Dry Suit Diving !!

MarcSnap · May 24, 2009

I just finished my certification dive with my new dry suit and realized that it was much more difficult to swim or move forward with my dry suit then using a wet !!!! .. I have the same kind of fins , but just a bit bigger so I can use my dry buits... I am not sure on why is it so hard to move forward in dry !!! is there a specific reason or am I suppose to change the way I move my legs under water.. Is there a specific technic to use with my fins under water ???

thanx

spectrum · May 24, 2009

Were you in good trim, nice and horizontal? For me getting my configuration the way it needed to be for my drysuit took more time than actually getting the hang of diving dry.

How much air was in the suit? If you were too puffy you will be bloated and you may be working hard just kick the buoyancy in your legs down. If you were vacuum packed then you were physically constricted.

A drysuit will not be as simple and sleek as a wetsuit but the trade-off for comfort and accessibility easily make it worthwhile.

As a new diver your kick technique may not be that strong to begin with and this may just be a minor setback. What is your primary kick style?

Pete

Slonda828 · May 24, 2009

I never noticed that I was slower in my drysuit until the other day, when I dove with a guy in a wetsuit (who was very cold). I think you just have to move a bit more deliberately in a drysuit, and be more willingly to tolerate a little drag. Plus, wetsuit guy is going to swim faster because he is cold. Track your SAC rate. If your SAC is comparable to your wetsuit diving, then you are tracking. It may be a tiny bit higher from managing both the suit and BC, but it should not be noticeably so. My SAC when I first started diving dry was 1.1 CF/min. My normal RMV in a wetsuit is about .5 cf/min. Now I'm around .65 CF/min, which is pretty close. It's not the end-all-be-all, but it's a good indicator.

Dive Adventures · May 24, 2009

Swimming wet versus swimming dry.
You have to take in consideration that a wet suit is more stream line to begin with, take a look at the seems on a wet suit they don't stick up very high off the suit no pockets etc. So you could say that the wet suit it very smooth and tight to the body. Now look at the dry suit, the neck and around the neck seal, the zipper area. Do you have any pockets on your dry suit. Around the legs even if the suit is suck tight to my body I have wrinkles in the suit that create drag and make it tougher to swim. I guess what I'm saying is the dry suit does not lay as flat as a wet suit does so you have much more drag as you swim.
jm2c

MarcSnap · May 24, 2009

What is your primary kick style?

Well I am using regular strokes ( up and down ) with my fins... I was wondering if I should use another technic to go faster then moving my legs up and down..

thanx

Teamcasa · May 24, 2009

MarcSnap:
Well I am using regular strokes ( up and down ) with my fins... I was wondering if I should use another technic to go faster then moving my legs up and down.

Diving dry vs wet takes some getting used to. Your kicking style has little to do with it as diving dry adds more drag - period. However, the trade-off of warmth vs speed makes diving dry worthwhile for me.

Don't worry, with more dives you will forget the drag and enjoy the warmth.

Dan Weidert · May 24, 2009

What are you going to see going faster that you won't see just as well (or better) going slower?

Dan

ivobj · May 24, 2009

Basically the diference is the drag, a drysuit has more drag, but for the emphasys you put it looked to be in your case the diference was too big, but as many posted here, there are some aspects you can improve, like do not inflate to much, just enough to be confortable, triple the attention to your trim, change the configuration if you need to. With time you get used to and will see that it is worthwhile to dive dry, at least IMO.

MarcSnap · May 25, 2009

What are you going to see going faster that you won't see just as well (or better) going slower?

Well the speed was not the issue !!, I was just having a hard time moving forward and felt really tired just trying to do so... I guess practice will improve my skills but I was just wondering if there was something i could do better, or was it normal to struggle that much.. Thanx for everyone who took the time to respond... This was really helpfull..

Jack Scuba · May 25, 2009

On the surface drysuits are a lot harder to swim with than wetsuits. But underwater you should come into your own - especially after a 30 minute dive in 3C water.

How many dives had you done before you switched to a drysuit? And how many have you done with it?

Drysuits increase drag but it shouldn't cause you to have trouble swimming forward. To me this is saying you need to work on your finning technique to increase your thrust. Read up on proper kick technique and watch some videos of it as well.

When I started diving that's what I did, and I also had more experienced dive buddies critique my finning techniques as I swam by them. I was prone to kicking with just my calves when I was tired - so the feedback was good.

I agree that you don't have to swim like a missile all of the time; but you should have the capability to swim faster in case of currents, emergencies, etc.

Good luck and enjoy your dry suit.

Dry Suit Diving !!

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