New to coldwater diving - help please!

[volauvent]

Hi:

I would like some help in ironing out some wrinkles encountered in my dives this weekend. I've really enjoyed diving in Hawaii on vacation, and would like to continue developing my diving skills, as well as explore the kelp forest, in Monterey Bay near where I live. I am new to cold water diving and signed up for a drysuit course this past weekend. It did not go as well as I'd have liked and I would like some advice.

Setup:
- Purpose: drysuit cert dives with a local dive shop and rental gear (other than mask/snorkel/fins/boots/gloves).
- Location: Breakwater Cove in Monterey, CA
- Conditions: 54F water, 5' visibility
- Exposure suit: White's Fusion drysuit (rental); with fleece jumpsuit and fleece vest, and diveskin
- BCD: H2Odyssey Intrigue with integrated weight pockets. No weight belt used.
- Tank: standard rental Aluminum 80's.
- Weights: 26 lbs total distributed in two BCD pockets. Neutral buoyancy required 6 lbs in swimming pool dive (without fleece).
- Stats: first dive 42ft, 23min; 1hr surface interval; second dive 46ft, 41min

Difficulties encountered:

1. Weight: I am smallish (125lb) and female, and not freakishly strong. I found that I could not get up (go from kneeling to standing up) under the weight of all the gear. I needed someone to lift the tank while I got my legs under me, then I could walk under my own power.

2. Hypothermia/Exertion: The beach entry and surface swim had me breathing really hard. On the second dive, one of my seals leaked (probably user error since first dive was fine) and 4 cups of seawater was emptied on suit removal. I was shivering starting at the 20 minute mark. For the beach exit from the second dive, there was some surf and I was knocked on my back a couple of times. At this point, all my gear dripping wet totaled about 107 lbs. After crawling up the beach free of the surf, I needed assistance to get up on my feet.

Questions:

1. Is there any way to reduce the weight so that I can actually get up under my own power (I do intend to go to the gym, but I'd also like to know how the 70 year-olds and people with bad backs do it!)

Here's the breakdown (using my bathroom scale):
BCD 12.5 lbs
Drysuit 8.5 lbs
Undergarments 4.5 lbs spun dry; 15.5 lbs sodden
Tank 40 lbs
Weights 26 lbs
This adds up to a range of 92 to 103 lbs.

Some ideas I've heard so far are minimal BCs (harness+wings), steel tanks for more negative buoyancy. Are there other adjustments that can help? Is a 60cu ft tank a viable idea - I use a lot less air than the average-sized man, even without trying.

2. Should I just forget cold-water beach diving and go strictly from boats or kayaks? What are the challenges there (e.g. stronger current, surfacing far from the boat)

3. What are some of the things I can do to work up to diving safely in Monterey Bay (e.g. going out with divemaster guide)? This was a rather discouraging experience and I'd like some ideas on putting together a roadmap in getting past the hump. I'm also open to brutally honest comments along the lines of "if you can't squat 100 pounds then Monterey Bay is not for you".

If you've read this far, congratulations, and thanks in advance to everyone for your thoughts and suggestions.

sincerely,
Teresa

 

[Thalassamania]

Congratulations to you, dry suits are not easy, especially if you are small. I think you might be able to drop some weight on the belt ... how tight were you "shrink wrapped" when underwater? IMHO, drysuits work better with a belt than with integrated weights.

 

[NorCalDM]

Welcome to California shore diving! It's great that you are trying it because there is some great diving here and to many that live here pass it up because it can be challenging at times. The more you dive cold water you will drop some lead as the anxiety will go down. I would spread out the weight some instead of just in the front two pockets, move some to the back, tank weights, ankle weights etc. this will also help your trim in the water as well. My wive dives compact 80 steel cylinders which are shorter and she can drop some weight and feels they are easier to manage. I dive neutral Aluminum cylinders and can drop a few pounds over standard Aluminum but you are just trading weight in your BC to weight in the cylinder. If your air consumption is as good as you say then you could drop down to 72 or 63 since most shore dives in they area are shallow unless you make a long surface swim or go to Monastery. Keep diving and the weight will go down and blow off Breakwater and head down to the Carmel area for some better diving with less divers.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

Kayak diving can be more exercise intensive than some shore diving.
In general, shore diving is more strenuous than boat diving.
You need to be in good shape to shore dive, especially at certain notorious shore dive spots in the Monterey area.
I have fairly strong feelings about how aerobically and physically fit an individual should be before undertaking the sport of diving.
In my opinion, if you aren't adhering to a regular workout schedule (3-4 times/wk.) outside of diving, you shouldn't be diving. That being said, some types of diving/conditions can be a pretty good workout. YMMV.

In my experience, smaller women/girls tend to have a harder time managing the cumbersome weight of scuba gear. You will get stronger with practice and by exercising outside of scuba diving. However, if you can't get to your feet on your own from a crawling shore exit with a single tank setup, that's a big red flag that you need to work on your fitness for those kinds of dives.

