What do you do in the Winter?

[RIOceanographer]

I usually go exclusively dry when the air temp drops into the 60's or lower. Even if the water is okay, you lose heat fast on the surface when the cool breeze starts hitting your wet body. I also tend to go dry if I am doing really deep dives or if the water is low 50s or colder.

If you go wet the trick is to get dry and into dry cloths as fast as you can after the dive. As long as you don't stand around outside dripping wet you should be fine here in RI up through November. The water temps here don't really drop out of the 50s until late November/early December.

Once the water hits the 40s and below it starts getting pretty uncomfortable in a wetsuit for everyone but the real polar bears. Coldest I ever did wet was 42, and I was pretty cold. That said I did a dive last winter with my buddy Jerry who dove wet in 36 degree water and he never complained once (I used a dry suit on the same dive and complained plenty! ).

 

[johnnyseko]

My plan is to dive wet through the winter. Of course, I have no experience in this and I am only guessing how this is going to work out. I figure if I suit up at home and drive to the site and only have to put on my hood, gloves, boots, bc...I'll be out of the car and in the water in a few minutes (assuming my buddy doesn't slow me down ). I'm planning for 1 dive only and I've been down on the polling in 45degrees and actually the water at Folly in early July was 45. So I'm not worried about the actual dive. Upon exiting, I am thinking get back in the car, blast heat, take off hood, gloves, boots...leave suit on and head for home or possibly a pool where I could get another dive in . So is this theory insane or does it sound like a solid plan?

 

[Gidds]

My version of "the plan": same beginning...after dive exit water, get in car, blast heat, strip completely :browsmile , put on dry clothes, take a small slug of brandy (w/in legal limits of course), drive home while my buddy is getting frost bite and/or hypothermia in his car, call ambulence to retreive foolish frozen buddy :shakehead, visit buddy in the hospital with a flyer for a drysuit class... :10:
Additional parts to "the plan": train a seal to carry a keg of brandy or hot cocoa like a Saint Bernard

 

[RIOceanographer]

Awww..... see both of you missed the key part of the plan:

Get out of the water after freezing your butts off and then stand there lying to each other about how you didn't feel that cold and how it was a lot of fun. Then drive home muttering to yourself "Why did I do that? I'm never doing that again!" Then get home and call your dive buddy and plan to do it again next week.

 

[drbill]

Hmmm... people actually stop diving in the winter? Good thing I live in sunny southern California where year round diving is a reality!

 

[HowardE]

I snowboard when I'm in Colorado... Then I dive when I'm in Florida...

Some people in Colorado have asked, if my wife and I opened a store in Ft. Lauderdale, ONLY so we can get more diving in...

I usually say "YES!"

 

[Gidds]

Awww..... see both of you missed the key part of the plan:

Get out of the water after freezing your butts off and then stand there lying to each other about how you didn't feel that cold and how it was a lot of fun. Then drive home muttering to yourself "Why did I do that? I'm never doing that again!" Then get home and call your dive buddy and plan to do it again next week.

And how exactly am I supposed to lie about that convincingly when I am several shades of blue and my teeth are chattering? The lying part must be a guy thing

 

[Diver Dude]

Occasionally we will dive Wetherill in the winter. We set up a tent and throw in a kerosene heater. No one has ever bothered us.

 

[NauticalbutNice]

I've never dived in a wetsuit! It's drysuits for us all year round.

Nauticalbutnice :fruit:

 

[akscubainst]

I teach classes! My busiest class of the entire year is usually January. Water temps get down about 35F in the winter so with O/W classes we only go out if it's above freezing and we may only do one dive but we don't let a little weather get in the way.

For fun we catch King Crab!