Hi everyone,
I just got my open water certification in the rather chilly waters off the coast of southern California. We did 3 boat dives on one day; the instructor told us to pull our wetsuits down to our waists and dry off our arms and torso between dives to keep warm. I was skeptical but took his advice between dives 1 & 2. I still felt pretty cold, so when I came up from the second dive I decided to keep my wetsuit all the way on and zipped until I was finished diving. I felt much warmer and didn't have to deal with pulling cold clammy sleeves back on.
This was far from a perfect experiment, of course. For one thing, I was wearing a rash guard under my wetsuit, which I kept on; the tight collar makes it a pain to take off, especially with long hair. So I wasn't really drying off, because the rash guard stayed damp. For another, the air temperature that day increased from the low 60s that morning to about 80 by the time I got back to my car, so it might have been as much as 10 degrees warmer during the surface interval when I kept my wetsuit on.
But common sense tells me keeping the wetsuit on actually helped. So I thought I'd ask this question here, since I'm planning another day with 3 boat dives next month, when it'll be even colder. Should I keep my wetsuit all the way on between dives? If not, should I also take off the rash guard, or just not wear it? Any other tips for a temperature wuss? Thanks!
I just got my open water certification in the rather chilly waters off the coast of southern California. We did 3 boat dives on one day; the instructor told us to pull our wetsuits down to our waists and dry off our arms and torso between dives to keep warm. I was skeptical but took his advice between dives 1 & 2. I still felt pretty cold, so when I came up from the second dive I decided to keep my wetsuit all the way on and zipped until I was finished diving. I felt much warmer and didn't have to deal with pulling cold clammy sleeves back on.
This was far from a perfect experiment, of course. For one thing, I was wearing a rash guard under my wetsuit, which I kept on; the tight collar makes it a pain to take off, especially with long hair. So I wasn't really drying off, because the rash guard stayed damp. For another, the air temperature that day increased from the low 60s that morning to about 80 by the time I got back to my car, so it might have been as much as 10 degrees warmer during the surface interval when I kept my wetsuit on.
But common sense tells me keeping the wetsuit on actually helped. So I thought I'd ask this question here, since I'm planning another day with 3 boat dives next month, when it'll be even colder. Should I keep my wetsuit all the way on between dives? If not, should I also take off the rash guard, or just not wear it? Any other tips for a temperature wuss? Thanks!