RobPNW
Contributor
Does that thing keep your neck warmer as well? Know if it's trimible for those of us with short necks?
Failed Open Water in Dry Suit and Devastated - Any Advice?
- Thread starter Persephone
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rjgiddings
Contributor
You're not a failure. You gave it a solid try - and by reading through your post - you came a loong way in the last three days ! I think learning scuba in a drysuit all during your open water classes is sometimes just too much. But the water temp kind of necessitates it.
Drysuit diving is worthy of it's own class over a few hours of pool work and then a few open water dives to get used to it.
Is it harder/ different in a drysuit from diving in a BC and a wetsuit - yep- because the BC was a smaller bubble to manage and now the entire suit is a large bubble to manage. Different approach to managing it !
Is warm water diving in a wetsuit easier- yep - by a mile.
Drysuit diving is worthy of it's own class over a few hours of pool work and then a few open water dives to get used to it.
Is it harder/ different in a drysuit from diving in a BC and a wetsuit - yep- because the BC was a smaller bubble to manage and now the entire suit is a large bubble to manage. Different approach to managing it !
Is warm water diving in a wetsuit easier- yep - by a mile.
Cthippo
Contributor
I almost had the same thing happen in my OW course and it may come down to one thing. In the pool I was fine, a little bored even, and had zero problem with the skills. The first day in the 48 degree water going from my 3/2mm wetsuit to the 7mm with a 10mm hood and 48 degree water it all fell apart. The combination of the tight wetsuit neck with the thick hood neck put a lot of pressure on my larynx and made it feel like I couldn't breathe. I was instantly out of breath and gasping in the water and it all fell apart.
Fortunately for me, stretching the crap out of the hood neck and wearing it outside the wetsuit cleared 90% of it up and I learned to live with the other 10%. I feel like your instructor did not spend an adequate amount of time getting you into gear that fits properly and you deserve at least another session in better fitting gear to try again.
Fortunately for me, stretching the crap out of the hood neck and wearing it outside the wetsuit cleared 90% of it up and I learned to live with the other 10%. I feel like your instructor did not spend an adequate amount of time getting you into gear that fits properly and you deserve at least another session in better fitting gear to try again.
For your consolation.
During my first course we were 25 students. At the end just 5 were certified.
Some of the others gave up, some other took a second chance repeating the course and 5 of them managed to be certified one year later (one of them was my girlfriend).
Despitr her initial difficulties, she improved year after year. 8 years later she became a 2-stars Cmas instructor, and we started working as professional instructors at Maldives.
So just keep on!
PS: also for my girlfriend the suit was a big problem, limiting her mobility. The following year she did purchase a different type of suit, more adherent and far more stretchy, and this helped a lot.
It did also help to follow an "aquaticty" course, entirely in a warm pool, during winter, where she did learn to swim with fins, mask and snorkel, to use them properly, to evacuate the mask while freediving, and she discovered her beloved Rondine Gara fins, providing her the thrust and speed she was lacking with the short paddles she had during her first course.
During my first course we were 25 students. At the end just 5 were certified.
Some of the others gave up, some other took a second chance repeating the course and 5 of them managed to be certified one year later (one of them was my girlfriend).
Despitr her initial difficulties, she improved year after year. 8 years later she became a 2-stars Cmas instructor, and we started working as professional instructors at Maldives.
So just keep on!
PS: also for my girlfriend the suit was a big problem, limiting her mobility. The following year she did purchase a different type of suit, more adherent and far more stretchy, and this helped a lot.
It did also help to follow an "aquaticty" course, entirely in a warm pool, during winter, where she did learn to swim with fins, mask and snorkel, to use them properly, to evacuate the mask while freediving, and she discovered her beloved Rondine Gara fins, providing her the thrust and speed she was lacking with the short paddles she had during her first course.
I have these for the neck and wrist. I use them for my wrist seals when I'm not wearing dry gloves which is when I'm doing work underwater. These mitigate my wrist tendons breaking the seal.
I'm honestly surprised that after 3 days, an instructor let you think you "failed". My OW course (not including drysuit) is scheduled for a minimum of 4 days (2 days at the pool, 2 days open water), and my students will get up to two additional days with me free of charge to help with any issues if they're having problems. At that point, if they still can't get the skills down, we'll evaluate the situation and see if another instructor might be able to assist or if it's an issue that needs some other solution.
If a student of mine hasn't completed the class at the end of the standard course, they haven't failed the course, they just need more time to learn to dive than the average person, and that's perfectly fine. Some people who pick it up slowly become some of the best divers out there. Some who do it all right on the first try struggle to dive later.
If they let you think you're done, they're done with you, and you failed because you didn't quite complete everything in a 3 day span, and didn't offer to continue working with you to get you certified, then that shop and instructor have really failed you. I'd see about checking with other shops, explaining your experience, and asking what they would do to help you. With most training agencies, you can do a "referral" and get credit for stuff you've already done and then go to another instructor/shop to finish the training. You might look into that.
