First DRY dive

[DivingCRNA]

I got my eBay O'Neill 3 mm compressed drysuit yesterday. I had it in the pool at the Y today doing the drysuit course.

1. It did stay dry.

2. a cuff dump is great.

3. Getting out of an inversion is not too hard.

4. a 3 mm drysuit is really friggin hot in an indoor swimming pool. I was moist, but it was from sweat. I only had swim trunks on under the suit.

5. I need bigger fins for the suit because my feet cramped in my old fins, that barely fit the drysuit boots.

6. I now understand what squeeze feels like. The pool was only 7 feet deep.

7. Thank GOD I did not forget I was diving dry and pee!

8. Bouyancy control with the suit is harder than with a BOUYANCY COMPENSATOR.

 

[MASS-Diver]

I got my eBay O'Neill 3 mm compressed drysuit yesterday. I had it in the pool at the Y today doing the drysuit course.

1. It did stay dry.

2. a cuff dump is great.

3. Getting out of an inversion is not too hard.

4. a 3 mm drysuit is really friggin hot in an indoor swimming pool. I was moist, but it was from sweat. I only had swim trunks on under the suit.

5. I need bigger fins for the suit because my feet cramped in my old fins, that barely fit the drysuit boots.

6. I now understand what squeeze feels like. The pool was only 7 feet deep.

7. Thank GOD I did not forget I was diving dry and pee!

8. Bouyancy control with the suit is harder than with a BOUYANCY COMPENSATOR.

Use your BC for bouyancy control, invest in a P-valve and life will be good.

Props on being a CRNA - if I ever go back to school that's what I'd go for.

 

[Irene]

7. Thank GOD I did not forget I was diving dry and pee!

8. Bouyancy control with the suit is harder than with a BOUYANCY COMPENSATOR.

Let me second MASS-Diver's advice: use your BC for buoyancy. Add air to the suit to avoid sqeeze. It's SOOOO much easier to dive this way. Ignore anyone who tells you to use your dry suit for buoyancy.

You'll also find that its much easier to dial into neutral buoyancy the deeper you are.

Also, getting the right weighting is different from diving wet. In a wetsuit, you want just enough lead to sink from the surface and hold your safety stop with an empty BC.
If you weigh yourself the same way in a dry suit, you'll FREEZE at your stop. Find the weighting that keeps you at your stop with enough air in the suit to be comfortable, instead of shivering. For me, that means about 2-3 lbs overweighted.

As for the peeing thing, my first few dry dives were spent reciting to myself "don't pee in the dry suit, don't pee in the dry suit"

Welcome to the wonderful world of diving dry!

 

[spectrum]

I
7. Thank GOD I did not forget I was diving dry and pee!

That is a significant piece of retraining.

Use the BC for BC with just enough air in the suit for thermal performance. If you don't have a good undergarment try to get one. The better the garment the less air you will need to mess with

Congratulations on the new suit!

Pete