First Drysuit Dive

[6474286]

To All,

I wanted to share the experiences of my first dry suit dive with you.

This morning after a week of anticipation, My buddy and I went to Vinkeveen (Near Amsterdam, NL) and I donned my new Ottor Brittanic Skin dry suit for the first time.

I was over the moon with it and felt extremely warm above the water. However as this wsa my first dive in a dry suit we decided to limit our depth so I could get used to the new rules of buoyancy.

To my suprise, the first 10 minutes of our dive seemed remarkably simple. As we descended past 10Mtrs, I needed to add a little more air to my dry suit, as I could feel it squeezing against me, and at that point I lost my buoyancy control.

After fighting for a while, I eventually slowed my ascent, but could not get myself to stabalise. So after about 3 or 4 minutes I was on the surface again.

I think I know what the problems were, but I just want to calrify it and ask if anyone has any advice.

Firstly, I normally dive with between 4 and 6 kilos of weight in a 7mm wetsuit and a 7mm Shorty. I increased my weight to 8 kilos, by adding the weight to my quick release in my BCD.

I think I had two problems today:

1. I think I was slightly underweight and
2. I was forward heavy, forcing me to roll towards the bottom of the lake, which then allowed the air in my Dry suit to travel up my body towards my legs. Once it was there, It made if very hard to adopt a position to allow the air to flow out again.

I think that I am going to try changing my weight configuration, so that I have 4 Kilo's in the back of my BCD (By the Tank) and 6 kilos in the quick release at the front. I am hoping this will help.

Further to my first unwilling ascent, I also decided to surface a second time, as I had air in my legs and couldn't get this under control. I had to surface and fight on the surface like a beached whale to get head up. Eventually I inflated my BCD fully to force me upright, as I was concerned that people might see me splashing at the surface and presume something was horribly wrong.

Anyway, any suggestions on how to best work with Dry SUits are more than appreciated, I am hoping to do a couple of dives again this week, so I will put them in to practice and let you know if they have helped.

Cheers

Paul

 

[nitroxbabe]

Hi Paul -
You're going to love your new drysuit!

A couple things that work for me:
1) I don't know what you meant exactly by "limiting your depth", but it's generally more difficult to control buoyancy in a drysuit at shallow depths. My advice: don't try to master drysuit buoyancy at shallow depths! Go a bit deeper: it makes a huge difference.
2) Use ankle weights. They not only help with your trim, but they help to keep air out of the legs. Some people like gators too (basically large velcro sheaths which cover the calf area, keeping all air out of the lower leg). Some may call them "training wheels" but hey, I use 'em and I don't care. They work for me.
3) WEAR MORE WEIGHT! IMHO it's better to be a bit overweighted (as long as the weight is ditchable).
4) Practice somersaulting underwater to get air out of your legs. You should be able to do this, even if you start wearing ankle weights/gators.

 

[IzzyTahil]

I describe diving dry as learning to dive all over again. I had the same experience with an "uncontrolled" ascent on my 2nd dry dive. It took me around 6 dives, after practicing, to get used to it. And you will.

As with diving wet, weighting and trim is impt and once to get that everything will be easy.

PS I was taught to control my bouyancy with my drysuit. While I can do this, I (like many others), control bouyancy with their BCs. I find it easier, since i do not have to deal with gas shifting (eg to your feet) in my suit. I only add gas to minimize squeeze. Figure out which will suit your diving style better.

enjoy diving dry and dive safe

 

[Rick Inman]

Check out the great posts in Exposuse Suits! For example,
http://www.scubaboard.com/t37175/s.html

I have about 25 dives in my dry suit and am loving it! I got great help by crusing through this catagory.

 

[6474286]

To All,

Thankyou for the advice so far!

With regards to my depth today, my max depth was 13.5Mtrs, but I didn't stay that deep for long. It was simply the fact the thermocline was at 11Mtrs and I wanted to feel the difference between wet and dry!

I must say, I was more than pleased with the warm snug results!

Izzy, I think I have to agree with what you have said, it is like learning to dive all over again. With regards to using the BC for bouyancy, that seems like a nice idea, but like you I want to ensure I can control it using both.

One of the points on Ricks recommended thread, was that whilst using Wings, you only add air to the Dry Suit to offset a squeze. That is something I will be taking in to consideration, as the reason for buying my dry suit, was so I could enter the world of Technical Diving, and of course dive throughout the winter in Holland (Hopefully we will get some nice ice this year, last year people were ice skating on the lakes!)


Thanks Again - As always advice is always welcome and seldom ignored!

Paul

 

[Dryglove]

Here is a good article to read concerning using your drysuit as a bc. Its not that big of a deal with smaller single tanks as a little bit of air in the drysuit will offset a smaller capacity single tank if you are properly weighted. As you move up to larger tanks and doubles it requires a whole lot more to offset the weight of the air in your tanks. I think it is best to learn early and use your bc for what it was designed for(buoyancy control) and just keep enough air in your drysuit to eliminate excessive squeeze and let it do what it was designed for, keeping you dry and not as a bc.

http://www.baue.org/faq/dynamic_instability.html