How to keep warm in a drysuit in cold water

[Storker]

Have you gotten out of those undies now? ;-)

--
Sent from my Android phone
Typos are a feature, not a bug

 

[Tigerman]

If I say this is TWO snowflakes.. Whats your guess?
(Hint, thats a result of 0c/32f weather)

 

[NorthernLights]

How much ice did you have to break through to dive up there in Norway?

 

[Tigerman]

How much ice did you have to break through to dive up there in Norway?

Depends where in Norway... but this time of the year, generally a chainsaw is preferrable..

 

[live&dive]

Do any of you tend to feel that kid from "A Christmas Story?" when diving with a drysuit?

 

[Storker]

How much ice did you have to break through to dive up there in Norway?

As Tigerman says, it depends on where you are.

• Inland lakes: Up to chainsaw thickness
• Coast: No ice, due to the North Atlantic Drift. Our coastal harbors normally are open all through winter, all the way past the North Cape.
• Fjords: Varying ice thickness. Outer parts: no ice due to warm(ish), i.e. non-freezing coastal water flowing in with the tide. Inner parts: some ice, varying thickness.

The Trondheim fjord where I dive most is generally open throughout the winter, however the innermost part freezes over rather regularly. Myself, I haven't experienced water colder than 3-4°C .

Getting ready for our annual Christmas tree dive (-7°C air, 4°C surface, 7°C bottom):



Post-dive socializing with hot chocolate and a campfire that has burned out (I was a bit late out of the water):


On the boat, on our way to the dive site (-5°C air, 3°C surface, 4°C bottom). Note the snow on the islands in the background:


Out of the water, a little bit cold in a standard neoprene DS with wetgloves:



So why do we do it? Why the ma(so)chism? This is why (not my videos, alas). The viz can be just fantastic at that time of the year, and there's no algal soup in the top layer:

 

[NorthernLights]

Loved your video! Hearing reports that the ice is 30 inches in some places in my state, so they are having to put extensions on the ice augers to fish. I am too chicken to dive under ice that thick.

 

[Storker]

Loved your video!

I can't take credit for the videos, maybe I wasn't explicit enough about that. But they are from my favorite semi-local waters. The first one is from Hitra, a large island on the coast just outside the Trondheim fjord, the second and third are from the Vikna archipelago some four-five hours' drive North from here. Lovely place, that one, too.

Hearing reports that the ice is 30 inches in some places in my state, so they are having to put extensions on the ice augers to fish. I am too chicken to dive under ice that thick.

Heh. I'm too chicken to dive under ice. Period.

 

[Akimbo]

The only time my hands were warm for more than a few minutes while diving off Norway was in a hot water suit. The same could be said for the rest of me after an hour or less. If you are going to be tethered to a hole in the ice it may as well be with a hose pumping hot water!

 

[Tigerman]

Totally offtopic in a thread thats gone a bit offtopic already..
Current weather conditions (I live not far from the bottomn of this hill btw, not near the top).
[video=youtube;FBWVnz8nTn4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBWVnz8nTn4[/video]
I recorded this to document the current conditions for a matter completely unrelated to SB, which is why its uncut and unedited other than a few captions..