Drysuit certification really needed?

[Storker]

weight=warmth...not so...

? (again)

Pls elaborate.

 

[Storker]

Not to get into an argument...

But you are

W=W...maybe back when a dive-light was a candle in a plastic bag...and divers dove with weight belts...but not anymore...

Huh?

My friend raved about his ''Weesle'' undergarment...

No wonder. For many years, Weezle was da sh!t when it comes to great, wonderful, really warm undersuits. Their only problem was venting, which was easily fixed with creative application of gaffa tape

 

[W W Meixner]

? (again)

Pls elaborate.

You referenced a statement that weight = warmth...Lynn somebody...weight has nothing at all to do with warmth/thermal properties...especially now with all the new super-low loft fabrics...

W.W...

 

[Storker]

You obviously don't understand basic physics. And it's Lynne.

Edit: Lynne (TSandM) used to be a mod here on SB. She was an extremely accomplished diver. She was GUE trained and still extremely modest and humble. She had a lot to bring to the board and contributed immensely, both as a mod and through her posts. I never got to know her before her unfortunate demise, but if I had, I'd be proud to say that I knew her. The loss of her was a great loss to the SB community, not even to mention to her family and husband (who still is a member of this board).

That you don't know about her and even refer to her as "Lynn somebody" speaks volumes about you.

 

[divezonescuba]

One of the things you should get from a drysuit course is close supervision during the open water dives. If the diver accidentally gets in a situation addressed during the confined water skills training, the instructor should be able to assist or address the situation.

If the diver does not have close supervision and/or does not know how to properly respond, the consequences of a mistake will be more serious.

 

[formernuke]

You obviously don't understand basic physics. And it's Lynne.

Edit: Lynne. (TSandM) used to be a mod here on SB. She was an extremely accomplished diver. She was GUE trained and still extremely modest and humble. She had a lot to bring to the board and contributed immensely, both as a mod and through her posts. I never got to know her before her unfortunate demise, but if I had, I'd be proud to say that I knew her. The loss of her was a great loss to the SB community, not even to mention to her family and husband (who still is a member of this board).

That you don't know about her and even refer to her as "Lynn somebody" speaks volumes about you.

Sadly I never met her in person. On this board this was always very helpful and remembered what it was like to be brand new and tone her comments down to not overwhelm new divers.

Very much missed.

 

[Divectionist]

I am in the camp of no drysuit course needed for people who take well to diving related skills in general, have enough wetsuit experience to feel/anticipate buoyancy adjustments, and have a safe body of water to practice in before venturing further.

As has been said before, may divers around the world start out in drysuits, in which case supervision is of course needed. However, I don't really see why an experienced diver, who is not a type of person that needs spoon-feeding, should require it.

An example of the no-course pathway:
- Research drysuits and how they work in detail, understand the options available and which will suit you best
- Read/watch instructional content on the internet
- Get a well-fitting drysuit and suitable undergarments, set up your equipment at home, adjust harness, etc.
- Make your mind up whether you want to go drysuit only for buoyancy, or a combo with the BCD. I planned to do the latter due to the online discussions about it, however, correctly weighted in temperate water, a couple suit puffs was always sufficient in a trilam, so I stopped using the BCD without feeling like there was a large bubble to manage, or auto-venting was not sufficient when ascending. I dare say if you get your lead right (or can get it right without equipment forcing you to dive very negative), try drysuit-only first.
- Spend your first dive in the shallows, get the weight right to be neutral with reserve pressure when squeezed at 5m, then add around 2lbs to be able to take the squeeze off and have a safety margin so you can always dump all the air and become negative in shallow water
- Note any trim issues and adjust your weight around before the second dive to counter any roll, keep refining this.
- Switch to a full tank and start exploring the suit, play with inversions and recovery, inflator hose removal, get a bit bold with the inflator and just push it a little bit in a safe environment. This will train you to assume the correct arm/body position for quick venting when you will have to do it under real circumstances. Using the suit only helps here also if you are used to go head down to use the rear dump on a wing, whereas now you will need to tilt slightly head up to get the bubble to your arm.
- Go diving until you're used to it, then expand your comfort zone.

I'd say it takes about 2 dives to get used to the suit, another few to start 'forgetting' about it for most parts of the dive and turn your focus outwards more.

That said, as a new drysuit diver who got the suit at the end of winter and enjoyed the whole process for a few weeks, it was fantastic to adjust the harness back to my wetsuit (it's now summer here) because it's just so much more streamlined and tight. That said, anything under 22 or so degrees water is drysuit territory for me, particularly if it's cold enough outside to make putting on layers of undergarments comfortable rather than sweaty. I am looking forward to taking the suit out of the bag in 6 months to keep diving in comfort all year round. I think that if you need a wetsuit thicker than 5mm, you should really think about a drysuit.

 

[TMHeimer]

I am in the camp of no drysuit course needed for people who take well to diving related skills in general, have enough wetsuit experience to feel/anticipate buoyancy adjustments, and have a safe body of water to practice in before venturing further.

As has been said before, may divers around the world start out in drysuits, in which case supervision is of course needed. However, I don't really see why an experienced diver, who is not a type of person that needs spoon-feeding, should require it.

An example of the no-course pathway:
- Research drysuits and how they work in detail, understand the options available and which will suit you best
- Read/watch instructional content on the internet
- Get a well-fitting drysuit and suitable undergarments, set up your equipment at home, adjust harness, etc.
- Make your mind up whether you want to go drysuit only for buoyancy, or a combo with the BCD. I planned to do the latter due to the online discussions about it, however, correctly weighted in temperate water, a couple suit puffs was always sufficient in a trilam, so I stopped using the BCD without feeling like there was a large bubble to manage, or auto-venting was not sufficient when ascending. I dare say if you get your lead right (or can get it right without equipment forcing you to dive very negative), try drysuit-only first.
- Spend your first dive in the shallows, get the weight right to be neutral with reserve pressure when squeezed at 5m, then add around 2lbs to be able to take the squeeze off and have a safety margin so you can always dump all the air and become negative in shallow water
- Note any trim issues and adjust your weight around before the second dive to counter any roll, keep refining this.
- Switch to a full tank and start exploring the suit, play with inversions and recovery, inflator hose removal, get a bit bold with the inflator and just push it a little bit in a safe environment. This will train you to assume the correct arm/body position for quick venting when you will have to do it under real circumstances. Using the suit only helps here also if you are used to go head down to use the rear dump on a wing, whereas now you will need to tilt slightly head up to get the bubble to your arm.
- Go diving until you're used to it, then expand your comfort zone.

I'd say it takes about 2 dives to get used to the suit, another few to start 'forgetting' about it for most parts of the dive and turn your focus outwards more.

That said, as a new drysuit diver who got the suit at the end of winter and enjoyed the whole process for a few weeks, it was fantastic to adjust the harness back to my wetsuit (it's now summer here) because it's just so much more streamlined and tight. That said, anything under 22 or so degrees water is drysuit territory for me, particularly if it's cold enough outside to make putting on layers of undergarments comfortable rather than sweaty. I am looking forward to taking the suit out of the bag in 6 months to keep diving in comfort all year round. I think that if you need a wetsuit thicker than 5mm, you should really think about a drysuit.

Again, though no experience at all dry, I tend to agree with all of this.

 

[CT-Rich]

I am in the camp of no drysuit course needed for people who take well to diving related skills in general, have enough wetsuit experience to feel/anticipate buoyancy adjustments, and have a safe body of water to practice in before venturing further.

As has been said before, may divers around the world start out in drysuits, in which case supervision is of course needed. However, I don't really see why an experienced diver, who is not a type of person that needs spoon-feeding, should require it.

An example of the no-course pathway:
- Research drysuits and how they work in detail, understand the options available and which will suit you best
- Read/watch instructional content on the internet
- Get a well-fitting drysuit and suitable undergarments, set up your equipment at home, adjust harness, etc.
- Make your mind up whether you want to go drysuit only for buoyancy, or a combo with the BCD. I planned to do the latter due to the online discussions about it, however, correctly weighted in temperate water, a couple suit puffs was always sufficient in a trilam, so I stopped using the BCD without feeling like there was a large bubble to manage, or auto-venting was not sufficient when ascending. I dare say if you get your lead right (or can get it right without equipment forcing you to dive very negative), try drysuit-only first.
- Spend your first dive in the shallows, get the weight right to be neutral with reserve pressure when squeezed at 5m, then add around 2lbs to be able to take the squeeze off and have a safety margin so you can always dump all the air and become negative in shallow water
- Note any trim issues and adjust your weight around before the second dive to counter any roll, keep refining this.
- Switch to a full tank and start exploring the suit, play with inversions and recovery, inflator hose removal, get a bit bold with the inflator and just push it a little bit in a safe environment. This will train you to assume the correct arm/body position for quick venting when you will have to do it under real circumstances. Using the suit only helps here also if you are used to go head down to use the rear dump on a wing, whereas now you will need to tilt slightly head up to get the bubble to your arm.
- Go diving until you're used to it, then expand your comfort zone.

