Question GUE Fundies - Drysuit or Wetsuit?

[ScubaSamScubaStevesFather]

TDI ER tech diver here looking to get GUE Fundies tech pass. I’d like to know if it’s easier to accomplish this goal using a wetsuit or drysuit, with the goal of choosing the harder option so I can more easily translate the skills I learned to the easier exposure option. I’m especially interested in tech divers providing this feedback. One thing to note: I am not very experienced in drysuit diving (I do own my own custom drysuit) since I usually dive without a suit or 3mm if cavern diving.

On the one hand, because a drysuit is more complex than a wetsuit, plus the fact that I’m not very experienced with it, it might make sense to train with that. However on the other hand I’ve read that drysuit diving makes staying in trim much easier, therefore in this case a wetsuit/no-suit might be a better option.

Thoughts?

 

[grantctobin]

TDI ER tech diver here looking to get GUE Fundies tech pass. I’d like to know if it’s easier to accomplish this goal using a wetsuit or drysuit, with the goal of choosing the harder option so I can more easily translate the skills I learned to the easier exposure option. I’m especially interested in tech divers providing this feedback. One thing to note: I am not very experienced in drysuit diving (I do own my own custom drysuit) since I usually dive without a suit or 3mm if cavern diving.

On the one hand, because a drysuit is more complex than a wetsuit, plus the fact that I’m not very experienced with it, it might make sense to train with that. However on the other hand I’ve read that drysuit diving makes staying in trim much easier, therefore in this case a wetsuit/no-suit might be a better option.

Thoughts?

Drysuit if the goal is a tech pass and further training. Wetsuit if you’re targeting simply learning and maybe a rec pass or are poorly familiar with a drysuit. I might suggest a drysuit primer with a GUE instructor or perhaps as a one day add on pre-class.

 

[Badger7]

TDI ER tech diver here looking to get GUE Fundies tech pass. I’d like to know if it’s easier to accomplish this goal using a wetsuit or drysuit, with the goal of choosing the harder option so I can more easily translate the skills I learned to the easier exposure option. I’m especially interested in tech divers providing this feedback. One thing to note: I am not very experienced in drysuit diving (I do own my own custom drysuit) since I usually dive without a suit or 3mm if cavern diving.

On the one hand, because a drysuit is more complex than a wetsuit, plus the fact that I’m not very experienced with it, it might make sense to train with that. However on the other hand I’ve read that drysuit diving makes staying in trim much easier, therefore in this case a wetsuit/no-suit might be a better option.

Thoughts?

I'd definitely consider doing fundamentals in a drysuit if that is possible. I'd also recommend getting plenty of drysuit experience prior. Being comfortable and proficient with a drysuit first and it will be one less thing to think about during class, like a dozen or more dives, not the day before. Fundies can be long days dialing in skills that will last you a lifetime. I'd prefer to focus on drills and ascents and kicks not be task loaded with drysuit valves I'm not yet comfortable with. It is true that you can fix some temporary trim issues at the beginning or end of a dive by getting a little extra gas around your calves or forearms, and certainly helps with stability if you have a little gas in both. Managing the gas bubble in a drysuit becomes muscle memory quicker than you'd think.

Once you're there, the only thing that makes a drysuit slightly more challenging for tech training is dumping gas from both the suit and the wing as you're winding up a spool during an ascent and timing the deco stops, which is great fun IMO.

 

[sea_ledford]

How inexperienced with a drysuit are you? I did a PADI tec 40 class with a friend of mine that needed some students to run though his first class as an instructor. I was already IANTD certified beyond that, so I also did it in sidemount and in a drysuit that I borrowed, and had a total of maybe 5 drysuit dives at the time.

It was a complete and utter disaster. Ditched the drysuit and no more problems.

Buoyancy in a drysuit is easier once you get the drysuit part dialed in, but that takes quite a few dives. At the time of that course (2009ish) PADI recommended a minimum of 20 drysuit dives. I would recommend a minimum of 50. If you are trying for a tech pass, probably more than that. I haven't bothered to look at any drysuit standards since then, but I would guess that GUE has a minimum experience standard for a drysuit.

 

[h2o_hamilton]

TDI ER tech diver here looking to get GUE Fundies tech pass. I’d like to know if it’s easier to accomplish this goal using a wetsuit or drysuit, with the goal of choosing the harder option so I can more easily translate the skills I learned to the easier exposure option. I’m especially interested in tech divers providing this feedback. One thing to note: I am not very experienced in drysuit diving (I do own my own custom drysuit) since I usually dive without a suit or 3mm if cavern diving.

On the one hand, because a drysuit is more complex than a wetsuit, plus the fact that I’m not very experienced with it, it might make sense to train with that. However on the other hand I’ve read that drysuit diving makes staying in trim much easier, therefore in this case a wetsuit/no-suit might be a better option.

Thoughts?

Not a chance I’d even consider a drysuit.

I did consider it, and thought better of it and took it in a wetsuit. Thank god.

Unless you’re at the point where your confident you can “pass” Fundies, just go back for a one day tech upgrade if you get the Rec pass.

 

[crofrog]

What are your goals for diving post fundies? Types of dives and the environment you're planning to dive in?

 

[Lorenzoid]

The drysuit is considered a backup buoyancy source in case of total wing failure. If you're diving double steel tanks, a drysuit is essentially a given.

I can't recall seeing a single photo of a GUE diver in tech gear (doubles or rebreather) with a wetsuit. Nothing in the SOPs prohibits it as far as I know, but it can't be very common.

For me, handling the drysuit in balance with the momentum of heavy steel doubles on ascents and descents was the most difficult part of my journey to tech-level performance (and the Fundies tech pass).

 

[crofrog]

I can't recall seeing a single photo of a GUE diver in tech gear (doubles or rebreather) with a wetsuit. Nothing in the SOPs prohibits it as far as I know, but it can't be very common.

For me, handling the drysuit in balance with the momentum of heavy steel doubles on ascents and descents was the most difficult part of my journey to tech-level performance (and the Fundies tech pass).

From Standards 9.2 Appendix A:
l. Exposure suit appropriate for the duration of exposure

It's not uncommon for tech classes conducted in the tropics to be conducted in 3mm wetsuits.

If your goal is to learn how to dive a drysuit better, then do fundies in it. If your goal is dive double 80s and do some tech diving in the tropics, it may not be worth it.

 

[DiveLikeAMuppet]

Wetsuit is cheating But you do need some dives in a drysuit, I wouldn’t do Fundies without much drysuit experience and expect a Tec pass.

 

[Comm]

Very few get a tech pass on first try. You’ll be learning a decent amount regardless- so I suggest you do it in whatever configuration you are most competent in. Then build up from there to eventually get the tech pass.

If you try and change too much beforehand you risk over complicating things