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Kamala

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(I was going to make some fruit-breakage related comment, but this is a family board :crafty:)

Anyway, I took my first cold water dive at the Langley Tire Reef today! Totally awesome! I'm going to hold off on mocking the dry-suit crew for now because we were only able to get one dive in and it was only about 30 minutes. But I was plenty warm, didn't even get a hint of cold, same when I got out (Akona 6.5mm, only one layer), but I shouldn't leave out that I am somewhat robust.

Of course, as a low experience previously only warm water diver, there were some problems. Nothing off the charts and I think much of the issues will be resolved by having my own proper-fitting gear.

I'll walk through my issues to debrief myself and I'm more than willing to hear any critique/commentary.

1) WAY overweighted. Should have realized it when I did a little test plunge at the first place deep enough (10 feet or so) past the boat launch, but I didn't think anything of it (even though I still had full lungs and hadn't fully emptied my BC (as I recall, I should be at eye level with full lungs and empty BC, correct?)). When we descended for real, I sunk like a rock and had trouble getting my ears cleared quickly enough as a result. No matter how I adjusted my breathing, I couldn't keep off the bottom, so I hit a couple of squirts of air into the BC, which probably lead to later buoyancy problems. Once I added the air though, I was generally ok maintaining buoyancy. Trim was another story, see 2.

2) Rental BC had no tubing/clips, so octo and guages were flapping around. Now I know to ask for these things when I rent. More problematic was the poor fit, which had me wrestling to maintain trim.

3) Need to work on dexterity with those big honkin' gloves. Not so bad on the inflator, but awful getting at my nose. I'll take the thick gloves down to Key Largo and Aruba with me for the wedding/honeymoon next month and keep practicing, even as ridiculous as I'll look in 70 degree water with 6.5mm gloves. :11:

4) After starting to hit shallower water, I went up like a rocket, didn't dump air nearly fast enough and the problem was probably exacerbated or started by having had to add air to keep off the bottom. I started to descend again, but my air was dwindling in a hurry because Air2 began leaking so I again ame up faster than I had wanted to and couldn't do a safety stop. Between my bouncing and lack of a safety stop, we decided to can the second dive as a safety precaution. The coming up too fast was me not dumping BC air quickly enough; lesson learned about how buoyant you get in all that rubber, proper weighting, and dumping air before you think you need to dump air. Dive shop guy asked me if I had given the Air2 a wack to fix it, which I hadn't. Now I know that too, but I'm probably going to stick with an octo setup. (Yes, had both Air 2 and octo. Didn't feel I should go without the octo since that's what I had been trained on.)

Langley was a great site this morning at nearly high tide. No one was up fishing that early and there was no current or waves, so thankfully those conditions didn't add to my task loading. Can't tell you what fish I saw, my buddy and I were busy talking over the dive issues so I could learn from my mistakes. Did see some crab, GIANT (to me anyway) seastars, and what I believe are nudibranches. Visibility was about 20 feet or so. Coming up into the top 10/15 feet or so where there's suddenly light was fairly disorienting for about a second, but nothing awful.

Mistakes and all, I had an awesome time and I'm ready to do some more Puget Sound diving! I'm going to work on getting my own gear (hopefully I'll have the bulk of it before the summer) and getting in some more practice with my buddies, and then I'll be open to diving with all of y'all!

:thumb:
 
Glad you had a good dive. As for the issues you had, practice, practice, practice.

You'll understand the drysuit thing once you dry to more than one dive in a wet suit in cold weather. I don't get cold in my wet suit either, but, I freeze my butt off during the surface interval.
 
I expected to get cold when I came up also. Do you open your wet suit while you're hanging out on your SI? I was walking around for 15-20 minutes before I got around to opening my suit and I was plenty warm. Got cool when I opened up the suit, but nothing awful. Guess it'll be another month or two before I find out the real deal and y'all can tell me "I told you so." :)
 
Was the wind blowing? When I dove wet in cold weather the wind was blowing. Basically what happens is the wind starts to dry out the suit, then the water you heated up starts to go away and take warmth with it. I was fine for the first 30 minutes, but the around 45 minutes I was so cold I had to call the next dive.

No, I did not open the suit. Another option to consider is stripping out of the suit during the SI and put it back on before you go back in. Of course, that means putting on a cold suit.

I don't find my DS keeps me any warmer in the water than the WS, but it sure is nice during the SI. Just pump it up with some air and you're nice and warm.
 
No wind, so I'm sure that helped. Couldn't believe the temperature of the water that poured out when I opened the suit. No way I'm taking my suit off between dives, once in and out is enough for me!
 
