Instructors wearing drysuits while students wear wetsuits

[boulderjohn]

I just want to repeat a point that I made earlier different words in order to emphasize it.

Some of the people in this thread live and work in areas where there is pretty good cold water diving in that vicinity. Shops in such areas will usually carry a large stock of dry suits, both for sale and for rent. For those people, it makes perfect sense for them to do what they can to get students to wear them in their training, or at least give them that option.

Some people who did not participate in this thread live in warm water locations where using a dry suit is a rare occasion. For them it would make little sense to make a dry suit part of instruction.

I and a whole lot of people living far from the ocean are in a world between those two. We have a lot of cool/cold water diving near us, but it is not the sort of diving that people are eager to do. It is mostly shallow and murky reservoir water. The people who dive those sites for pleasure are real die-hards, and they usually have dry suits. Almost all the other divers in the vicinity have no intention of diving locally--they do all their diving at warm water resorts. It is an unusual local dive shop that has dry suit inventory on hand, either for sale or for rent. If they did, those suits would sit around taking up space and ruining the shop's cash flow while the seals rotted away. The shop with which I work now can sell you a dry suit, but it will be a special order, and that makes sense to me. Consequently, the 10% of the local students who complete their training in a local cool water site do so in a 7mm suit. Many of the instructors will do the same, because many--even most--of the instructors do not dive locally, either, and they will pull a wets suit from the same rental rack the students use. The instructors who are wearing dry suits for the classes are the ones like me, the die-hards who will dive locally and who do travel to cool/cold water sites as well.

 

[Scuba Eddy]

I am a divemaster in the UK and instructors I work with all wear dry suits as do the majority of us (water temp between 5C and 16C). Every student we teach has the opportunity to do a drysuit course when on their OW (5 dives) or dive in a drysuit without the qualification (4 dives). These are both after completing a drysuit orientation in the pool before hand of course. This time last year I was diving in the same wetsuit (7mm with 5mm shorty) we give students in water which was around 6C and I didn't have any problems with the cold. I have however been with students in warmer water wearing dry suits who have felt the cold much more quickly.

In response to your question I agree that you should dive in what you are comfortable in and the main thing is to always use your experience and knowledge to see how they're feeling. If they want to do it in a drysuit maybe give them this option too.

Happy Diving

 

[rmh84]

I was certified in Southern Ontario. My instructor, who is a pretty good friend now dives EVERYWHERE including the caribean in his drysuit. I did all those dives, in about 60f water in a 3 mil.

I agree that the instructor is often in the water much longer, and has to be able to handle any emergency that comes up. For that reason, I have no problem with them wearing different gear, so long as it's not really crazy gear (IE - I might find it fishy if my instructor was out there with a rebreather or something...).

I wish I was drysuit certified, and might have to do that this coming year when I have the funds available.

 

[goflyplanes]

All my students are in wetsuits. We don't have the drysuit option. Granted the Mediterranean isn't AS cold as say the Pacific. I think we're at about 17 and 15 right now. (63 ish and 58ish) The lake we teach in is at 15 at the moment so it's about the same. Moral of the story being my students are diving wet. I do have a tendency to get cold and will dive with a 3mm shorty under my 7mm semi-dry, but I also refuse to wear a hood or gloves. That being said I just think it is ridiculously unfair to take my OW students into the water with a drysuit on. I won't do it. I will dive dry for my AOW and Spec courses. But I feel like that's a different issue. Another exception to this is if I have multiple courses I'm teaching and am doing an OW in the morning and then an AOW or specs in the afternoon. I don't warm up between dives easily and I'll dive dry because I know it's my only option for my health. I know a couple of people here teach their courses where they spend significantly more time in the water than their students and I can see how that would be a factor, but unless there's other circumstances coming into play I dive in the same suit type as my students.

 

[roydude]

I learned in Scotland in January 2000 wearing a drysuit from the start in 4C water. Since it was the first diving I'd done I just assumed everyone did that and got on with it (imagine my joy when I first did a wetsuit dive in 25C water!).

I like the idea of throwing in a drysuit course with OW - it means I can dive pretty much anywhere in the world, but I think an instructor wearing different gear to students isn't such an issue, provided the standards permit it and the instructor briefs things correctly (I believe instructors doing CCR open water sessions often use open circuit for themselves so they can focus on the students kit?). Even if a student is doing a drysuit course I'm not convinced that the instructor needs to be wearing a drysuit all the time.
In Spain they do drysuit courses at the end of summer in preparation for the winter diving - sometimes the air temp's still around 25C and the water's still about 20C so a drysuit's ... well ... just a big unnecessary heavy cumbersome nasty bag of sweat :blinking:. The OW part of the course is sometimes accompanied by staff in wetsuits since the hazards associated with those conditions outweigh the benefits of 'looking the same' as a student.

 

[Buoyant1]

Why not, it's freaking cold up here!