Run the shoulder vent wide open so it will auto-dump more easily. If that feels much too constricting, maybe a few clicks from fully open.
Drysuit Specialty course tips?
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Still Kicking
Contributor
By minimizing the amount of air in the suit, you greatly reduce the chance of a feet-first ascent. Good luck.
landphil
Registered
Learning to dive a drysuit takes 10-20 really bad dives, where you’re using at least a quarter of your tank to repeatedly inflate and vent your suit, then another 10-20 not quite as bad dives where it’s starting to feel right at least part of the time.
After you’ve made it through the steepest part of the learning curve, the best thing you can do is figure out good squeeze vs bad squeeze. If you’re not feeling well squeezed, it’s likely you’re carrying too much weight and over inflating your suit. But you don’t want to get so light that you can’t keep warm and end up finishing the dive covered in bruises.
Beginner drysuit divers are almost always overweighted. It’s all part of compensating for not knowing how to manage and dump the air in your suit and feeling uncomfortable when your suit gets tight. But as you start getting more comfortable, you’ll be able to reduce your weight. As you’re leaning, it’s a great exercise to drop 2 lbs of weight and do several dives until less weight feels like the right amount. You’ll likely find that you quickly get used to having less air in your suit. And after a couple of rounds of dumping 2lbs of weight, you no longer need to inflate your BC when you’re not on the surface; since the amount of air you need to keep perfectly squeezed (or perfectly lofted for you glass half full types) is really close to what you need to be neutrally buoyant.
After you’ve made it through the steepest part of the learning curve, the best thing you can do is figure out good squeeze vs bad squeeze. If you’re not feeling well squeezed, it’s likely you’re carrying too much weight and over inflating your suit. But you don’t want to get so light that you can’t keep warm and end up finishing the dive covered in bruises.
Beginner drysuit divers are almost always overweighted. It’s all part of compensating for not knowing how to manage and dump the air in your suit and feeling uncomfortable when your suit gets tight. But as you start getting more comfortable, you’ll be able to reduce your weight. As you’re leaning, it’s a great exercise to drop 2 lbs of weight and do several dives until less weight feels like the right amount. You’ll likely find that you quickly get used to having less air in your suit. And after a couple of rounds of dumping 2lbs of weight, you no longer need to inflate your BC when you’re not on the surface; since the amount of air you need to keep perfectly squeezed (or perfectly lofted for you glass half full types) is really close to what you need to be neutrally buoyant.
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Now that your head is full of far too much information go do what your instructor wants you to do and chill
So true. Advice to use the BC for buoyancy and not use the suit for buoyancy may be contrary to what the instructor teaches. So, my advice would be to follow what the instructor tells you to do, learn to dive the drysuit that way, and then later if you want to learn more or differently you certainly can.
Using the suit for buoyancy is possible in some situations. However, in the real world, time is not taken to properly weight new drysuit divers, and as a result, they end up overweighted and have to use so much air in the suit that managing the bubble in the first atmosphere is hard as hell.
I always spent a minimum of two pool sessions in the drysuit class, with the first session almost exclusively focused on getting the students' weighting as close as possible. The rest of that session was spent managing the bubble and using the BC and suit in conjunction. We worried about skills in the second pool session.
The idea that managing two buoyancy sources is too much for a new diver is complete BS if the instructor knows what they are doing, is not lazy, and doesn't try to rush the student through.
I also insisted that drysuit students have good buoyancy control and trim to begin with so they knew how they were supposed to feel in the water.
When using heavy steels or tech diving using the suit only can be very dangerous.
New dry divers only need enough air to offset squeeze in the suit. The BC should be used for primary buoyancy.
That's not just my opinion. When I was authoring the new SDI Drysuit course, a number of suit manufacturers were contacted by myself and my editors at SDI and none would endorse using the suit as the primary means of buoyancy control.
The suits are exposure protection. The BC is for buoyancy along with proper weighting and breathing control.
I always spent a minimum of two pool sessions in the drysuit class, with the first session almost exclusively focused on getting the students' weighting as close as possible. The rest of that session was spent managing the bubble and using the BC and suit in conjunction. We worried about skills in the second pool session.
The idea that managing two buoyancy sources is too much for a new diver is complete BS if the instructor knows what they are doing, is not lazy, and doesn't try to rush the student through.
I also insisted that drysuit students have good buoyancy control and trim to begin with so they knew how they were supposed to feel in the water.
When using heavy steels or tech diving using the suit only can be very dangerous.
New dry divers only need enough air to offset squeeze in the suit. The BC should be used for primary buoyancy.
That's not just my opinion. When I was authoring the new SDI Drysuit course, a number of suit manufacturers were contacted by myself and my editors at SDI and none would endorse using the suit as the primary means of buoyancy control.
The suits are exposure protection. The BC is for buoyancy along with proper weighting and breathing control.
This is extremely useful information, thank you so much for your reply!
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Key points we've identified so far, in no particular order:
- Proper weight check !
- Fully open shoulder dump valve
- Minimize air volume added to suit, too much air in the suit is unstable and hard to manage
- New dry divers only need enough air to offset squeeze in the suit
- The BC should be used for primary buoyancy along with proper weighting and breathing control, it's easier and faster to dump air from BC
- In a head up position too much air in suit can unintentionally vent from suit through neck seal
- The suits are exposure protection, make sure fit is proper and have good undergarments
TxDivN13
Registered
A few other have already commented on the fit and i will just throw in on that point.
A proper fitting suit is always my priority and starting point. It sets the stage for everything else.
If you have a bad fit everything else in that list becomes a little more difficult.
Off the shelf is great IF it's a proper fit.
Don't be sucked in to a great price and a bad fit. Ive seen this mistake many times.
A proper fitting suit is always my priority and starting point. It sets the stage for everything else.
If you have a bad fit everything else in that list becomes a little more difficult.
Off the shelf is great IF it's a proper fit.
Don't be sucked in to a great price and a bad fit. Ive seen this mistake many times.
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