When was dry suit certification first offered by a major international agency?

[BoltSnap]

I'm pretty sure there weren't drysuit courses offered at that time--at least, I wasn't aware of their existence.

They were.

 

[MarkA]

Basically the same in the UK with BSAC.

While you might do intro training in a wetsuit for pool training you quickly graduate to a drysuit before hitting OW conditions (in Scotland).

It was a trip to the Farne Islands where I was heading towards hypothermia, that persuaded me to get a drysuit. The 2 piece 8mm semi dry wasn’t cutting the mustard.

Have a qualification record book from 1984 that shows drysuit training as a supplementary qualification.

 

[Ross19966]

Basically the same in the UK with BSAC.

While you might do intro training in a wetsuit for pool training you quickly graduate to a drysuit before hitting OW conditions (in Scotland).

When I did my OW back in the early 90's in Maine, maybe a third of the class were in drysuits that they bought even before having an OW cert. I ordered mine the day I got my cert and 3 weeks later it arrived. I can't remember if I ever did a wetsuit dive or just waited for the drysuit.

 

[SysGreg]

Not to buy. To rent, yes, you need the drysuit cert card.

That rises intersting question. I did my Ice diving specialty back in 1986. But that time there was no dry suit certification, but for obvious reason back in 80’s (and probaply nowadays) ice dives were done in dry suit. So I continue to dive in dry suit, but somehow I’m not certified for it as per current PADI specialities. When PADI added dry suit speciality, shouldn’t ice divers receive credit or grandfather rights to be certified as dry suit divers?

 

[Searcaigh]

If you own and dive in a drysuit regularly then I don't see an issue.

However if you want to rent a drysuit then you'll need to show proof that you're competent in using one.