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

[1_T_Submariner]

I'm agreeing with experience will help. After about 5-6 dives I noticed that I was controlling air in my feet automatically.

Give it some time before adding more gear.

 

[cinder4320]

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!

My chest/shoulder is not higher than my hips nor do I want it to be. I (try to) dive in proper trim for a cave which involves knees bent upwards and body horizontal. My goal is to remain horizontal and slightly break trim (valve up) only to vent. I dive with enough air in the suit to keep the squeeze off and thats it. The goal is for the air to remain equally distributed along my torso to my knees as I remain horizontal. If I break trim I know it because the air will either be at my neck or at my feet.

Yes, the reason I am manually venting is that my valve is sticking a bit. However being that the suit has a manual valve I see no problem in using it. Depending on the water temp leaving the valve completely closed at all times and only ever manually venting can allow one to keep a constant level of air in the suit for warmth.

Gaiters are a cheap solution to a ill fitting suit just like me manually venting is a (cheap) solution to a poor valve on a suit. Not saying gaiters were bad before just that they are another type of band-aid.

Miranda

 

[RJP]

Aren't gaiters doing just the same thing?

Nope.

Gaiters solve the problem of "air in the legs" by keeping air out of the legs. Ankle weights allow the problem to continue, simply counter-balancing the air in the legs.

Ankle weights also provide the additional detriment of needing to move the extra mass of the ankle weights on each and every kick. 2lbs X 2 ankles = 4lbs per kick cycle. Multiply that times even a mere 100 kick cycles and you've just wasted enough energy to move 400lbs. Why?

 

[contender]

Drysuit diving does take some time to get used to. A few things that may help you out are
1) Use your BC for buoyancy! If you get the air out of your suit and drop down to about 20 feet and feel the squeeze, this is about how you want the suit to feel at depth, give or take a little. You can also add some air to your suit and go completely vertical and stick up one arm, the air bubble should be no larger than from your wrist to about the middle of your forearm. Again these are starting points, you can refine them at your will.
2) Dive with your dump valve open, it will allow excess air to escape on it's own. If you are in good trim all you need to do is raise the dump valve to be the highest point on you, it will also let the air escape.
3) I use gaiters to keep excess material at bay to reduce drag while swimming in high flow caves. If I am in open water I don't use them, one less piece of gear to worry about. However, gaiters will keep the excess air from getting down to your feet. One other option is to get rid of the big boots that come on many drysuits and go with a neoprene sock boot or some other smaller option than the standard boot.
Hope this helps, safe diving.

 

[TSandM]

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!"

Yeah.

I've seen this "holier than thou" anti-ankle-weight thing more times than I can count. The fact is, most of us who are DIR divers and don't use or approve of ankle weights, use Jets with spring straps. They are quite negative. It is the equivalent of putting a small ankle weight on with lighter fins.

My cave instructor made us take our fins off in the cavern zone and do helicopter turns and swim. I managed the helicopter turns with great difficulty, but when I had to swim forward, it was hopeless. I was immediately and irrevocably head down. Why? Because I had transferred about 2 pounds of negative buoyancy from my feet to my hands.

If you took my Jets off and made me wear lighter fins, I'd have to adjust my posture at the very least, and possibly move some weight to compensate.

Ankle weights are not the devil incarnate.

 

[RS]

I recently tried OMS Slipstream fins and noticed my feet were suddenly floaty. Went back to the turtles and everything is just right. threw them both in the pool and guess what, the OMS float and the turtles don't.

 

[igotag!]

Wow, I was not prepared for such an overwhelming amount of advice. God bless the internet (what did people do without it?). Most of you guys are seeing it as I did, meaning ankle weights are band-aids. I have some Twin Jet Max and have spring straps on the way, I believe that my fins are neutral at depth, I honestly don't remember. Also I have a Bare D6 suit (6.5m neo), the boots fit perfect and there is not much free space, I was describe it as a snug fit. I have some pool sessions coming up for my rescue class and I'm going to take my DS with me to try to work out the kinks. My only worry is I won't have it under control for my advanced class coming up next weekend. I don't want to be feet first on my deep dive. It is just like anything else practice practice practice. It does kind of p*ss me off though, I had just gotten that perfect buoyancy in my wetsuit, going dry I'm back to square one.

 

[RS]

I have used the twinjet max (the new ones) w/ springs and no problem with floaty feet. But I use a BPW with a weight belt and slide the weights down a bit. Just a few inches it seems. I also put about 5 or 6 pounds on the tank in the lower cam band.

 

[AlaskaDiver]

Drysuits are not the easiest to get used to, but are well worth the protection. IMHO, it is best to pass on wearing the gaiters or the the ankle weights. They tend to end up being a crutch rather than helping you to hone your buoyancy skills. I find the best way to get air out of the suit is after donning the suit on land, to squat down while allowing air to escape out the neck. This is now a good time to test your drysuit hose with one squirt of air. YOu should be comfortable, but not have any loose fitting undergarments where air can be trapped. While on the dive, try to have the obligatory pint-sized bubble in your BCD while only enough air in your drysuit so you don't end up feeling saran-wrapped. Try not to rely on the drysuit for buoyancy too much. It really should end up being a balance between the two.

As far as the air in your feet, a simple trick is to raise your right arm to allow gas into your arm. Try the same on your left. Having your arms poised comfortably out in front of you while holding your light allows your arms to act as a ballast for your feet. Arms in, feet will go down. Arms out, feet will remain at their level.

 

[igotag!]

As far as the air in your feet, a simple trick is to raise your right arm to allow gas into your arm. Try the same on your left. Having your arms poised comfortably out in front of you while holding your light allows your arms to act as a ballast for your feet. Arms in, feet will go down. Arms out, feet will remain at their level.

Ah yes, keep the bubble in the arms. I will try this.