Monday Funny, no so funny...

[Reef]

Monday Funny, no so funny...

The wife and I made the 5 1/2 hour journey down to Vortex Spring early Saturday.
When we left Georgia it was nice 25 degrees, but by mid-day at Vortex I think it was 55 or so.

I was breaking in a drysuit. When I got my drysuit I had offered to by my wife one. She deferred saying she would rather spend the cash somewhere else. You know more designer type things.

Anyways after our first dive it was so nice to get out of the water, and be dry. I was toasty, but the wife was frozen after getting out. Rest of the day she couldn't get warm. I kept reminding her about the offer that still stood about buying her a drysuit. At the beginning of the day she was still firm on her decision. After a few dives, and being frozen she quickly changed. Even after settling into the hotel for the night she was still cold.

Well Sunday morning we headed back to Vortex. We suited up, and got in. Well my wife got her payback for me reminding her how toasty I was all day the day before. Soon as I hit the water I felt a sudden rush of cold water. She didn't quit zip me up in the back, and boy did the water rush in. Immediately I was the frozen one. Of course she denied intentionally doing this (and I believe her).

Point? Don't mess with your partner if there diving wet, and your diving dry especially if there your better half. They have legal rights to get you back you know. The only one that got wet yesterday was me.:no

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Ooooh ... been there, hate that rush of cold water down the inside of the suit.

You'll quickly learn to visually check your zipper rather than assume it's closed. Even with a back-zip suit you can usually peek over your shoulder and see for yourself that it's zipped. Or have your buddy help you reach the zipper pull and give it a final tug to make sure yourself that it's closed.

It's kind've like analyzing your own nitrox tank ... even if you trust the person who did it for you.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[MurkyRockDiver]

lol I have a buddy that leaves his relief zipper open all the time, funny to watch when he jumps in

 

[jbmooney]

This thread raised a questions for me (I'm not sure if this is the spot for it, but it's sort of related - my apologies if it's not close enough).

I haven't dived "dry" yet, but I have used a surface drysuit for very cold water dinghy sailing, and have (once - it's the sort of mistake one doesn't usually repeat) felt the "rush of cold water", which pretty much ruins your day.

In the surface suit (main zipper only, no other ports or openings aside from neck and wrist seals), we are cautioned to avoid flooding the suit, because apart from the discomfort of getting wet, it can be very dangerous to fill this suit with water, as it's not easy to get out of the water once you're carrying around an extra 75-80 pounds of water in a big rubber bag.

If the surface suit gets really floodeded, the solution is sometimes to get out of it in the water (which is difficult and really unpleasant, but beats drowning), but I'd imagine this is much more difficult with a BC and other gear on. What does one do about this in the diving environment? Does that gear prevent the suit from getting so full, is there a way to drain it before exiting the water in a diving drysuit, or does one just rely on the fact that you're either provided with a ladder or a shore to get out on to carry the extra weight? (I'd hate to try to scramble up over the side of a sailing dinghy with dive gear on even without wearing a big rubber bag full of water!)

Thanks, and apologies if this is too much of a hijack...

 

[Gombessa]

I wonder if anyone has had to cut their suit (either fabric or seals) in order to either get out of it, or drain the water so they can exit.

 

[ClayJar]

I actually had my first flood at Vortex recently, but it was confined to my right arm. (It's amazing how cold your arm can get after three hours of soaking in cool water. :biggrin I thought I must have pulled the sleeve up my arm when I was putting on the suit. Nope.

What does one do about this in the diving environment? Does that gear prevent the suit from getting so full, is there a way to drain it before exiting the water in a diving drysuit, or does one just rely on the fact that you're either provided with a ladder or a shore to get out on to carry the extra weight?

I think in general the answer is just "suck it up and heave yourself onto land", at least for the floods I've seen. (If it's really bad, you open a zipper or something and play "I'm a little teapot" -- i.e. "tip me over and pour me out".) Generally, divers already have made provision for getting themselves and large, heavy packages of gear back out of the water.

Counting weights, tanks, and everything, I've climbed a ladder on a dive boat with 150 pounds on me, and I'm not tech and doubles and all that. If I flooded and couldn't just climb out, I'll doff the gear in the water, just carry the suit up, and then return for the gear.

 

[jbmooney]

I wonder if anyone has had to cut their suit (either fabric or seals) in order to either get out of it, or drain the water so they can exit.

I've heard of this being done to a surface suit as part of the rescue of another sailor in distress (or if you can't get your own suit off for some reason) - as you've guessed, approved technique is to cut the leg seals (or cut the booties off), allowing the water to drain (replacing leg seals or booties is also cheaper than buying a new suit, though by the time you're doing this, you probably don't care much!:11

This is a desperation move, though, and as Clay Jar points out, probably not necessary if there's a ladder or a beach nearby. Thanks for the answer, CJ!:11doh: