How to dive in a Drysuit?

[raoulsttexas]

First off, I'm not trying to debate taking vs. not taking the Drysuit class.

Secondly, I have about 40 dives in a drysuit and was mentored extensively on each of those dives by a VERY experienced dry diver. So, I feel "ENTIRELY" (not being complacent) comfortable with my drysuit skills.

Having said all that, I've been reading a few threads about people's experience with the drysuit class and I'm wondering what I may be lacking with my informal / experiential training in a drysuit.

I can't find anywhere that details "this is how you dive in a drysuit". Mostly, it's just care/ storage, donning/ doffing etc. I know how to do that.

Lastly, I'm not really interested in taking course at this point unless my wife decides to take it. I happened to find a brand new whites catalyst setup at a garage sale for $35!!!! and it fits her perfectly, just needs new seals. Alas, she's a warm water person.... I'm keeping it for now until I know for sure that she won't ever go that route.

So, I'm not asking for an instructor to spill the beans on the details of the course, but maybe someone could outline the necessary skills so that I can compare that to what I can do.

Maybe I'll discover that the class needs to happen...

Thanks for the help.

 

[FWADIVER]

I have never taken a drysuit class, but would like to, biggest reason for me is the pool practice, mainly flooding the suit and practicing buoyancy with a flooded suit, which I know my instructor teaches in the pool.

 

[Diver0001]

First off, I'm not trying to debate taking vs. not taking the Drysuit class.

Secondly, I have about 40 dives in a drysuit and was mentored extensively on each of those dives by a VERY experienced dry diver. So, I feel "ENTIRELY" (not being complacent) comfortable with my drysuit skills.

Having said all that, I've been reading a few threads about people's experience with the drysuit class and I'm wondering what I may be lacking with my informal / experiential training in a drysuit.

I can't find anywhere that details "this is how you dive in a drysuit". Mostly, it's just care/ storage, donning/ doffing etc. I know how to do that.

Lastly, I'm not really interested in taking course at this point unless my wife decides to take it. I happened to find a brand new whites catalyst setup at a garage sale for $35!!!! and it fits her perfectly, just needs new seals. Alas, she's a warm water person.... I'm keeping it for now until I know for sure that she won't ever go that route.

So, I'm not asking for an instructor to spill the beans on the details of the course, but maybe someone could outline the necessary skills so that I can compare that to what I can do.

Maybe I'll discover that the class needs to happen...

Thanks for the help.

Since you can already dive in a drysuit the things that come to mind that you get exposure with in a formal course that you might not have tried already are

- dealing with a free flowing inflator
- dealing with becoming inverted (feet up) and positively buoyant

and depending on how you propel yourself in the water certain kicks will be covered.

R..

 

[raoulsttexas]

FWADIVER, that's a good point. I never have done that and now that I have access to a pool, should probably give that a whirl.

Diver0001,
the first 2 dives were nothing but sommersaulting out of inverted ascents. Probably the next 10 dives started with that exercise a few times.

As for the inflator freeflow, I'm assuming that it's what we rehearsed: similar to bc inflator hose - unattach hose from valve, but by touch only. And be prepared for a neck seal purge if it really hits the fan. Anythin more to it than that?

Thanks guys!

 

[aquaregia]

I took the drysuit class after about 10 or so dry dives. Most of it was just for the card in case I wanted to rent one later.

The big drill we did was the swoop to recover from an overinflated suit and all the air in the feet. I think I did that about eight times, increasing the amount of overinflation each time. It was worth doing to see a) how easy it was with a small amount of too much air and b) how ridiculously difficult it was with waaaayy too much air.

Buoyancy in a flooded suit is really weird. It's worth doing a dive with a complete flood in your normal diving conditions just to see whether your undergarments can handle it or not. I did both of these by accident and it was a good experience. However, I can't imagine any agency standing behind "unzip the student's suit at depth. stay there until he cant take it any longer"

 

[warmwaterturner]

I have to agree with all the above. About the only reason to "get the card" is for rentals. The class taught a couple of trim and recovery manoeuvres but not much beyond that. I think I really learned much more from hands- on than the book.

 

[Shftrdog]

Do what every makes you confortable

 

[Diver0001]

As for the inflator freeflow, I'm assuming that it's what we rehearsed: similar to bc inflator hose - unattach hose from valve, but by touch only. And be prepared for a neck seal purge if it really hits the fan. Anythin more to it than that?

If you're wearing a drysuit then the chances of being able to actually do a neck seal purge with thick gloves and a hood on aren't that good.

However, all modern drysuits can vent through the shoulder dump as fast as they can fill through the inflator, assuming the shoulder valve is wide open, of course. They're designed like that deliberately. The technique I teach is to unclip the inflator and then go vertical if possible and dump the excess air through the shoulder dump. It's fast, effective and you don't fill up your suit with cold water.

I recall a dive we made under the ice in the Czech republic a few years ago. Air temperatures were well below freezing (-15C or there abouts) and the water near the surface was only +1. During one dive out of the 4 divers in the water, 3 of us had freeflowing inflators. If we had all let a bunch of cold water in through the neck seals then we would have been out of the frying pan and into the fire because it was REALLY cold and hypothermia would have become a real issue.

Just a thought. Play around with it yourself and you'll see what I mean.

It sounds like you've done a lot of practice with recovering from an inverted ascent so that's covered. I'd say from the sounds of it there isn't much you missed.

R..