Warming between dives?

[elan]

Recommendations for warming between dives? Wetsuit on/off, warming the wetsuit (solar/water), or your favorite between-dive wear?

I like wetsuit diving and I can handle temperatures in the 40's for a single dive and can suffer through a second one. I want to be able to do 3 or 4 in a day but the cold just takes over.

I figure if I am able to re-warm myself between dives - and to start the dive with a warm wetsuit - it should be no problem.


I'm not looking at drysuits yet. None of my dive buddies use them, so even if I can personally stay completely warm the dive day is done after 2 dives.

- Dack

Well to give you some idea. I was once doing an experiment. After an hour of diving in a DRY suit in winter in a water with a temp of 37F I measured my body temperature after getting home - it was roughly 1 hour since I got out of the water, I was obviously wearing warm winter cloths. My temperature was about 35.8C . It took me 40mins ! in a hot tab to bring the temperature back to 36.6 and feel normal. So I hope you understand that just taking a cup of tea in between the dives will not help you to warm up enough to do 4 dives in a wetsuit.

If you want to do 3-4 dives a day in forties range you should be looking at a dry suit.

Although I'm absolutely positive that you can do 4 dives 10 mins each

 

[TMHeimer]

I have the same problem. 2 dives and that's it. I think I could do more if I didn't have to pee between dives--putting the wetsuit top back on is a killer. A time or two I have covered my car's driver seat with plastic and sat in there with the heater on during the SI-- a bit helpful.

 

[Prostardiver]

You could just pee in your wetsuit whilst doing a handstand. I'm just sayin'

 

[g1138]

You could just pee in your wetsuit whilst doing a handstand. I'm just sayin'

That would make for an awful sinus rinse.
Just saying

 

[Avonthediver]

I have herd of this but naver tried it myself...:blinking:

pee works wonders..

 

[AevnsGrandpa]

Yeah, but to really make a difference you would have had to drink about a gallon of something before hand to have enough to get everywhere! I guess you could put it in your thermos too........nevermind!

Jeff

 

[Dack]

I tried the pee trick. It didn't really warm me up that much, and then smelling like pee the rest of the day... Yeah, not so good.

- Dack

 

[fnfalman]

Recommendations for warming between dives? Wetsuit on/off, warming the wetsuit (solar/water), or your favorite between-dive wear?

I like wetsuit diving and I can handle temperatures in the 40's for a single dive and can suffer through a second one. I want to be able to do 3 or 4 in a day but the cold just takes over.

I figure if I am able to re-warm myself between dives - and to start the dive with a warm wetsuit - it should be no problem.


I'm not looking at drysuits yet. None of my dive buddies use them, so even if I can personally stay completely warm the dive day is done after 2 dives.

- Dack

I prefer wetsuit diving for California too, and I can handle temps into the high 40s in my wetsuit without problems. The coldest was 48F - it was nippy but entirely do-able. Oh, and unlike what others have alluded to, I do all dives whenever I go out on a boat dive and my dives are all hugging the bottom time of 50-something minutes limits that most boats tend to encourage. Tank runs low by that time anyway.

My technique for keeping warm is to have a nice boat coat/dive parka. Get a nice one from like JMJ in Torrance, CA or from TruWest. Not all boat coats are the same. The ones from JMJ and TruWest have thick outer nylon shells to break the wind and super thick fleece liner to keep you warm. I have a generic one from Sport Chalet and also a Surf-Fur from HeatLab as well. These latter two are no where as warm as the JMJ and TruWest parkas.

Between dives, I'd strip the wetsuit down to torso and towel off the water as much as I can then don the parka to keep me warm. Sometimes if I were to really feel the chill, I'd drink some hot tea or coco.

 

[DivemasterDennis]

If the air is at least 75degrees and you are in the sun without much of a breeze, leave the wet suit on. Otherwise, take it off, dry off, and put on sweats or other protective/warm gear. I dive in a cold reservoir all summer with student divers, and that is what we have found is the best rule to follow. The hot water suggestion only works if the air is warm enough and calm enough to sustain the temperature level at a comfortable place- that would be 75 degrees and up. Other wise you will be cold again pretty quick.
DivemasterDennis

 

[surf-fur]

If you do not have a Dive Parka then that is a must. There are plenty of different options on the market, obviously we are biased ;-), but you need to keep the core warm. Warm to the point of sweating and it is at this point you know you have brought the body back to temperature.