Malta - Underwear

[jemima]

I have a 3ml which was fine for Red sea exploits, in March & May (water temp 26C off to Malta next in September - water is 23C I think I'll need a little more protection.... what should I go for as underwear? (I think the dry suit and duvet is a little excessive!)
Ta muchly
Jem

 

[SubMariner]

jem, it's really tough to tell someone else how cold they will feel in a particular temp of water. Everyone's personal thermostat is different.

We are Canadian, but currently live in the SE United States. Since our background is cold, low vis diving, drysuits are 2nd nature to us.

That being said, we both only own two types of exposure suits: a full 1/8" (about 3mm) wetsuit and a DUI 350TLS trilam drysuit.

Hypothermic me wears the drysuit in anything lower than 75F (about 24C). I just vary what I wear under the suit: a t-shirt and bicycle leggings for "warmer" water; various layers (usually sweats) for "colder" water.

I routinely dive various FL springs (about 20C) with a long sleeved t-shirt or a sweatshirt & bicycle leggings under my drysuit. Of course I also like to wear a little 1/8" "dive beanie" to keep the cranium warm.

Meanwhile, we were in the Red Sea at the end of March. Everyone on board the boat wore 5-7mm suits, hoods & gloves execpt us; we were wearing our drysuits. The water was a bit less than 20C, and I was comfortable wearing a long sleeved sweat shirt along with my leggings.

Does this help at all?

~SubMariner~

 

[jemima]

Thanks! well I guess I'd better take my hood & gloves and invest in some undersuit to take me up to 5mm wish I could afford a wardrobe of suits! I like to be as streamlined as possible I was looking forward to not being trussed up in my dry suit in Malta. I have dived hoodless in the UK in summer but definitely needed the 7mm I borrowed for a night dive in red sea in early May.

Is there any research behind this highly individual sensitivity to the cold? It can't just be physiological, down to metabolic rate or Body Mass Index. The psychology of it must be fascinating - know any good articles about it?

Jem