Drysuit Bouyancy Issues

[SpeedyBob27]

I'm writing this because it is a fun story I have from a while ago, and some of you can learn from this. About 6 months ago, I was doing my deep dive for the advanced open water course. We had chosen to do this in Lake Travis, because it is a little safer than the ocean. We had descended perfectly fine, through the green murky water, when at about 74 feet we had encountered a thick layer of sediments. Seeing as we were deep enough already, (PADI requires 60ft for the deep dive), we had chosen to ascend. I had some slight issues going up, but I remembered to twist the exhaust valve the other way for the way up. Well, it turns out I hadn't. I accidentally let go of the reel anchored to the bottom, and I had to keep flipping over and ejecting the air from my BCD, thinking that would be enough. At first it was, and I managed to regroup and grab the reel. Then as we continued to go up, there was no more air in my BCD, I had flipped over, and I was now rocketing up to the surface. I couldn't eject air from my neck seal either, as I was feet first. At about 15 feet, my divemaster managed to hold onto me for 3 minutes for an emergency deco stop. When he couldn't hold on any longer I floated up to the surface, and on the way up my boots had fallen off, so I had to deflate myself and put my fins back on for any sort of mobility. Thinking back on this incident, if I had been in the ocean, it would have most certainly been worse, and I may not have made it. What had happened with my drysuit

was I apparently had the exhaust valve open at the bottom, and I had closed it for the ascent. This is why it is always important to remember, clockwise closes, counterclockwise opens. I was wondering if you guys have any similar stories or input?​

 

[lexvil]

I'm writing this because it is a fun story I have from a while ago, and some of you can learn from this. About 6 months ago, I was doing my deep dive for the advanced open water course. We had chosen to do this in Lake Travis, because it is a little safer than the ocean. We had descended perfectly fine, through the green murky water, when at about 74 feet we had encountered a thick layer of sediments. Seeing as we were deep enough already, (PADI requires 60ft for the deep dive), we had chosen to ascend. I had some slight issues going up, but I remembered to twist the exhaust valve the other way for the way up. Well, it turns out I hadn't. I accidentally let go of the reel anchored to the bottom, and I had to keep flipping over and ejecting the air from my BCD, thinking that would be enough. At first it was, and I managed to regroup and grab the reel. Then as we continued to go up, there was no more air in my BCD, I had flipped over, and I was now rocketing up to the surface. I couldn't eject air from my neck seal either, as I was feet first. At about 15 feet, my divemaster managed to hold onto me for 3 minutes for an emergency deco stop. When he couldn't hold on any longer I floated up to the surface, and on the way up my boots had fallen off, so I had to deflate myself and put my fins back on for any sort of mobility. Thinking back on this incident, if I had been in the ocean, it would have most certainly been worse, and I may not have made it. What had happened with my drysuit

was I apparently had the exhaust valve open at the bottom, and I had closed it for the ascent. This is why it is always important to remember, clockwise closes, counterclockwise opens. I was wondering if you guys have any similar stories or input?​

Practice practice practice this can happen from a stuck inlet valve too, remember if you are going up or corking from to much air, cut the suit, you can fix the cut but coming back from drowning is not often an option.

 

[gbirch]

I am happy that you came out of this experience with nothing more than a bruised ego. I'm also happy that you learned from the experience. I would not, however, go so far as to label this as a "fun story" as it could have had much more serious consequences, as I'm sure you are aware. I won't get into the endless debate on using BC vs suit for buoyancy, nor bashing your instructor or your training. From this incident report (thanks for publishing), I learn 2 things:
1. I teach drysiut so it is a sober reminder to me that the little things (e.g. student turning a valve the wrong way) that can have major repercussions
2. I should not start a description of a potentially serious incident with "it is a fun story"

 

[Marie13]

Suggest you try diving with the dump valve fully open. I set it and then don’t think about it. I don’t use my suit for buoyancy. That’s what my wing is for. Only enough air in the suit to combat squeeze.

 

[SpeedyBob27]

I am happy that you came out of this experience with nothing more than a bruised ego. I'm also happy that you learned from the experience. I would not, however, go so far as to label this as a "fun story" as it could have had much more serious consequences, as I'm sure you are aware. I won't get into the endless debate on using BC vs suit for buoyancy, nor bashing your instructor or your training. From this incident report (thanks for publishing), I learn 2 things:
1. I teach drysiut so it is a sober reminder to me that the little things (e.g. student turning a valve the wrong way) that can have major repercussions
2. I should not start a description of a potentially serious incident with "it is a fun story"

I do not understand why there is a debate on using the drysuit for buoyancy. From what my instructor has told me, I need to use a BCD as a drysuit won't be enough for technical diving, and I need to get as much experience as possible with technical grade equipment and use a gear setup as close as possible to technical diving. As far as diving with a drysuit goes, I have been doing a lot better, although my instructor still doesn't let me use it for deeper dives.

 

[SpeedyBob27]

Suggest you try diving with the dump valve fully open. I set it and then don’t think about it. I don’t use my suit for buoyancy. That’s what my wing is for. Only enough air in the suit to combat squeeze.

