Yeah, I feel pretty lucky to have such great buddies like Ken and Claudette who are always so supportive and willing to take time out to show me the ropes. I gotta tell you that it definitely was unnerving on that first dive with the suit. You dump a bunch of money on a piece of equipment that you feel has more control of you than you do of it. LOL!
It's also kinda scary that your control depends on this little valve on your shoulder which somehow magically vents when you put it into position. I had to keep on looking at it in order to make sure (skeptically) that it was actually working. It's pretty amazing that little automatic valve vents when you need it to, yet doesn't let all the water in. Dunno how it works, but I'm glad that it does.
When I walked into the knee high water at the beach, it was pretty funny not feeling my feet get wet compared to a wetsuit. There were a whole bunch of new sensations such as the the squeeze and bubble on my body which I had never experienced before. One of the biggest change in sensation was the amount of extra effort needed to get through the water versus the wetsuit. I guess it is something you drysuit divers get used to, but I gotta tell you that I felt like I was swimming through molasses. Now I understand why Ken and Claudette end up whizzing through the water when they go to their wetsuit. You are just much more streamlined with a wetsuit versus the drysuit.
Finally, I got comfortable with the suit and am certainly impressed with how much warmer I am, especially since it seems that recently the water temp has gotten colder here in socal. I'm sure a part of the comfort I feel with the suit is also due to its great fit on me. If you are looking for someone to meaure you for a custom drysuit, I would highly recommend Andy Huber at Ocean Adventures. I know that I was nervous in the past weeks waiting for the suit to come in. I kept on worrying that things were going to be screwed up especially since I had heard horrors of ordering a DUI cave cut suit and the warranty waiver you sign. In the end, my worries were allayed once I tried on the new suit, and Andy Huber did a great job in measuring and optioning it for me.