1) If you are going to dive wet in the PNW then you should take your wetsuit off during the SI and towel yourself dry.

2) Adding air to your Bouyancy Control Device is appropriate. The problem arises from not having enough experience to know when and how much to dump on ascent.

Tip... dump early and dump sparingly. Don't wait until you *feel* yourself going ballistic to start dumping and don't dump it all at once.
 
What's the reasoning behind de-suiting? I've heard both schools of thought, but I haven't heard a reason other than personal preference. Thanks!
 
1. Evaporation of water on the surface of the suit removes heat. Removing your suit and drying off with a towel will keep you from giving up heat to the evaporation.

2. Circulation is somewhat restricted when wearing a wetsuit. Cold water will also cause the blood vessels in the extremities to constrict further reducing blood flow. Getting out of your suit during the SI will allow normal circulation to be restored. This is not only important for keeping warm but is also better for offgassing.
 
What Pug said. Additionally:
You should do your weight check with 500 psi or less in the tank. Empty your BCD. If properly weighted you will float on the surface with a full lung full of air and start to sink as you exhale.
You have seen some of the issues with the Air 2. IMHO I would request a BCD without one next time you are renting.
 
Kamala:
(I was going to make some fruit-breakage related comment, but this is a family board :crafty:)

Anyway, I took my first cold water dive at the Langley Tire Reef today! Totally awesome! I'm going to hold off on mocking the dry-suit crew for now because we were only able to get one dive in and it was only about 30 minutes. But I was plenty warm, didn't even get a hint of cold, same when I got out (Akona 6.5mm, only one layer), but I shouldn't leave out that I am somewhat robust.

Of course, as a low experience previously only warm water diver, there were some problems. Nothing off the charts and I think much of the issues will be resolved by having my own proper-fitting gear.

I'll walk through my issues to debrief myself and I'm more than willing to hear any critique/commentary.

1) WAY overweighted. Should have realized it when I did a little test plunge at the first place deep enough (10 feet or so) past the boat launch, but I didn't think anything of it (even though I still had full lungs and hadn't fully emptied my BC (as I recall, I should be at eye level with full lungs and empty BC, correct?)). When we descended for real, I sunk like a rock and had trouble getting my ears cleared quickly enough as a result. No matter how I adjusted my breathing, I couldn't keep off the bottom, so I hit a couple of squirts of air into the BC, which probably lead to later buoyancy problems. Once I added the air though, I was generally ok maintaining buoyancy. Trim was another story, see 2.

2) Rental BC had no tubing/clips, so octo and guages were flapping around. Now I know to ask for these things when I rent. More problematic was the poor fit, which had me wrestling to maintain trim.

3) Need to work on dexterity with those big honkin' gloves. Not so bad on the inflator, but awful getting at my nose. I'll take the thick gloves down to Key Largo and Aruba with me for the wedding/honeymoon next month and keep practicing, even as ridiculous as I'll look in 70 degree water with 6.5mm gloves. :11:

4) After starting to hit shallower water, I went up like a rocket, didn't dump air nearly fast enough and the problem was probably exacerbated or started by having had to add air to keep off the bottom. I started to descend again, but my air was dwindling in a hurry because Air2 began leaking so I again ame up faster than I had wanted to and couldn't do a safety stop. Between my bouncing and lack of a safety stop, we decided to can the second dive as a safety precaution. The coming up too fast was me not dumping BC air quickly enough; lesson learned about how buoyant you get in all that rubber, proper weighting, and dumping air before you think you need to dump air. Dive shop guy asked me if I had given the Air2 a wack to fix it, which I hadn't. Now I know that too, but I'm probably going to stick with an octo setup. (Yes, had both Air 2 and octo. Didn't feel I should go without the octo since that's what I had been trained on.)

Langley was a great site this morning at nearly high tide. No one was up fishing that early and there was no current or waves, so thankfully those conditions didn't add to my task loading. Can't tell you what fish I saw, my buddy and I were busy talking over the dive issues so I could learn from my mistakes. Did see some crab, GIANT (to me anyway) seastars, and what I believe are nudibranches. Visibility was about 20 feet or so. Coming up into the top 10/15 feet or so where there's suddenly light was fairly disorienting for about a second, but nothing awful.

Mistakes and all, I had an awesome time and I'm ready to do some more Puget Sound diving! I'm going to work on getting my own gear (hopefully I'll have the bulk of it before the summer) and getting in some more practice with my buddies, and then I'll be open to diving with all of y'all!

:thumb:

Good self critique!! As Quarrior noted, Paractice, practice, practice on the issues you have identified in your critique. Listen to Uncle Pugs advice--there is a reason why he is known as the voice of reason.
 

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