Not if you include spearfishing/freediving suits. If I were going to dive locally with any kind of regularity, I'd buy a 5 mil from Dano -- but the lakes here (WI, left of the big one) are very shallow so loss of insulation to compression at depth is not a concern.
Help me understand wet suits for cold water
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Not if you include spearfishing/freediving suits. If I were going to dive locally with any kind of regularity, I'd buy a 5 mil from Dano -- but the lakes here (WI, left of the big one) are very shallow so loss of insulation to compression at depth is not a concern.
I don't get cold easily, but I absolutely hate being cold.
In warm waters (like the Caribbean, for example) swimsuit and rash guard.
If it's just a bit too cool, I go with my 1mm open cell freedive suit - it has the warmth of approx 3-4mm without buoyancy issues.
That suit covers most water temperatures for me until it gets down to 'cool', at which point I switch to either my 7mm semi-dry (no hood) or my 7mm hooded topper - my legs are the last part of me to get cold.
If it gets cold, I pair the 7mm semi-dry with the 7mm topper (which has a hood), 5mm boots, and sometimes 3-5mm gloves (I hate wearing gloves and if I do have any, it's usually just a lightweight pair of reef gloves).
Anything below 50F or so, I add the freedive suit under the semi-dry and topper and then I'm almost too warm.
For surface intervals, particularly if it is cold, I pull down my suit and let out as much water as possible before climbing into my boat coat (I have a huge Surf-Fur and I love it). The freedive suit adds a lot of warmth, it just requires lubing up to get into it. Before splashing for dive 2 (or 3, or 4) I usually fill the suits up with water as warm as I can stand so my body doesn't have to work so hard to heat up a new water layer once I'm in.
In the future I may get a 3mm or 5mm freedive suit to further cut down the buoyancy while keeping the warmth - of course, that won't help on very deep dives (which is why I have the semi-dry).
In warm waters (like the Caribbean, for example) swimsuit and rash guard.
If it's just a bit too cool, I go with my 1mm open cell freedive suit - it has the warmth of approx 3-4mm without buoyancy issues.
That suit covers most water temperatures for me until it gets down to 'cool', at which point I switch to either my 7mm semi-dry (no hood) or my 7mm hooded topper - my legs are the last part of me to get cold.
If it gets cold, I pair the 7mm semi-dry with the 7mm topper (which has a hood), 5mm boots, and sometimes 3-5mm gloves (I hate wearing gloves and if I do have any, it's usually just a lightweight pair of reef gloves).
Anything below 50F or so, I add the freedive suit under the semi-dry and topper and then I'm almost too warm.
For surface intervals, particularly if it is cold, I pull down my suit and let out as much water as possible before climbing into my boat coat (I have a huge Surf-Fur and I love it). The freedive suit adds a lot of warmth, it just requires lubing up to get into it. Before splashing for dive 2 (or 3, or 4) I usually fill the suits up with water as warm as I can stand so my body doesn't have to work so hard to heat up a new water layer once I'm in.
In the future I may get a 3mm or 5mm freedive suit to further cut down the buoyancy while keeping the warmth - of course, that won't help on very deep dives (which is why I have the semi-dry).
Exactly!
Roughly half my diving is in cold water so it gets a lot of use. I know people were jealous of it on my last Catalina trip where I was toasty warm despite the wind.
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When listing my temps. for each type of suit I use I neglected to say that if you move to a different climate your cold tolerance will probably change over time. After 20+ years in the subarctic I was almost impervious to cold. After 15 years in Southern Canada I really feel the change. Yet prior to moving way up north I disliked cold water growing up in NY until leaving at age 23. Your body will adjust over time.
That's why in winter on the FL panhandle you can see young locals somewhat bundled up and some "Q Tips" (oldsters like me from up North) in T shirts and swimming in the 57F water Gulf.
That's why in winter on the FL panhandle you can see young locals somewhat bundled up and some "Q Tips" (oldsters like me from up North) in T shirts and swimming in the 57F water Gulf.
This is totally accurate. Whenever we are diving in Cozumel, I get a lot of wtf looks from other women on dive boats when I go in just in my swimsuit and rash guard while they are pulling on the 3mm suit with hood.
What is warm to you may be cold to someone else - my OW certification dives were in cold water and the 7mm farmer john/7mm topper I borrowed from the LDS was way too hot and to this day I wish I had taken it off and just dove with the topper (plus the farmer john bruised my collar bones).
Bubblesong
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Thermalution electric tee shirt allows me to stay in water longer in my semi-dry wetsuit. Expensive, but i prefer to dry suit.
A semi-dry can let you be comfortable in amazingly cold water. But only for about 30-45 min.s. And only for 1 dive. And only underwater. Above the water, when you strip your clothes off to put it on and worse yet strip it off and exposing cold, wet skin to cool air, it's a world away from being warm. You really won't be happy cold weather diver if you treat you wet skin to a nice brisk wind, or falling snow, rain, even sleet. Taking the suit off in a cold environment is the real dealbreaker for using a semidry.
It's also easier go longer w/o peeing if you dive dry. If you want to make more than 1 dive in cold water, your start dive #2 chilled either because you took the suit off during the interval (exposing wet skin; then did the chill drill again when you got nearly naked again to enjoy putting on a wet wetsuit) or because you kept the suit on and stood around with moisture against your skin the whole surface interval.
There are also individual differences. I know a couple (exactly 2 out of many, many cold water divers) guys that dive wetsuits in amazingly cold water and don't feel chilled. On the other end of the, my kid could dive a drysuit in a hottub and still get chilled. You need to find out what your comfort zone is.
It's also easier go longer w/o peeing if you dive dry. If you want to make more than 1 dive in cold water, your start dive #2 chilled either because you took the suit off during the interval (exposing wet skin; then did the chill drill again when you got nearly naked again to enjoy putting on a wet wetsuit) or because you kept the suit on and stood around with moisture against your skin the whole surface interval.
There are also individual differences. I know a couple (exactly 2 out of many, many cold water divers) guys that dive wetsuits in amazingly cold water and don't feel chilled. On the other end of the, my kid could dive a drysuit in a hottub and still get chilled. You need to find out what your comfort zone is.
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