Have the Wetsuit for pool classes, or not?

[mallbritton]

Hello, everyone. I'm staring to gear up for my pool classes, which I'm taking next month. I've got the student kit, and have purchased fins, mask, snorkel and boots.

I am going to buy my own wetsuit but wanted to know what everyone thought about me having it already for the pool classes. The helpful folks at the dive shop neither discouraged or encouraged me when I asked the question but did say it might be helpful for me to start getting used to one.

Thoughts?

Regards,
Michael

 

[tstormdiver]

I would say, it depends on whether or not you get cold easily. If you do,... wear it, if not, other than just getting used to it, you do run a risk (although slight), of overheating. I wear a 3mm suit when teaching in the pool & it is an indoor, heated pool. I still find that after an hour I start to get rather cold.

 

[spectrum]

It may be too hot assuming the wetsuit in question is for local diving. However I do urge you to do your pool work after session one in hood & gloves. That was a requirement for us and it made a huge difference when it was time for the real deal.

Pete

 

[Thalassamania]

I have always taught my student in full gear, yes they can get a little warm, but it is easy to flood the suit and cool off. Learning in full gear makes a huge difference in performance, when you hit open water all you have to adapt to is the salt.

 

[Tropicalwolf]

Depends on suit thickness. Do what is comfortable for YOU. If anyone critcizes, you don't want to dive with them, anyway.

 

[Thalassamania]

We used 7mil, farmer john, Rubatex suits and no one suffered heat exhaustion in the pool.

 

[AndrewA]

From my own experience as a stuent and later as an instructor, using the same gear in the pool (at least for the last pool session) makes the trasition to open water much smoother

 

[D_B]

I did that, bought 7mm suit for OW , students have full suits on just no hood or gloves and the pool, while outdoors, is heated ... we had no problems with 2 to 3 hour sessions

 

[PatW]

I just wore trunks in the pool work. During the dives, I wore a 3 mm wet suit. I really did not notice any problems with adapting to the suit.

Not so strong swimmers would probably like the suit. It gives them more buoyancy which would help them in the float and swim sections of the course.

 

[D_B]

in California, your probably not going to be diving in a 3mm

a 7mm suit is kinda confining/restrictive and it's a good idea to train in the gear you will dive

for the tread water test .. no suit .. for the swim test, no suit .. otherwise your a cork