First Dry Dive...air in legs......

[igotag!]

Ok guys. First off I am by no means an experienced diver. I have logged maybe 30 dives all of them in the Puget Sound. I finally broke down and bought a dry suit, not because I was cold, but because if you have to do multiple dives over the period of a day, getting in and out of a wetsuit can be a hassle.Anywho, I am doing my drysuit class solo with some instructors in open water, its not a big deal, I'm perfectly comfortable, the place we are diving is very calm and extremely familiar to me. First off I believe I was 2-4 lbs light, with a full tank I was floating at eye level, I had to kinda force myself down, once I got down about 10 feet I was fine. I used my BC for buoyancy control and put air in the suit just to avoid a squeeze, well I think I have hollow legs or something because for some reason my legs kept floating above my waist, hence moving the air from the top of the suit to the legs, and you guys that dive dry know what happened after that. I was wondering if anybody had any tips, I would like to try to avoid ankle weights or gaiters if I could. Might be unavoidable though. Thanks In advance. OH DIVING DRY IS WONDERFUL, EVEN IF I WAS UPSIDE DOWN. I GOT OUT AND ALL I HAD TO DO WAS DRY MY HAIR!

Josh

 

[Tigerman]

The most basic advice is to keep your feet a bit lower than the rest of your body as long as thats possible. If its lower than your chest, the air wont go DOWN to your legs..

 

[divebri]

to start with. You have to compensate for the bouyancy you gain with the tank going empty, in an AL 80 approx. 5 lbs. so, if you're doing a bouyancy check with a full tank, let your breath out, weight yourself to float at eye-level, then ADD 5 lbs.

Secondly, you should be using you bc for bouyancy only at the surface, and your drysuit below the surface. If you're weighted correctly, just a shot or two of air to cure the squeeze will be all you need for neutral bouancy anyway. If you're getting squeezed, you're getting negative (if you're weighted properly and started the dive with all the air out of your suit).

Third, I started with ankle weights and I'm glad I did. Purists will poo-poo you, but hey, it's gonna take you a few dives to get the hang of it and one uncontrolled upside-down ascent is all it takes to get hurt. If keeps you feet-down, and it makes it easier to do the back-flip if you have to. Once you get more used to it, you'll get rid of the ankle weights. cheap insurance, IMHO.

Play around with it, make sure you get instruction from an INSTRUCTOR and practice with it. It gets much better, believe me.

 

[gcbryan]

It takes a while to get used to a drysuit. Make sure your boots are not too big if they are attached. Use fin keepers to squeeze excess air out of your boots. Since you will be diving horizontal you can't (shouldn't) try to keep your feet lower than your body. Using your BC for buoyancy control and your suit just to deal with squeeze is also the way I do it.

Just make sure you have your suit fully vented before submerging, make sure you are correctly weighted, and after that you just need a few more dives with the suit to get used to it.

 

[TSandM]

Dry suits take some practice -- They really have to be managed.

It does sound as though you may have been a bit light, although it can be hard to figure that out in the beginning, because you may not get all the air out of the suit. I found that, when I was starting, it helped to squat down in the parking lot and squeeze as much air out of the suit there as possible, and then do it again before getting in the water (or in shallow water).

The approach you are taking, of putting the minimum air in the suit you can in order to be mobile and loft your undergarment, is in my opinion the easiest way to start with a dry suit. You may later choose to put more air in the suit, for warmth and increased mobility, but that's after you've got some strategies for managing that bubble.

The key to a dry suit is to keep some degree of awareness on how the suit feels around your body AT ALL TIMES. If you feel your boots starting to get loose, you need to drop your feet and get the air out of them. If you feel the whole suit getting loose, you need to vent it, which may also require dropping your feet (or the rear half of your body) just a bit, to get the air to the exhaust valve.

Another thing that helps is to figure out how much air you would like to keep where (in other words, you're almost certainly going to have SOME air in your feet, so put a little bit there) and figure out how to arrange your gear and weights so that you balance horizontally.

DIR divers will cry out against ankle weights, but we all wear them -- They're called Jet fins with spring straps, and they're a negative object at the end of a long lever arm (legs) which help counterbalance the air in the legs and feet. If you don't want to use negative fins, you may find ankle weights very helpful, at least in the beginning. I used them for about six months. I don't need them any more (but then again, I've got those Jets . . . )

 

[RJP]

DIR divers will cry out against ankle weights, but we all wear them -- They're called Jet fins with spring straps, and they're a negative object at the end of a long lever arm (legs) which help counterbalance the air in the legs and feet. If you don't want to use negative fins, you may find ankle weights very helpful, at least in the beginning. I used them for about six months.

Ankle weights treat the symptom, not the problem. Like treating CAP with Tylenol and cough syrup and then saying "Fever's down and cough has subsided!"



If the problem is "air in legs" don't use extra weight to counterbalance the air, use gaiters to help keep the air OUT in the first place!

 

[PerroneFord]

If the suit isn't fitting properly, then you'll have to use band-aids to solve the problem. Gaiters may be your best option.

 

[cinder4320]

Ankle weights treat the symptom, not the problem. [...]
If the problem is "air in legs" don't use extra weight to counterbalance the air, use gaiters to help keep the air OUT in the first place!

Aren't gaiters doing just the same thing? To me the problem seems to be keeping proper trim (and bouyancy) while diving in a drysuit.

I seem to agree with TSandM in that you just need practice to learn how much air to add/vent and when. When I have had floaty feet on a dive it has usually been due to my drysuit not automatically venting and me needing manually do so. I've been working on manually venting before I actually notice the air moving around which has stopped the opportunity for it to get to my feet.

Miranda

 

[Tigerman]

Aren't gaiters doing just the same thing? To me the problem seems to be keeping proper trim (and bouyancy) while diving in a drysuit.

I seem to agree with TSandM in that you just need practice to learn how much air to add/vent and when. When I have had floaty feet on a dive it has usually been due to my drysuit not automatically venting and me needing manually do so. I've been working on manually venting before I actually notice the air moving around which has stopped the opportunity for it to get to my feet.

Miranda

Having to manually vent your suit is also a symptom either of bad trim, a improper adjustment of the vent valve, a vent valve that dont function properly or a combination of the before mentioned.

If your chest/shoulder(s) is slightly higher than your hips and the vent valve is set properly, air should leave the suit at the highest accessible point at the suit if its "over-inflated". However if your hips are higher than your vent valve, feets up!

 

[Dirkadiver]

I wouldn't jump to buying gaiters or ankle weights. Get some dives on the suit to see if experience won't cure your problems. I strongly recommend against ankle weights (I thought I had to have them when I first got my DS as I was worried about the "upside down epidemic"). I dove them about 3 times & retired them to my LDS in the used gear section.

I used a buddy of mines gaiters a few times & just simply don't like having to lug around the extra gear & it's just one more thing to don/doff.

I would stay away from using your DS for bouyancy as this will probably just magnify the problem.

Try whatever makes you comfortable, but I think experience will cure the issues.