Might need some lessons for Gilboa

I'm planning on the Gilboa meet. But I've had a problem in that my dry suit showed up late and I missed my dry suit class. I'm trying to find a local shop that can give me some lessons this coming week, but it will be very tight. If I can't find an instructor, is there anyone going to Gilboa that I can con into helping me at the meet and greet? I will attempt to compensate you with fills and a bottle of Johnny Walker Red. If your an official instructor type person, I even have some green paper (might be money).

Thanks

Tom

Hey Tom,

If I were you, I wouldn't worry about it! I am sure that there will be plenty of people there to help you out!

Just have fun with us, and I will see you there.

Fishy8411:

I'm planning on the Gilboa meet. But I've had a problem in that my dry suit showed up late and I missed my dry suit class. I'm trying to find a local shop that can give me some lessons this coming week, but it will be very tight. If I can't find an instructor, is there anyone going to Gilboa that I can con into helping me at the meet and greet? I will attempt to compensate you with fills and a bottle of Johnny Walker Red. If your an official instructor type person, I even have some green paper (might be money).

Thanks

Tom

Click to expand...

I agree with Brian, save your money and your scotch and we'll make sure that you get some pointers from the drysuit divers there. Save the scotch for Saturday night, and I'm sure we can find someone who will help you get rid of it.

Here's your first lesson. Wear the suit as tight as you can stand, without being in pain. The less air you put in it, the smaller the air bubble that you need to manage. If you want, I'll bring along my Drysuit book and video tape and you can take a "little class".

Look forward to seeing you,

tom can i watch the video too?

snuggle:

tom can i watch the video too?

Click to expand...

Sure thing, as long as Ted remembers to bring the generator! My little TV/VCR is AC only...

frankenmuth_tom:

Sure thing, as long as Ted remembers to bring the generator! My little TV/VCR is AC only...

Click to expand...

Generator is already packed and ready to go.

gtxl1200:

Generator is already packed and ready to go.

Click to expand...

Well, the Books and Tapes are packed and the TV and VCR live in the trailer, so we're all ready to go.

Tom,
Personally, I didn't find the book or the video to be very useful. Most of the important stuff that I learned was from dives and verbal tips from other dry suit divers.

If possible, I highly recommend that you get some pool time. Even though the quarry is relatively safe and u'll probably have a number of experienced dry suit divers around, dry suit diving is a significant departure from wet suit diving. There are a lot of new things that you have to manage - from a lot more weight to two separate air pockets.

Just as OW students will forget to turn on their air, new dry suit divers often forget to put aside the suspenders when putting on the suit or to hook up their dry suit inflator hose before entering the water.

Buoyancy is also a bit tougher. I found that my first six dives were spent on the bottom or on the surface. If you have to tuck and roll, you've already lost neutral buoyancy. It's no fun bobbing to the surface from 20 feet. It's scary as hell having an uncontrolled ascent from 50ft. Your experience may differ.

Charles