I'd say it takes about 2 dives to get used to the suit, another few to start 'forgetting' about it for most parts of the dive and turn your focus outwards more.

That said, as a new drysuit diver who got the suit at the end of winter and enjoyed the whole process for a few weeks, it was fantastic to adjust the harness back to my wetsuit (it's now summer here) because it's just so much more streamlined and tight. That said, anything under 22 or so degrees water is drysuit territory for me, particularly if it's cold enough outside to make putting on layers of undergarments comfortable rather than sweaty. I am looking forward to taking the suit out of the bag in 6 months to keep diving in comfort all year round. I think that if you need a wetsuit thicker than 5mm, you should really think about a drysuit.

Quick recap. New diver, 8 dives total (4 of them for certification). I doubt she understands anything you wrote. She can apply the training towards AOW (I think). Coming in late on a resurrected thread, you may not have realized this about the OP.

New divers who get in unanticipated situations and get scared don’t continue to dive. Wetsuit divers who try to self teach themselves may decide they hate their drysuit before they really understand how to use it properly.

For the record, I did not take the class, but I have more than 4 dives and have drysuit equipped friends.

 

[formernuke]

I am in the camp of no drysuit course needed for people who take well to diving related skills in general, have enough wetsuit experience to feel/anticipate buoyancy adjustments, and have a safe body of water to practice in before venturing further.

As has been said before, may divers around the world start out in drysuits, in which case supervision is of course needed. However, I don't really see why an experienced diver, who is not a type of person that needs spoon-feeding, should require it.

An example of the no-course pathway:
- Research drysuits and how they work in detail, understand the options available and which will suit you best
- Read/watch instructional content on the internet
- Get a well-fitting drysuit and suitable undergarments, set up your equipment at home, adjust harness, etc.
- Make your mind up whether you want to go drysuit only for buoyancy, or a combo with the BCD. I planned to do the latter due to the online discussions about it, however, correctly weighted in temperate water, a couple suit puffs was always sufficient in a trilam, so I stopped using the BCD without feeling like there was a large bubble to manage, or auto-venting was not sufficient when ascending. I dare say if you get your lead right (or can get it right without equipment forcing you to dive very negative), try drysuit-only first.
- Spend your first dive in the shallows, get the weight right to be neutral with reserve pressure when squeezed at 5m, then add around 2lbs to be able to take the squeeze off and have a safety margin so you can always dump all the air and become negative in shallow water
- Note any trim issues and adjust your weight around before the second dive to counter any roll, keep refining this.
- Switch to a full tank and start exploring the suit, play with inversions and recovery, inflator hose removal, get a bit bold with the inflator and just push it a little bit in a safe environment. This will train you to assume the correct arm/body position for quick venting when you will have to do it under real circumstances. Using the suit only helps here also if you are used to go head down to use the rear dump on a wing, whereas now you will need to tilt slightly head up to get the bubble to your arm.
- Go diving until you're used to it, then expand your comfort zone.

I'd say it takes about 2 dives to get used to the suit, another few to start 'forgetting' about it for most parts of the dive and turn your focus outwards more.

That said, as a new drysuit diver who got the suit at the end of winter and enjoyed the whole process for a few weeks, it was fantastic to adjust the harness back to my wetsuit (it's now summer here) because it's just so much more streamlined and tight. That said, anything under 22 or so degrees water is drysuit territory for me, particularly if it's cold enough outside to make putting on layers of undergarments comfortable rather than sweaty. I am looking forward to taking the suit out of the bag in 6 months to keep diving in comfort all year round. I think that if you need a wetsuit thicker than 5mm, you should really think about a drysuit.

I got my first drysuit and went out diving. I have good control and adapted quickly to it. I was diving with a TDI instructor who later became my SDI master diver instructor.

I dove with it year round for 2 years. Took a break and just returned.

I still learned new things at the drysuit class. In retrospect diving without the class was stupid and had I not been with a instructor it would have been very stupid.

OP, drysuit is different there are things that can go wrong if they do you are going into the chamber. Take the class.