I think WetSuits are Safer and Better than Dry suits for the vast majority of divers

[buddhasummer]

The word "fearmongering" springs to mind.

 

[Kevrumbo]

The word "fearmongering" springs to mind.

Yeah! Those fearmongering, Euro-Scandanavian "nasenbohrer" drysuit divers always trolling for trouble !

 

[Cave Diver]

When I talk about skills in a dry suit....I mean real skills, like perfect trim, and ascents in horizontal trim.....most divers we see on charter boats in the winter time, wearing dry suits, are diving head up, feet down, and they have crappy skills for sending up an SMB from 20 feet...they tend to be vertically challenged in trying to do this.....

I would counter that a) you probably don't see many wetsuit divers with the above skills either, and 2) the drysuit divers you see with crappy skills, probably have a similar skill set in wet suits.

Maybe it's just me, but after having learned proper buoyancy and trim, I strive to have that regardless of my gear choices or configuration. Equipment doesnt make (or break) a good diver, a good diver makes the equipment work, regardless.

-CD
"has worn a drysuit for tropical diving and stayed in trim"

 

[Phil_C]

I think it is very easy to dive in a drysuit with too much weight, and bad trim.....You just don't see many people trained to dive dry suits with the small amount of weighting they should have...and these are almost exclusively GUE divers.

Now my turn to bite I'm afraid Dan - you seem to have a very limited view and experience of drysuit divers, and as result are making sweeping statements that I just do not recognise from my diving experience. For two weeks each month I dive warm water in the Eastern Med in a wetsuit, for the other two, year round, I dive in the UK and always dive dry.

I belong to two UK clubs - total diving membership about 120 divers, we dive year round with no breaks. ALL are trained from the outset to dive dry with proper weighting and trim, and most have good skills - I say most because in any bunch you get some cack handed folk who just don't get it no matter how hard they try. How many have done Fundies ? to my knowledge 2 !

On a UK dive I am likely to have more problems with someone in a wetsuit than a dry suit, and the cold with the inherent problem that adds of increased risk of DCI will cause me more concern than a drysuit diver. Regards - P

 

[bowlofpetunias]

My contention is that the vast majority of recreational divers should simply stick with snorkeling instead. Recreational scuba is far more expensive than snorkeling, with the additional costs of poor safety, etc making scuba diving nothing but a money-maker for the dive industry.

My further contention is that the vast majority of snorkelers should simply visit an aquarium instead. Snorkeling is far more expensive than visiting an aquarium, with the additional costs of poor safety, etc making snorkeling nothing but a money-maker for the snorkeling industry.

Of course, I firmly believe that aquarium visitors should simply read books about fish instead. Visiting an aquarium is far more expensive than reading a book, with the additional costs of parking, etc making aquarium visiting nothing but a money-maker for the aquarium industry.

And don't get me started about you book readers... with your poor reading comprehension skills and the potential for a nasty paper cut. It's far safer to simply close your eyes and imagine fish!

If the world would agree with Dan and I on these few simple points I would encounter far fewer crowds as I travel the world's best tropical dive locales doing as many as six dives a day in my trusty drysuit. As you can see below, my propulsion is so compromised I am in abject danger in all but still waters.

Somehow, at the age of forty, I was able to overcome the inherent risks associated with such a complex piece of rubber and nylon equipment, and not die immediately, or get swept away by adverse hydrodynamic forces. I guess I'd be a far better diver in a wetsuit... though I may well have given diving up years ago if I hadn't started diving dry everywhere but a heated pool.

gasp :lol: thanks for the best laugh I have had in ages!

I will admit I was getting a bit tempted to break myself imposed rule regarding reading an entire thread before posting in it. Thanks for the payoff! Also meant I didn't miss the other worth while posts:0 Reinforced my rule:worship:

Now I will confess there is something that just gets my back up.. those sweeping EVERYONE and ALWAYS statements! It seems to me that they OFTEN but not ALWAYS result from a personal bias or campaign to convince others the person's view is the only correct one

I had an interesting conversation with Dr Simon Mitchell about my exposure protection. After getting sick of being hassled by someone with an axe to grind about it. I don't seem to be impacted by cold as much as heat. Diving in Sydney in summer in a wetsuit is unbearable for me. With ambient air temps by the time I get to the entry point I have a massive headache from the heat and feel nauseous. Dr Michell basically said what TSandM posted earlier research shows you on gas faster while hot and off gas slower when cold. Most divers know that anyway. What Dr Mitchell said was while he did not advocate diving cold he did not see a problem with my gear choice because I was further ahead to have a consistent temperature than start so overheated then cool off during the dive.

In water temps of 20C(68F) to 24C(75F) I can comfortably dive in a sharkskin for 90 minutes or more. That means I get to the water without overheating and I can drop 10lb of weight which is a bonus for my arthritis. In Florida I dived a skin and was looking for cooler water while my local dive buddy was wearing my sharkskin vest in addition to normal gear and feeling cold! I have seen tropical divers shivering after surfacing in gear two and three times as protective as mine. I have comfortably dived Calif in a 5mil and Canada at 8C(46F) in a 7/5mil so drysuit isn't for me but I sure see the need for many others.

I am certainly not a Macho diver nor do I consider others wuss divers.. we just need to pick the right gear for ourselves. Life is about personal choices but I resent it when others muddy the reality of the information with their chosen biases potentially making it harder for others to make the right choices for themselves!

 

[HIGHwing]

Sometimes while diving dry in South Florida, I use my rebreather.

 

[Hickdive]

Sometimes while diving dry in South Florida, I use my rebreather.

Yikes! A post from BEYOND THE GRAVE!

It must be for surely you have been killed, horribly, several times by such reckless behaviour.

 

[flots am]

...this is point A to Point B travel,

I use a boat for that.

flots

 

[supergaijin]

Is is just Florida that has all these dry-suit wearing tropical divers? TBH I was just reading this thread to see the OP throw his toys again and storm off.


Soon...

 

[HIGHwing]

Believe what you want....take all the drugs you want....Enjoy Obamacare

Here's a guy who doesn't get it. The Government can't tell me what to do, but *I* will tell you how to dive. You're making the exact same argument as Obamacare and asking people to pay to dive on your boat under the I know what's best for you model. Enjoy your hypocrisy and the tourist dollars you should be welcoming to the state of Florida to offset those state income taxes you already don't pay.

You're super-legit, dude.