Dealing with surf entries/exits requires some practice, and having an experienced diver mentor you can be very, very helpful. You should be learning the techniques of: always watching the waves, protecting your airway, "ducking" waves, figuring out where to exit and enter, working with rip currents, staying close to your buddy in the surf zone, knowing when to abort the dive, etc.

How is your trim in the water with your described setup? With so much ballast on the hips, I wouldn't be surprised if you had decidedly head-up/feet-down trim. Admittedly, by managing the bubble properly in a drysuit, you could compensate for a fair amount of such suboptimal weighting.

Switching from a rental AL80 tank to a purchased HP100 steel tank may slightly decrease the total amount of dry weight (dry weight = weight you carry walking to the water) you carry, and it would allow you to carry more than 20 cubic ft. of additional gas on your back. Another option is to switch from the AL80 to a HP80 steel tank, which is much smaller and carries slightly more gas. The HP80 tanks are really a "joy" to carry and transport, too.

If you switch to a smaller tank, e.g., 60 cuft. tank, please make sure that you account for this in your gas plan. Understand that you should be taking your buddy's gas consumption rate into consideration for planning purposes. If your buddy is a large male who runs through his air rather quickly, you'll need to increase your safety reserve accordingly. Changing to a 60 cuft. tank might not leave that much usable gas for the rest of the dive.

Transitioning from a conventional jacket BCD to a BP/W might also allow you to carry slightly less total dry weight while at the same time distributing your weight more optimally, which would promote proper horizontal trim.

Whatever gear configuration you end up with, make sure that you are properly weighted. This means doing an in-water weight check. Weight checks can be a little more difficult to do in a drysuit since you have the additional variable of the amount of gas inside your suit. Your drysuit instructor should have discussed the ins and outs of proper weighting in class. If you need a reminder on how to do a proper weight check, consult your basic OW class materials. Proper weighting is a safety issue.

In terms of "working up" to doing Monterey shore dives, I think the sensible thing to do is:

• Learn how to figure out when conditions will be benign and good for diving.
• Learn the "tricks" of entries/exits when surf is present.
• Find a reliable dive buddy with similar diving goals.
• Stick to a rigorous exercise plan that incorporates aerobic and strength training.
• Do a lot of dives at some of the easier shore dive sites, e.g., Breakwater.

 

[Jorgy]

Go to a steel tank that stays negative unlike an AL80.....

26 lbs of lead seems high for someone with your height/weight profile.....

Have some weigh you can carry and put on once you are closer to your dive point (such as ditchable weight pouches) that you or someone can carry out to for you, so if you fall you can get up on your own....

12.5 lbs for a BCD seems high...my SS BP/W is only about 11 lbs but that offsets some lead....

 

[Bubbletrubble]

26 lbs of lead seems high for someone with your height/weight profile.....

I completely disagree. Given the described setup, 26 lbs. sounds perfectly reasonable to me.
Type of drysuit undergarment and how "squeezed" Teresa is comfortable with at the end of her dive are important factors at play here.

 

[scoobydrew]

OP - hey there. Cold water diving is a very different sport to warm but can still be very enjoyable too. I have found that it is often easier for people that have never dived before to dive cold than it is for people that have already started in tropical waters as they have no preconception of what the experience will be like. I'm sure that if you give it time you'll get the chance to have a fairer representation of what is on offer.

Having never been to Monterey Bay I can not make any suggestions about the location, only that while you are trying to get over your hump I would suggest that you get someone like a DM or experienced diver to assist you in the process.

The suggestions above are all very valid, in addition I would like to ask a silly question which is in relation to the point of getting up from your knees with all that weight, why do you need to do this? when I am about to dive I put equipment on standing up then walk in.

In cold water there is typically a lot more reliance on buddies pre & post dive, you need to help each other with putting equipment on and pick your location to suit up in as best you can. Try carrying the equipment in stages to a location as close to the entry point as is sensible to make the walk with the full set up as short as possible.

You mentioned that you got a flooded suit - that sucks. It happens and is more likely to do so on rental equipment. Do you know if it came in through the cuff or the neck? the neck is more likely to leak especially when the diver is looking up at different angles, cuffs can slow leak but less likely. when diving in a dry suit you need to try to cut excess movement down so as not to disturb the seals, this can be difficult as you get used to the drysuit and the change in Buoyancy, the air moves around the suit and the weights pull you more which can cause flailing and other erratic movements that enable water to get in, one of the posts above talked about weight distribution which would help with this. When you get it right in a dry suit I think it is actually more comfortable than diving without one. try to think about your movements underwater and think about reducing the amount of neck movement, so if you are looking right or left, instead of turning your head from the neck, try keeping your neck straight but turning your shoulders and head at the same time. Beyond that just to state the obvious, you need to be sure that there is nothing breaking the seal like jewellery or clothing.

In terms of general temperature, start off on the right foot by arriving to the site warm and have warm clothes that are easy to put on for in between dives, hats, gloves & scarves are good for this

good luck

 

[volauvent]

Some follow-up information:

I am 5'4".

Trim: On the surface, at rest, I tilted head forward about 10 degrees. I had to use my fins to compensate. Underwater, I was in a horizontal attitude as long as forward momentum was maintained. I could feel a slight head down pitch at rest.

