SPKelpDiver
Contributor
Today Frank and I dove Long Point, and it was my first drysuit dive. I am using a Diving Concepts, Crushed Neo drysuit. Everything went pretty well.
I was told it would take anywhere between 10-25 dives to re-gain my buoyancy. After hearing that, I was almost apprehensive at how natural the drysuit felt on my first pool dive. On my first descent I didn't even hit the bottom, I floated right down and hovered. Same thing was true in the ocean today. Buoyancy in this suit is almost second nature. My trim almost feels better with the air distributed through out the suit. A few more dives with this suit and I will be almost completely dialed in.
Another thing I was told was that I would have to wear a lot more weight. I was only wearing 17lbs for this dive, and I still felt overweighed. I could easily drop 2 more pounds. Any minor awkwardness in my suit today was probably due to that.
One thing that did kind of bother me is my lower forearm area felt damp during the dive(both arms), as a result I was cool. Definitely not cold, not even close to how it was diving wetsuits, but still cooler than I expected, which slightly disappointed me. I don't think it was leaking because the fleece seemed dry when I took it off(but it is hard to tell with this material), I was mostly damp underneath the underskin I was wearing. It is a Pinnacle Bioply Underskin. It was really tight and I felt like it trapped the cooling moist material against my body, keeping me a little cooler than I might have been without it. I heard that Underarmor is a good alternative that will keep you dry. Either way I am ditching the Pinnacle underskin next time. One thing I am worried about now is being able to discern if I am sweating or if I am slightly leaking in forearm area. I am also wondering if I need more insulation. Any advice would be appreciated.
Overall though, everything went much smoother than I expected, except for the entry and exit
. The dive itself was awesome. See Frankpro1's recent post for the dive debrief and more pictures. Pictures were also taken by Frank.
Homage for the Lady
I was told it would take anywhere between 10-25 dives to re-gain my buoyancy. After hearing that, I was almost apprehensive at how natural the drysuit felt on my first pool dive. On my first descent I didn't even hit the bottom, I floated right down and hovered. Same thing was true in the ocean today. Buoyancy in this suit is almost second nature. My trim almost feels better with the air distributed through out the suit. A few more dives with this suit and I will be almost completely dialed in.
Another thing I was told was that I would have to wear a lot more weight. I was only wearing 17lbs for this dive, and I still felt overweighed. I could easily drop 2 more pounds. Any minor awkwardness in my suit today was probably due to that.
One thing that did kind of bother me is my lower forearm area felt damp during the dive(both arms), as a result I was cool. Definitely not cold, not even close to how it was diving wetsuits, but still cooler than I expected, which slightly disappointed me. I don't think it was leaking because the fleece seemed dry when I took it off(but it is hard to tell with this material), I was mostly damp underneath the underskin I was wearing. It is a Pinnacle Bioply Underskin. It was really tight and I felt like it trapped the cooling moist material against my body, keeping me a little cooler than I might have been without it. I heard that Underarmor is a good alternative that will keep you dry. Either way I am ditching the Pinnacle underskin next time. One thing I am worried about now is being able to discern if I am sweating or if I am slightly leaking in forearm area. I am also wondering if I need more insulation. Any advice would be appreciated.
Overall though, everything went much smoother than I expected, except for the entry and exit
. The dive itself was awesome. See Frankpro1's recent post for the dive debrief and more pictures. Pictures were also taken by Frank.
Homage for the Lady
