Got Down Fine. 20 Minutes Into My Dive, I Noticed I Was Getting Bouyant And I Started To Off The Air In My Suit To Stay Down (i Was At 67 Feet And I Wasnt Into The Rocket Effect).
I Noticed I Was Getting Alot Of Lift In My Feet, So I Got Vertical And Started To Bleed Alot Of Air. I Dont Know Where It Came From, But I Had It.
Lucky For Me I Had Planned Ahead So I Could Use A Rope To Ascend, Just In Case I Had Troubles, And I Ended Up Fighting To Keep Horizontal The Whole Time.
I Did The Somersault Move, And Kept Letting Air Out. My Feet Kept Getting Me Up Ended Though. Afetr 3 Mins At 15 Feet, I Ended Up Feet First At The Surface.
I Was Bummed, I Felt Like An Idiot.

I Was Using Gators, To Help Keep Air Out Of My Feet, And I Was Probably Underweighted.

Heres The Question. :06:
How Do Any Of You Keep The Air From Living In Your Boots, And Doing The Feet Up Thing? Foot WEIghts? Let Me Know, I Will Be Looking For Your Input.

Thanks...ing

Sounds like my first dive in a drysuit. After 10 dives or so you'll wonder what your problem was.....

First thngs first.... you need to do a thorough buoyancy check at the end of the dive to make sure you have the right amount of weight. Aim to be neutral at the surface. Don't take too much weight because too much can cause the sort of problem you mentioned just as well as too little. (You may *feel* too light but that could also be caused by having extra air in your suit at your safety stop which expands easily at that depth with even small changes in depth...)

Second, try moving some weight "south". If you have it in your BCD then try moving it back to a weightbelt. Move a couple of lbs to a separate cam-band on the tank (note: do *not* use a weightbelt to hang weights on the tank, buy an separate cam-band). If you hang a couple of lbs low down on the tank it may be all you need.

It sounds like you have had some instruction already but you may need some practice in venting to get the most air out of your suit. Don't forget that when you vent you nee to make sure that the vent is at the highest point and turned all the way open. Keep it all the way open all the time. And make slooooowww ascents.

Also if you're using a trilam suit, try pulling any extra material up over your weightbelt. It will keep the "bubble" higher on your body. I've seen this simple tip totally solve all the trim problems for at least one diver who had a perhaps poorly fitted suit.

The gators are a good idea for now.

As for ankle weights..... I don't pesonally use ankle weights but I don't have a problem with them as a training tool. If you get them then get the smallest ones you can find. Most of them are much too heavy. If you start with ankle weights then you need to be diciplined enough to try diving without them every 10 dives or so until you can do without. Don't get addicted.

Some people will probably suggest heavy fins as a solution. I'm not against them either but I would personally avoid buying new fins right away until you see if you can sort out the problem other ways. If you are still diving with ankle weights after 30 or 40 dry dives then I would look at heavy fins.....

The fins vs. ankle weights thing is a hotly debated topic in most of these threads so be sure to read more than just my reply. You'll get a whole range of opinions and tips from others as well.

R..

 

[Snowbear]

hehe.

:11:

 

[d33ps1x]

Also if you're using a trilam suit, try pulling any extra material up over your weightbelt. It will keep the "bubble" higher on your body.

hehe. After the winter there is a different bubble above my waist and no extra room to worry about.

 

[Diver0001]

hehe. After the winter there is a different bubble above my waist and no extra room to worry about.

Pfff. I know the feeling. Must be a Canadian thing...

R..

 

[eod]

Haven't ended a dive feet up if I don't count the dry suit training class where we were supposed to grab a structure on the bottom, fill the suit with air and try to do the sommersault over and over again with more and more air in the suit until we couldn't handle it.

How I dive in a dry suit? With a small amount of gas in the suit. I use a combination of suit and wing for bouyancy compensation. Well actually, the gas in the suit is more to get the insulation, and some minor changes in bouyancy also. If I feel I get too much gas in the suit I release some and fill the wing.

 

[Ber Rabbit]

I learned to enjoy diving completely inverted with zero air in the suit (you should see the "hickeys" I get)

Seriously though, someone told me a harness style weightbelt would solve most of my problem, we'll see as I'm now the proud owner of one but have yet to try it. Maybe some of the others can weigh in on this option and help both of us.
Ber :lilbunny: