Gender v. Water Temp.

[HowardE]

Hi Gidds -
From the Cape and I love diving here. This is my first year doing it, but the water has been between 45 and 68 in my experiences. My boyfriend and I are using 5mm suits, sometimes with a skin, and it's been great for us. Only once did we have to cut a dive short cause it was just TOO cold, but other than that, we're keepin it real in New England!! You get over that initial cold-water shock pretty fast!

-Lisa

HOLY CRAP! That's cold... I put on my 7mm suit when the water hits 76.

 

[ranger979]

Plus we have the advantage that some areas will <ahem> shrink under cold water conditions. Less surface area to lose heat.

I bet the women must love you if the area of shrinkage is enough to make a significant difference in your ability to stay warm.

I find it interesting that so far the poll is probably showing just the opposite of what Gidds was probably expecting and what a lot of posters have implied. So far the ratio of cold to warm water diving for woman is approximately 3.5 to 1. Whereas it is only 2.3 to 1 for the men.

Of course as others have mentioned, the poll is far from scientific. I think the small number of voters alone is enough to make it difficult to draw any conclusions from.

 

[Ishie]

So far ALL the water I've dived has been under 70 degrees. The cold just doesn't bother me all that much. If I touch a freshly submerged hand or foot to another's bare skin, I can elicit an outraged yelp, but my core stays warm. On the few dives where I actually have gotten quite cold (usually following being seasick), I was feeling the cold through my chest and abdomen. Having cold fingers and toes doesn't bother me. Traditionally, I'd go 54+ degrees without a hood. Now that I *finally* found a hood that doesn't suck and I'm doing a lot of photography, I wear it more often, but over 58 and it goes bye-bye.

While I know several cold-water sisters, I've noticed a dearth in the population of them. When I went out on a three dive boat yesterday, I was one of two women on board, and when I did a three day lobster trip in the Channels, I was the ONLY woman on board. I'm not sure about who tolerates the cold better. Most of my buddies are male, but most of my buddies have drysuits, and a few times, they've still gotten colder than I have. The women that I do dive are usually pretty hard core, and can smoke me in the tech department.

There doesn't seem to be much of a macho component keeping us out either. I haven't gotten the "you're just a girl" attitude from much of anyone, and though I've dived with a couple of fast-pace divers, which is incompatible with my dive style, generally I hang out with other photographers or slow divers, they don't treat me differently, fun times are had, or I'll occasionally "same ocean" dive with spearfishers, benefit from the larger life forms they attract, and help them eat their catch later.

I'm not sure why it doesn't attract more female divers? We have cute, friendly harbor seals, and fluffy sea otters?

I do wonder... such a significant number of people around here dive drysuits, and that can be more of an issue for women...

 

[divebunnie]

Hey ho.. guess I'm a warm water girlie!

 

[drbill]

One option that was missing for me: I am a male and I dive in ANY water (as long as the vis is decent).

Diving SoCal means that 70 degrees is close to the upper limit of the temps we dive (unless it is an El Nino year). I'll dive here or in the tropics or anywhere else I can take good video. I prefer diving in cold OR warm water with a female buddy so my surface intervals at least are warm!

 

[grazie42]

I´m a warm water diver by preference and cold water diver by necessity...

All things being equal I´d rather do a dive in warm water than cold...although this last year I´ve developed an unhealthy attachment to my drysuit...I´ve only done about 5 wetsuit dives at home this year...

 

[mccabejc]

Divers along the entire West Coast of the US, and much of the East Coast, have only cold water (70F or below) available year round, so to some extent the results are indicating where people live more than anything else. So far in the poll results, 70% dive in cold water, which is probably indicative that most of us live near cold water.

So the fact that the category with the fewest responses is females diving in warm water is indicative that 1) Majority of divers are male 2) Most of us live near cold water.

 

[nessum]

I dive in water that doesn't creep much over 50 degrees & I'm a woman.

 

[bobco]

You dive because you love to dive the water temp is just the thing you use to tell you what is sensible to ware as an exposure suit. I’m and man so they tell me I am more tolerant to the cold (should get a slap for that one), I dive waters down to 5c that cold enough for me, I enjoy it but you have to expect to take a ton of equipment down with you, when the water is 28/30c its great to, not so much kit and thus more freedom of movement. The cold does not stop me, just slows me down a tad.

Bobco

 

[serambin]

hee hee, good point but that's not quite what I meant I was trying to figure out why women who live in cold places seem less likely to dive than women who live in warm places but that's kind of a different poll question. Maybe women who live in cold places dive in warm places making the previous question invalid :06: Do men really stay warmer than women up here or is there some sort of social factor coming into play? :06: :06:

At-a-way-to-post an Adipose question.

Stan