New Divers and Cold Water

[FishDiver]

I convinced a friend of mine to take scuba lessons and she was certified last Sunday in a Sierra lake. I want her to get bottom time in the ocean next and I am concerned about exposure protection. She is very thin and gets cold easily. I don't want her to waste money on a drysuit class but the shops demand the C card before renting the suits. If she freezes on the next few dives I know she will get discouraged and give up on diving.

She won't invest in a drysuit without experiencing local diving and she won't enjoy local diving if she is cold.

How did those of you with diving WAGS get them past the early uncomfortable stage of cold water diving?

 

[3D diver]

My late wife didn't dive, so can't address your question directly, but...

You might wait a month or two till the water temperature rises a bit, or

if you can afford it, consider doing a few dives down in SoCal. It's similar enough to local diving to get her interested in the kelp forest but warm enough for a wet suit.

 

[Wineaux]

I was miserably cold in my OW class. I did drysuit with my Advanced class and it made a world of difference.... well worth the cost of the class/rental. I found a good deal on a semi-dry and am hoping that keeps me warm enough for some summer dives while I save for my own dry suit.

 

[mathauck0814]

Easier response if it were a significant other. My wife was largely the same way so I kept solving the problem with equipment until she was so far better equipped than I was she was outlasting me in the water - which set about an entirely separate cycle of gear acquisition

 

[fisheater]

Easier response if it were a significant other. My wife was largely the same way so I kept solving the problem with equipment until she was so far better equipped than I was she was outlasting me in the water - which set about an entirely separate cycle of gear acquisition

You say this as if it were a problem. Sounds to me like a excellent husband strategy for gaining marital acceptance of the consequences of Gear Acquisition Syndrome. Congrats!


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[otis24]

I convinced a friend of mine to take scuba lessons and she was certified last Sunday in a Sierra lake. I want her to get bottom time in the ocean next and I am concerned about exposure protection. She is very thin and gets cold easily. I don't want her to waste money on a drysuit class but the shops demand the C card before renting the suits. If she freezes on the next few dives I know she will get discouraged and give up on diving.

She won't invest in a drysuit without experiencing local diving and she won't enjoy local diving if she is cold.

How did those of you with diving WAGS get them past the early uncomfortable stage of cold water diving?

What are WAGS?

This is a tough one. I can't share an experience with getting my girlfriend to dive because she's been kinda against it. I bring it up from time to time. It's cool she isn't though. She does backpacking and rock climbing. Either of those and many other things about her make her super awesome.

Anyway...I'm somewhat skinny and get cold easy. I'm getting a dry suit at the end of summer. In the mean time I get cold. Some things to make a cold dive a little better. I used to have this thing..I think it was a billy's bucket or something for surfing. It's a plastic 5 gallon water jug with a neoprene jacket. You fill it up with hot water at home. When you come out of the water you dump the hot water down your wet suit. It feels amazingly good. Nowadays I put a solar shower on top my truck.

Stay shallow. I know I start to get much colder around 75-100 feet from my wet suit compressing. At least I think that's what it's from. It could just be my imagination.

Eat a good high fat breakfast in the morning. I learned this from winter mountaineering. Eat lots of fat and you'll stay warmer. Have hot beverages ready.

Talk about how it's going to be cold and a bit uncomfortable. And if it's too cold and she starts to shiver don't hesitate to thumb the dive.

Wait for perfect conditions (like the last few weekends) if you can. Go when it's epic to make the most out of it.

Has any one tried hand warmers underwater? I think they might need oxygen to work. I'm going to read up on that one and give it a go if it seems feasible.

 

[tracydr]

I dove my first year in Puget Sound and I was pretty small back than. I used a 14 ml core Farmer John with a thick hood and gloves. I don't remember ever getting cold except a little on second dives.
I only got cold on surface intervals and one time when I forgot my super thick gloves and tried substituting a thin pair.
BTW, I get cold easily and I still get cold in my drysuit on Catalina dives. Haven't found the undergarment combo, yet.

 

[FishDiver]

I dove my first year in Puget Sound and I was pretty small back than. I don't remember ever getting cold except a little on second dives. BTW, I get cold easily and I still get cold in my drysuit on Catalina dives.

You were OK in Puget Sound but you get cold in Catalina?

 

[fisheater]

"WAGs" are Wild Assed Guesses.

 

[g1138]

Custom altered or fully custom made Wetsuits from Heatwave in Santa Cruz.
A good custom fitting suit will let in minimal water and keep you much warmer.

With Heatwave's skin-in booties and wrist sealing gloves (like Oniell Psycho or Scubapro Everflex) added into the mix, you will literally get minimal water entering your suit, let alone flushing. So you don't even feel any water chill until about halfway out on your surface swim, when water pressure finally seaps some in.

I personally use a 7mm altered Henderson and custom 3mm hooded vest on checkouts and haven't been cold. Chilled a bit, but not cold. So trust me, it works. Wouldn't recommend going that thin on the hooded vest though. My original idea was to use if for aquarium tank dives, but I just found a second use. Normally I use Heatwaves skin-in 7mm john and beaver tail w/ integrated hood, but that takes a long time to get into. Can't always fit the time schedule of some checkouts.