DiverDave65
Contributor
Disclaimer: I am not a company sales rep nor do I work for any dive shop or company!!
Last fall I found a Typhoon TCS crushed neoprene drysuit on sale at Divers Supply for around 500 bucks.....did some research and grabbed one, but didn't get a chance to dive it until last weekend in San Diego. I dove the Yukon and Ruby E last year wet and froze to death in 7mm farmer johns and vowed never to dive them wet again.
Arranged a day of dry suit training with Dive California in San Diego.....a great shop with their own small training pool...spent a day reviewing the PADI dry suit book, did a
few drills in the pool, and two checkout dives off La Jolla Shores beach with my instructor Penny. I wore an underarmour tank shirt, and a Whites Glacier 1 undergarment underneath the drysuit....perfect underwater, almost too warm on the surface since we had to kick out to the dive site about 50 yds off shore through a shore break. I am in excellent shape, swim and lift weights regularly and I was exhausted after two dives surface swimming in and out, plus dealing with the initial awkwardness of the dry suit. Water temps at the surface around 65F and at depth around 50-54F.
I flailed around a bit on the first dive figuring out the inflation and deflation routine and getting the proper weight adjusted.....I needed 30 lbs of lead in the BC and also used small ankle weights, around one pound each. By the second dive, I felt pretty much in control and had no real problems with any of the drills or bouyancy issues, and I actually found the dive rather comfortable and pleasant.
Next day I did two dives in the kelp beds off Pt Loma on the LoisAnn.....I let the boat Capt JR and divemaster Eric know that I was new to the drysuit and might require some help donning gear....they were both great help and cannot thank them enough for their assistance over the weekend!!! I thought I might be the "toadist" diver on the boat due to the new drysuit, but the rest of the divers were either novices or noncurrent and so I looked like the salty old pro compared to them!!
I had a fabulous time underwater....suddenly I was very comfortable in the new suit, had no bouyancy issues, and genuinely enjoyed looking around the kelp beds since I was completely DRY and COMFORTABLE instead of freezing my ass off!!!! The Typhoon TCS performed flawlessly and I was really amazed at how easy it was to use once I was underwater......twice I had to wait at the surface for quite a while while my buddy had equipment issues and that was also no problem since I was warm as TOAST!!
The next day I did two wreck dives on the Yukon and Ruby E, and once again had a great time with no equipment or bouyancy issues, and felt very comfortable and warm down to 50F. I did notice a slight chill at 50F after a while, and thought a thicker undergarment might be more appropriate for that temp, but it was still OK and a thicker undergarment might have led to overheating at shallower depth or on the surface, so a trade-off, I guess.
Overall, the drysuit proved to be amazing and wonderful.....I would NEVER dive in that area wet again if I could help it. I can't say enough good things about the Typhoon TCS, the Dive Calfornia instructors and staff, and the crew on the LoisAnn....hope you enjoyed this report!!
I have some pics I will try to attach.
Last fall I found a Typhoon TCS crushed neoprene drysuit on sale at Divers Supply for around 500 bucks.....did some research and grabbed one, but didn't get a chance to dive it until last weekend in San Diego. I dove the Yukon and Ruby E last year wet and froze to death in 7mm farmer johns and vowed never to dive them wet again.
Arranged a day of dry suit training with Dive California in San Diego.....a great shop with their own small training pool...spent a day reviewing the PADI dry suit book, did a
few drills in the pool, and two checkout dives off La Jolla Shores beach with my instructor Penny. I wore an underarmour tank shirt, and a Whites Glacier 1 undergarment underneath the drysuit....perfect underwater, almost too warm on the surface since we had to kick out to the dive site about 50 yds off shore through a shore break. I am in excellent shape, swim and lift weights regularly and I was exhausted after two dives surface swimming in and out, plus dealing with the initial awkwardness of the dry suit. Water temps at the surface around 65F and at depth around 50-54F.
I flailed around a bit on the first dive figuring out the inflation and deflation routine and getting the proper weight adjusted.....I needed 30 lbs of lead in the BC and also used small ankle weights, around one pound each. By the second dive, I felt pretty much in control and had no real problems with any of the drills or bouyancy issues, and I actually found the dive rather comfortable and pleasant.
Next day I did two dives in the kelp beds off Pt Loma on the LoisAnn.....I let the boat Capt JR and divemaster Eric know that I was new to the drysuit and might require some help donning gear....they were both great help and cannot thank them enough for their assistance over the weekend!!! I thought I might be the "toadist" diver on the boat due to the new drysuit, but the rest of the divers were either novices or noncurrent and so I looked like the salty old pro compared to them!!
I had a fabulous time underwater....suddenly I was very comfortable in the new suit, had no bouyancy issues, and genuinely enjoyed looking around the kelp beds since I was completely DRY and COMFORTABLE instead of freezing my ass off!!!! The Typhoon TCS performed flawlessly and I was really amazed at how easy it was to use once I was underwater......twice I had to wait at the surface for quite a while while my buddy had equipment issues and that was also no problem since I was warm as TOAST!!
The next day I did two wreck dives on the Yukon and Ruby E, and once again had a great time with no equipment or bouyancy issues, and felt very comfortable and warm down to 50F. I did notice a slight chill at 50F after a while, and thought a thicker undergarment might be more appropriate for that temp, but it was still OK and a thicker undergarment might have led to overheating at shallower depth or on the surface, so a trade-off, I guess.
Overall, the drysuit proved to be amazing and wonderful.....I would NEVER dive in that area wet again if I could help it. I can't say enough good things about the Typhoon TCS, the Dive Calfornia instructors and staff, and the crew on the LoisAnn....hope you enjoyed this report!!
I have some pics I will try to attach.
