How many of you dry divers had formal training

[Ron Brandt]

It was a matter of necessity... I put the suit on,it fit. Tried it in the pool,it worked. Went to the lake,I was warm. Self taught,14 years ago...never looked back. I now teach the speciality.

Ron

 

[rainman_02]

I just took the specialty class because I figured it was an inexpensive and efficient way to learn what all the drysuit hype was about. One poolside discussion and pool dive, two "confined" open water dives (Fallen Leaf Lake), and one open water dive (Rubicon Wall). Well worth it in my opinion to figure out how to dive with it in a class setting rather than just trying the wall for the first time in a drysuit.

It also gave me a chance to check out the Whites drysuits my LDS carries. Now I just need to find a DUI and Dive Rite demo day...

 

[MissyP]

Taught myself... read as much as I could, took it to the pool twice for some trial and error and recovery drills and then went diving. It's not rocket science.

Exactly. Did an hour pool session with an instructor from the lds I bought the suit at and hit the ocean. By dive #3, I'd pretty much figured the thing out and haven't had any problems with it since then. The class seems like it's a waste of time....

 

[Diving-Dragons]

How many of you dry divers had formal training? ie. dive shop instruction for a specialty. On the other hand, how many just did it on their own? How about some opinions from experience?

Hi there,

Plenty of pool seesions on my own no formal training, plenty of shallow dives in a quary, you soon realise no air in suit = ouch, and you soon realise to much air in suit is no fun either.

You must get your bouyancy sorted first you want to be slighly head up so air cannot rush to your feet, a friend i dive with uses large gaitors to prevent this from happening as well.

 

[Jafo123]

I did one pool session while my son did his pool sessions for OW. I then went and did the training with my LDS.

 

[jlayman800]

I am also self taught. I am lucky to have survived the first year. If you don't have somebody that can walk you through it, including being close by for the first couple dives, try to find a class with lots of in-water time. The mechanics are very simple but there are some tricks and tips that you need to know to be safe.

Based on the long discussion about using your dry suit for bouyancy, a lot of people don't even understand the basics. Bad advise is worse than no advise. Although I don't feel you will get much from a formal course, what you will get will be some basic information that has to be conservative because of the threat of law suits.

The only wrong answer is going out with your dry suit and diving without some instruction. You really can hurt yourself.

 

[ScubaSarus]

I trained on my own by reading the book and watching the video. My experienced buddies both DM's followed me around closely until they saw I had the hang of the drysuit.

Great experience

 

[jonnythan]

If you think you might need instruction, by all means seek it. You probably do need it.

Not everyone does, though

 

[Goose75]

Whether you need the instruction or not, if money isn't the problem why not take the class? To self teach you are going to have to go out and dive anyway. Even with a bad instructor, you still have another dry diver to watch and ask questions. Worst thing that can happen is you get such bad instruction that you learn what not to do.

Not that I don't believe in self teaching. I do it for other things all the time, I just didn't see the need when I wanted to learn to dive dry.

 

[Rec Diver]

How many of you dry divers had formal training? ie. dive shop instruction for a specialty. On the other hand, how many just did it on their own? How about some opinions from experience?

Took the course.