What would you do?

[kwinter]

SHAME! SHAME! SHAME! -- Not just on you for divng dry without instruction, but for whoever sold you the drysuit without verifying your lack of certification. The manufacturer and seller took on a helluva liability problem if something bad happened.

 

[SubMariner]

I can't speak to any agency except PADI, but here is a synopsis of what is covered in the drysuit course:

- an overview of different types of drysuits: advantages, disadvantages, materials, etc.

- how to adjust a drysuit for proper fit.

- what to wear under a drysuit.

- overview of how to use the drysuit (PADI teaches using the suit for buoyancy control u/w and only using the BC on the surface).

-weighting systems & how to use them.

- proper maintenance of the drysuit.

- confined water training where the student determines proper weighting, how to use the drysuit (including righting yourself from a feet-first ascent, how to overcome a stuck inflator valve, etc.). Mastery of these skills is required before a student can progress to open water.

- two open water dives are required for certification. During these dives the student must demonstrate they can perform all the necessary skills (neutral buoyancy such as hovering & fin pivot, etc.).

A drysuit is NOT a passive piece of equipment like a pair of fins that you just put on & go... it requires proper training to use it safely & effectively.

If you have any further questions about the course, please feel free to email me.

As to the other comment about selling a drysuit to someone without checking to see if they were drysuit certified: just as you can buy any other piece of dive equipment without being certified, you can also buy a drysuit.

~SubMariner~

 

[CincyBengalsFan]

CKHARLAN,

I will order the Drysuit Specialty Book from PADI so you can see what a joke it really is. Don't waste your money. I've been in a drysuit for 6 yrs. now and have owned 3. I'll hep you out.

 

[ERP]

FWIW My PADI instructor doesn't even recommend the PADI Drysuit course.

He doesn't believe that the drysuit should be used for buoyancy control.

 

[roakey]

It's amazing that any of us survived that were diving dry before the PADI drysuit specality course was available!

This is one area where a good mentor is better than your average dry suit instructor.

Let me stress "good mentor" not just *any* dry suit diver.

Roak

 

[CincyBengalsFan]

true true true roakey.

 

[cybordolphin]

You should have kicked his Arss. That..... or pull a lil drill on him....
Maybe crank his tank valve closed "REALLY" tight, and put grease under the rubber knob so it comes off on him whilst trying to get his air back on (while he is not paying attention)..... or maybe cut his fin straps (not quite all the way)... or.....? See him have some fun with that.

I don't know.... that would've really pissed me off.

 

[JDostal]

Aquamaniac once bubbled...
Yeah it was nice of him.
You handled it better than I would have, I would have been rocketing to the surface with my arm firmly implanted down an instructors throat wondering if I should show him how to re-inflate HIS lungs.

Dave

I would have been trying to do the same thing. What an a$$! I wouldn't take a drysuit class from someone that pulled that. As a matter of fact, the first thing I would have done upon getting to the surface would be to deck the jerk.

Either that, or see how he deals with a leaky dry suit after my dive knife had an interaction with it.

That is so unbelievably rude.

 

[sheck33]

kwinter once bubbled...
SHAME! SHAME! SHAME! -- Not just on you for divng dry without instruction, but for whoever sold you the drysuit without verifying your lack of certification. The manufacturer and seller took on a helluva liability problem if something bad happened.

That is an interesting response, i have over the years bought 3 drysuits so far, from different shops, sold one of them, and i have never been asked to show a 'drysuit certification', needless to say i dont HAVE a drysuit-certification. IF PADI really teaches a drysuit course and tells students to use the suit for bouyancy than that is the course NOT to take in the first place. I am not even THAT old but when i started diving you just bought a drysuit and went diving, well i'm still here and have never had a problem, a good mentor is all you need. If you use the suit the way it is supposed to this feet-first-ascent thing is a myth.

As for what that 'instructor' did, if he had pulled that on me i'd probably had ascended with my 7 ft hose rapped, multiple times, and very tightly around his neck. Should he survive that, i'd report him to his agency :upset:

 

[SubMariner]

It's really getting a bit thick in here...

Yes, PADI Instructors teach the diver to use the drysuit for buoyancy control underwater.

Yes, there are Instructors who teach the Specialty using the drysuit only to keep dry & use the BC for all buoyancy contorl.

There are pros and cons to BOTH systems.

Frankly, I am suprised that people that are usually so pro-dive education are now acting like Ludites when it comes to learning how to properly use a drysuit.

You wouldn't advocate someone going out & learning to scuba dive on their own, or from someone who happens to own their own gear, would you? So why the "attitude" about learning to use a drysuit from someone who is qualified to teach the Specialty?

BTW, Cincybengalsfan, the Drysuit book you are talking about is only a student manual. It is NOT the Instruction manual. There's a BIG difference.

~SubMariner~