Warm in Monterey Water?

[fdog]

Eric, I agree with the point that everyone's made, fit is everything.

If you must dive wet, you might also look at a semi-dry suit. This is a wetsuit with exceptional seals at the wrists and ankles, attached hood. You can ususally tell these by their cross-chest zipper. Their biggest downside is that you can say goodby to peeing in the wetsuit. Custom is always warmer, unless your body is just magically identical to the stock size.

I dive a 7/5 semidry with a 5mm core warmer in 50 degree water and stay very warm.

If you do dive wet, and the air is chilly or windy, get out of the wetsuit between dives. You will be amazed at how much body heat you can loose from the wet material evaporating in the breeze.

A drysuit is toasty warm and doesn't suffer from the cold-between-dives problem. Bring your checkbook, though. And some just like diving wet (that's me). Freediving in a drysuit is a miserable experience for me. If you don't fit the two exceptions above, though, I would bite the bullet and plunk down for a drysuit.

All the best, James

 

[paulwlee]

As fdog said, getting out of the wetsuit between dives makes a big difference, even if you are putting a jacket over the suit. More practically, take the top off and peel down the bottom to the waist, towel off, put on some dry cloths on top, then wear the jacket. It helps even more if it's an extra long jacket similar to what swimmers wear out of the water.

You need to be WARM during the surface interval, not just OK. Otherwise you are still losing heat and thus will get colder during the second dive.

 

[CALI68]

Get a Dry Suit. You WILL not regret it. Why be cold when all you have to do is spend a bit more and never bother with it again. I can't tell you how times I have been on a boat dive and during surface interval I'm almost too warm and the wetsuit divers are shivering their butts off. You can get a shoulder entry DUI TLS 350 for about a $1,000. Diving Concepts makes some great suits too. You want to avoid the mind set of "I'll just get a cheap starter suit", go right to DUI or DC.

If you absolutely cannot afford a Drysuit or you just don't want one. Get the Henderson Gold Core Semi Dry and ad a vest over the torso. The Gold Core dramatically reduces flushing and really creates a good skin to SKIN seal. The only problem is that you need an additional layer or vest around your "core". The vest also seals the horizontal chest zipper. Excel also makes an excellent "Semi Dry" that has a similar "Gold Core like" interior. Either way, an integrated hood is key.

....but seriously...get a DrySuit.

 

[JustinW]

I was a bit cold during a few dives in monterey too, and found that while freediving farther north I would get very cold after being in the water for an hour or more and resting a lot without moving. This year I put a t-shirt on like one I would normally wear and I found a huge difference, can stay in the water for 3 hours in 50 degree water and still toasty, get more fatigued than anything else.

 

[CALI68]

I was a bit cold during a few dives in monterey too, and found that while freediving farther north I would get very cold after being in the water for an hour or more and resting a lot without moving. This year I put a t-shirt on like one I would normally wear and I found a huge difference, can stay in the water for 3 hours in 50 degree water and still toasty, get more fatigued than anything else.

Justin, do you mean under a wetsuit or a Drysuit? Wearing a cotton t shirt as a base layer under a Dry Suit is usually considered a bad idea because it absorbs sweat rather than wicking it. Just curious.

 

[mweitz]

Justin, do you mean under a wetsuit or a Drysuit? Wearing a cotton t shirt as a base layer under a Dry Suit is usually considered a bad idea because it absorbs sweat rather than wicking it. Just curious.

Don't think people freedive in drysuits ...

 

[CALI68]

Don't think people freedive in drysuits ...

Sure they do. Foam Neoprene Suits mostly. They discuss them in the Dry Suit Video called "Dry Suit Diving in Depth"

 

[coreypenrose]

You want to avoid the mind set of "I'll just get a cheap starter suit", go right to DUI or DC.

Bolded for truth.