New AOW diver + drysuit + boat dive?

[mpgunner]

I know a young (18) eager diver who just got certified. After his open water dives he is taking a drysuit class and then doing a boat dive for his first dive in his drysuit.

Perhaps I'm too cautious but I'm concerned about this. I hope he doesn't "pop up".

Thoughts?

 

[fisheater]

Many folks in cold climates get their OW certs in drysuits.

If he's got a good instructor and doesn't actually think that being 18 makes him immortal, he should do just fine.

 

[Anti-Hero]

Drysuits are not the evil devices they're made out to be. The fact that he's taking his DS Class should be more than enough to teach him the tips and tricks of dry diving.

 

[Ber Rabbit]

Drysuit classes still require OW dives as far as I know. He's taking a class so if his first dive is off a boat he's going to be with some sort of dive professional at a site suitable for drysuit training.

Now if his first dives without his instructor after completing the class are off a boat that's not really a problem either unless he's planning to dive an aggressive profile. I think I would skip a boat trip that didn't have some sort of downline to aid in maintaining safety stop depth at least until I was comfortable holding any depth at will in the suit. Even on a shore dive I would want some sort of ascent line available just in case. Drysuits are harder to manage in shallow water when you're inexperienced that's for sure.

I did the "pop up" thing on a few dives when I was learning to dive dry, one of them was from 50 feet...THAT will scare the bejeebers out of you...but mostly it was from the safety stop. We always ascend looking up with our hand above our head whether we're diving wet or dry so we can push off any obstacles (like a boat) rather than ram our heads into it.

Good training and sensible profiles will serve him well.
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[on_two_wheels]

I was part of a group with someone doing their first deep dive (for AOW) and their first dive in a drysuit together!! This person ended up sharing air with the instructor. As was said, if he's not going too deep the first time out, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[greg98072]

My first dive in a dry suit was a boat dive. It was my first dive since open water a year earlier, max depth no more than 50ft if I remember. I don’t see a problem, if it was a drift dive I would have a different opinion.

Greg

 

[spectrum]

How about a qualified yellow alert?

To me it's hard to say without knowing the quality of this divers training and how well he took to diving first of all. Going straight to drysuit is no problem. My concern is with thew "b word", boat. Common advice is to make the first few dry dives in shallow water where the consequences of an incident are minimized. Not too many folks hire on to a charter to dive cold shallow water.

It also being a first boat dive is not a huge consern however if surface conditions are less than prime being a new diver, getting out of the water in a drysuit and dealing with seas seems like an invitation to a trial by fire.

It equally seems like too many folks are too stuck doing things from a boat. I prefer incremental steps.

Other's prior experience is just that, totally scenario dependent, YMMV.

If the individual is a solid newbie with a good instructor and conditions are OK then it's probably not a big deal. Too many if's for me to say.

Pete

 

[mpgunner]

Thanks for the comments. I should add, from what he has told me, that his boat dive is not with his drysuit class. There will be a few people from his AOW class but not a class led dive. This is what caused me concern. Lots of stuff will be going on.

After 30+ dives in a wetsuit I just switched to a drysuit and have 5 dives. After being very comfortable in my wetsuit I have had to work again on my bouyancy. I actually decided to not do a boat dive yet until I felt confident in my new suit. Like spectrum, I like the incremental steps to work on specific skills. Though, I have to say my first drysuit dive was a night dive down to 110ft at the I-Beams. SAC rate wasn't good but it was a gas. My buddies are great so it went well.

I'll let you know how his dive goes this Sunday.

 

[ucfdiver]

I'd suggest calling the scuba police before posting on here. Issues like this are serious and should be reported to the proper authorities.