If a student of mine hasn't completed the class at the end of the standard course, they haven't failed the course, they just need more time to learn to dive than the average person, and that's perfectly fine. Some people who pick it up slowly become some of the best divers out there. Some who do it all right on the first try struggle to dive later.
If they let you think you're done, they're done with you, and you failed because you didn't quite complete everything in a 3 day span, and didn't offer to continue working with you to get you certified, then that shop and instructor have really failed you. I'd see about checking with other shops, explaining your experience, and asking what they would do to help you. With most training agencies, you can do a "referral" and get credit for stuff you've already done and then go to another instructor/shop to finish the training. You might look into that.
Desertlifter
Registered
There has been a lot of good advice and info here - certainly better than I could provide. I would only add one thing.
Be glad that you failed.
Not that it isn't a disappointment. Not that there aren't things that you could do to help improve your experience. Not that you aren't cut out for it - I have exactly zero SKAs to make that judgement. Nor would I as just a bonehead diver judge your class or conditions - plenty of people here who can do that effectively.
But you expressed yourself that you were not comfortable with the experience. That you were overburdened on several accounts. While an OW course isn't going to make you an expert, you should IMO be comfortable and competent enough in the water in a typical guided dive with a DM. If you had passed with the way that you felt, how would you have felt when you got on the water outside of class?
Follow the advice here and keep at it. Work on your physical conditioning with a competent trainer and practice with your gear a piece at a time, then put things together when you can. It will help with task loading that you can then consolidate and help you with your skills portion.
And keep at it.
Be glad that you failed.
Not that it isn't a disappointment. Not that there aren't things that you could do to help improve your experience. Not that you aren't cut out for it - I have exactly zero SKAs to make that judgement. Nor would I as just a bonehead diver judge your class or conditions - plenty of people here who can do that effectively.
But you expressed yourself that you were not comfortable with the experience. That you were overburdened on several accounts. While an OW course isn't going to make you an expert, you should IMO be comfortable and competent enough in the water in a typical guided dive with a DM. If you had passed with the way that you felt, how would you have felt when you got on the water outside of class?
Follow the advice here and keep at it. Work on your physical conditioning with a competent trainer and practice with your gear a piece at a time, then put things together when you can. It will help with task loading that you can then consolidate and help you with your skills portion.
And keep at it.
OP
Persephone
New
Wow, I'm just blown away by you guys 
Honestly, I can't even tell you how much your replies have helped me putting things into perspective, and I'm very grateful for all the advice, so that I've been able to figure out the next steps. I've signed up for advanced swimming lessons with a private trainer to get more confident in the water, and will be joining my SO in the gym for strength training.
I "grieved" for two days and now I'm more determined than ever - I'll be bouncing around Europe during the summer anyway, so am now looking at dive schools on Malta, to spend a month there, get the training I need (without the dry suit for now) and continue my journey from there! If anything, this experience has now only hardened my resolve that I won't be defeated by a drysuit and nonexistent muscles
Thank you everyone for your posts, I mean it, thank you!
Honestly, I can't even tell you how much your replies have helped me putting things into perspective, and I'm very grateful for all the advice, so that I've been able to figure out the next steps. I've signed up for advanced swimming lessons with a private trainer to get more confident in the water, and will be joining my SO in the gym for strength training.I "grieved" for two days and now I'm more determined than ever - I'll be bouncing around Europe during the summer anyway, so am now looking at dive schools on Malta, to spend a month there, get the training I need (without the dry suit for now) and continue my journey from there! If anything, this experience has now only hardened my resolve that I won't be defeated by a drysuit and nonexistent muscles
Thank you everyone for your posts, I mean it, thank you!
wnissen
Contributor
Woo and hoo! I would definitely take diving in the summer Med over starting in a drysuit. Just wanted to touch on one thing you noted, PADI does make it seem like just about anyone can dive. And it's true, they put effort into assistive diving so that almost anyone can. But what they obviously don't want to emphasize is that a smaller group of people can dive independently, and an even smaller group than that can dive from shore, in a drysuit. I am a middle-aged fat person, and my open water in a 7mm wetsuit was a big physical challenge. It's true that diving requires less swimming than people think, but it requires more core strength, especially from shore. Did you do a weight check? You need weight but some instructors default to way too much.Wow, I'm just blown away by you guys
I "grieved" for two days and now I'm more determined than ever - I'll be bouncing around Europe during the summer anyway, so am now looking at dive schools on Malta, to spend a month there, get the training I need (without the dry suit for now) and continue my journey from there! If anything, this experience has now only hardened my resolve that I won't be defeated by a drysuit and nonexistent muscles
I think it really speaks to your suitability for diving that you were able to continue without panicking with a constricted neck. I have had a too-tight wetsuit neck and it's terrifying. You feel like you're breathing but not getting any air. If anything, I worry you might have been too willing to proceed. See this tragic case of a young person who died while taking a drysuit course:
Suit filed in case of "Girl dead, boy injured at Glacier National Park
Update on this accident. Suit has been filed. Pretty horrifying as described. Warning, there are some graphic photos in the suit.
Good luck!
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