The reason I don't do that is because it is possible for there to be a leak, and I usually dive in colder water. Colder water can cause tiredness, and cut the dive short. I never use the drysuit in place of the BCD, my Divemaster has been very strict with that.

 

[Marie13]

The reason I don't do that is because it is possible for there to be a leak, and I usually dive in colder water. Colder water can cause tiredness, and cut the dive short. I never use the drysuit in place of the BCD, my Divemaster has been very strict with that.

I’m a Great Lakes wreck diver. Cold water was invented here. I only dive the Lakes or the quarries so I am no stranger to cold water.

The Apeks low profile dump valve on my suit leaks if fully open. So you close it a few clicks. Problem solved.

ETA. Forgive me for laughing, but a TX diver lecturing a Great Lakes diver on cold water?

 

[SpeedyBob27]

I’m a Great Lakes wreck diver. Cold water was invented here. I only dive the Lakes or the quarries so I am no stranger to cold water.

The Apeks low profile dump valve on my suit leaks is fully open. So you close it a few clicks. Problem solved.

ETA. Forgive me for laughing, but a TX diver lecturing a Great Lakes diver on cold water?

Haha. I understand that. Over her I usually dive deep in lakes, so water temp is usually in 60s to mid 50s. My divemaster doesn't let me dive in the ocean with a drysuit, at least not yet, but over there it will be warmer.

 

[eelpout]

Did you have time to use the suit in confined water (swimming pool or shallow god vis lake) ? I quickly purchased a drysuit back in 1979 (Poseidon Uni-suit) because I started doing commercial diving work for the dive store I worked for. I was trained with the suit in the pool. Back then we did not have a BC, we dove and controlled our buoyancy with the suit. Out of the commercial diving world the drysuit had one function, keep me warm (Minnesota) under the ice and in Lake Superior. Over the years I have owned many suits and kept using the suit has a Buoyancy system. I was used to using the suit and for the world I was diving in, it was never an issue. When I shifted to the Technical diving world where redundancy was essential, I switched to diving with a BP/Wing. I took the GUE Fundamentals course and learned the disadvantage of using the suit as a buoyancy device. My instructor was able to answer a lot of my questions and I was convinced to try it. I have dove ever since using the my BC/BP as my buoyancy system. I was teaching a TDI Advanced Nitrox Deco Procedures course when one of my students got air in his feet at 80' and was lucky enough to grab one of my dive masters twin tank manifold. We had to bring him up slowly and pop his zipper (Old Viking shoulder entry) to get the air out to get him upright.
I also experienced this on a deco line in Isle Royale where a diver came up to the 30 foot stop upside down. The divers, myself and my buddy and the diver upside down's buddy tried to get her right side up and could not get her in any position to get the air out. We decided to pop her zipper and flood her suit and get her right side up. This was back in the day where there was no "decompression diving " form the charter boats. We got her to finish her stop before we flooded her suit. Getting her back to the boat was another problem, she had to drain the water out of her suit first. The debate happens because old school divers are used to the way they dive and don;t understand that a rookie in a drysuit needs all the help they can get to stay safe. Being an Instructor for 40 years I consistently have to put myself in a "New Diver" mindset to understand their problems. For some people they don't remember what it was to be a rookie.

 

[SpeedyBob27]

Did you have time to use the suit in confined water (swimming pool or shallow god vis lake) ? I quickly purchased a drysuit back in 1979 (Poseidon Uni-suit) because I started doing commercial diving work for the dive store I worked for. I was trained with the suit in the pool. Back then we did not have a BC, we dove and controlled our buoyancy with the suit. Out of the commercial diving world the drysuit had one function, keep me warm (Minnesota) under the ice and in Lake Superior. Over the years I have owned many suits and kept using the suit has a Buoyancy system. I was used to using the suit and for the world I was diving in, it was never an issue. When I shifted to the Technical diving world where redundancy was essential, I switched to diving with a BP/Wing. I took the GUE Fundamentals course and learned the disadvantage of using the suit as a buoyancy device. My instructor was able to answer a lot of my questions and I was convinced to try it. I have dove ever since using the my BC/BP as my buoyancy system. I was teaching a TDI Advanced Nitrox Deco Procedures course when one of my students got air in his feet at 80' and was lucky enough to grab one of my dive masters twin tank manifold. We had to bring him up slowly and pop his zipper (Old Viking shoulder entry) to get the air out to get him upright.
I also experienced this on a deco line in Isle Royale where a diver came up to the 30 foot stop upside down. The divers, myself and my buddy and the diver upside down's buddy tried to get her right side up and could not get her in any position to get the air out. We decided to pop her zipper and flood her suit and get her right side up. This was back in the day where there was no "decompression diving " form the charter boats. We got her to finish her stop before we flooded her suit. Getting her back to the boat was another problem, she had to drain the water out of her suit first. The debate happens because old school divers are used to the way they dive and don;t understand that a rookie in a drysuit needs all the help they can get to stay safe. Being an Instructor for 40 years I consistently have to put myself in a "New Diver" mindset to understand their problems. For some people they don't remember what it was to be a rookie.

Yes. I did the pool session, then I used it in a fairly shallow lake. The incident in question actually happened after my drysuit certification, during my advanced open water certification.