Suit squeeze:

In the swimming pool, I felt a little bit of what I think is "suit squeeze" at 10ft. It feels like the suit is clinging to one's legs as if it's vaccuum-packed food. I didn't feel that kind of squeeze in the ocean.

The first dive started at 2000psi. (The first 1000psi was used at the swimming pool, and the instructor meant for this to be a short skills-demo dive.) There was no significant drysuit squeeze. At the beginning of the dive, after descent to 40', I was negatively buoyant (knees in the sand), and it took about 4-5 short bursts of air in the drysuit to be neutrally buoyant. As the dive progressed, it took about 2-3 short bursts of air to maintain neutral buoyancy. At no point did I feel any significant "suit squeeze".

The second dive started at 3000psi. Again, no suit squeeze, about 3-5 puffs of air in the suit, and at neutral buoyancy I could feel a small air cushion forming at my calfs if I tilted forward about 30 degrees. When water came in the suit, I could feel the cold but didn't realize it was from an influx of water, so I put more air in the suit for thermal insulation. Looking back, the excess water and the additional air compensated for each other.


Teresa

 

[Bubbletrubble]

Achieving proper horizontal trim underwater in a drysuit will depend on thoughtful positioning of weight, body posture (head/arm/legs), and controlling the amount/location of air inside the suit.

The Whites Fusion drysuit is somewhat different from other shell-type drysuits. The stretchy outer layer tends to distribute air more uniformly throughout the suit than other shell drysuits, making it more difficult to feel a "squeeze." Sometimes this can also make it more difficult to dump gas expeditiously via the exhaust valve. That being said, it is still possible to feel a squeeze while diving a Fusion suit, and it's certainly possible to manage the drysuit bubble so that it sits in certain areas of the Fusion (upper back/shoulders, legs, etc.).

The vacuum-packed feeling you felt is somewhere along the "squeeze" spectrum. Experiencing a very strong drysuit squeeze can be painful and possibly dangerous. Drysuit divers offset squeeze by adding gas to the inside of their suit with the inflater valve. You should notice that as you dive deeper, you'll need to add more and more air to the inside of the suit to offset squeeze. You should be doing this gradually during your descent. Conversely, during your ascent, you should be gradually exhausting gas from your suit.

At any given point in the water column, you should be able to hold your position by adjusting the amount of gas in three different locations: inside your drysuit, inside your BCD, and inside your lungs. Some instructors teach their drysuit students to only use the drysuit for buoyancy underwater. This can work well because, in a single tank configuration with a shell suit, the amount of gas needed to offset drysuit squeeze is just about the same amount of gas needed to achieve neutral buoyancy. Another technique is to add just enough gas to the drysuit to offset squeeze but then add any additional gas (required for neutral buoyancy) to the BCD. Some beginner drysuit divers find it more difficult to manage the expanding bubbles inside both the drysuit and the BCD during ascent. YMMV. I recommend trying out both methods and seeing which one works for you. There will be certain situations (conditions or gear configurations) where it makes more sense to dive the drysuit in one way vs. the other.

During a dive, you should be spending the vast majority of your time "neutrally buoyant." This means that if you stop kicking, you should be hanging motionless in the water (not moving up or down). Being able to hover like this and maintaining proper buoyancy control during the various phases of a dive are things that many beginner divers struggle with. It gets better with practice.

FYI, in a drysuit, you should avoid getting into a vertical position underwater. This will cause a strong squeeze in the legs and cause air to burp out your neck seal. When air is burping out, water will be rushing in. It ain't pretty. Work at remaining horizontal since it will make your life easier.

Hope this helps...

 

[TSandM]

How much diving have you done altogether, and how much shore diving?

When I started diving (and I'm 5'4", and 120lbs, and 57 years old, and learned six years ago) the weight of the gear was truly daunting. It didn't take too much diving before walking with a single tank wasn't bad, but I still don't like steep climbs. One thing that helps me is to drop weights on exit -- I use a weight belt, but if you are using integrated weights, you can pull them and leave them near the water's edge, and come back for them. That drops about 20 lbs or so, and helps a lot.

Switching to a steel tank will take 5 pounds off; switching to a backplate system may take off another 2 or 3, depending on what kind of BC you are currently using. That helps, too.

If you fall, or end up on your knees on exit, see if you can get your buddy to stand where you can grab an elbow. Stay on the knee of your weak leg, and set yourself up to stand with your strong leg (we all have them). Use your buddy as something to pull on as you lift yourself -- do NOT have the buddy pull on your tank, unless he or she knows exactly how to do it. Most people will pull up and forward, and you can't keep your balance at all. It's better if the buddy is passive, and you provide the force.

Those of us who are diving with close to our body's weight worth of gear are always going to have physical challenges with difficult entries and exits. One of the hardest lessons for me in diving has been to accept that there are times (like today!) when I have to take my gear off in the water, and let somebody else get it out for me. That's not very feasible in Monterey, I realize that, but do expect to need and accept help.