Scubaliz
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Hey everyone,
I have a question about drysuits.. I live in San Diego, and coming from the East coast, the water is way too cold for me to comfortably dive regularly (even summer nights usually) without a drysuit. Let's just say the thermocline kicks my ***.
That being said, I took my drysuit certification class (PADI) and was taught-- as the books even say, NOT to use my BC for inflation with my drysuit-- to solely use my drysuit. I found this to be ridiculous and I was constantly floundering around with about a two foot bouyancy difference with every breath. I am a very small person, so of course, the rental suit was insanely large and I had a lot of room for air to be trapped in spaces. This made the suit very uncomfortable (squeezes with wrinkles suck!) and hard to manage during any inflation. Unfortunately, I can't afford to buy a drysuit, so I have to deal with big suits for a while. I had much too much weight on, so I was having to compensate with air in my suit, and then had the misfortune of losing a weight pocket (damn the first generation velcro!!) at about 80 feet, suit extremely inflated for the depth... Needless to say, had I not practiced the skills of "kick down for your life or die" I would have had a marvelous runaway ascent on my hands.
I was able to kick down and grab onto my buddy, who could see by the fear in my eyes that something was really wrong. I pointed to my weights laying on the ocean floor and we ended up spending about ten minutes trying to get the pocket back in... which, had I had on videotape, would have made an awesome addition to any drysuit class... I ended up having to take off my BC entirely and replacing the pocket. Do they even make those stupid velcro things any more???
My question is this... I learned from various instructors that while diving dry, one should keep A) the valves always closed, or B) the valves always open and C)use the suit for inflation or D) use the BC for inflation. I am thoroughly confused, and as a result am wary of diving dry because I have no idea what would be the best ways to avoid dangerous situations that are bouyancy related. I have used a dryusit about ten times and still feel uncomfortable and a bit floppy and out of control in the water. What do you think?
I have a question about drysuits.. I live in San Diego, and coming from the East coast, the water is way too cold for me to comfortably dive regularly (even summer nights usually) without a drysuit. Let's just say the thermocline kicks my ***.
That being said, I took my drysuit certification class (PADI) and was taught-- as the books even say, NOT to use my BC for inflation with my drysuit-- to solely use my drysuit. I found this to be ridiculous and I was constantly floundering around with about a two foot bouyancy difference with every breath. I am a very small person, so of course, the rental suit was insanely large and I had a lot of room for air to be trapped in spaces. This made the suit very uncomfortable (squeezes with wrinkles suck!) and hard to manage during any inflation. Unfortunately, I can't afford to buy a drysuit, so I have to deal with big suits for a while. I had much too much weight on, so I was having to compensate with air in my suit, and then had the misfortune of losing a weight pocket (damn the first generation velcro!!) at about 80 feet, suit extremely inflated for the depth... Needless to say, had I not practiced the skills of "kick down for your life or die" I would have had a marvelous runaway ascent on my hands.
I was able to kick down and grab onto my buddy, who could see by the fear in my eyes that something was really wrong. I pointed to my weights laying on the ocean floor and we ended up spending about ten minutes trying to get the pocket back in... which, had I had on videotape, would have made an awesome addition to any drysuit class... I ended up having to take off my BC entirely and replacing the pocket. Do they even make those stupid velcro things any more???
My question is this... I learned from various instructors that while diving dry, one should keep A) the valves always closed, or B) the valves always open and C)use the suit for inflation or D) use the BC for inflation. I am thoroughly confused, and as a result am wary of diving dry because I have no idea what would be the best ways to avoid dangerous situations that are bouyancy related. I have used a dryusit about ten times and still feel uncomfortable and a bit floppy and out of control in the water. What do you think?