OMyMyOHellYes
Contributor
First up, my knowledge of drysuit (or even slightly chilly water) diving is limited. I simply have less than zero interest in ever getting into water cooler than 80 deg F.
But I was watching a yootoob on the death of Linnea Mills during a drysuit training exercise. Tragically bad mojo and galactic-class CF all around. But there was one thing that stuck out and baffled me from that video. IIRC, there was one guy who was trying to go after her as she was sinking and reported that her uninflated suit was squeezing her so hard at 85 feet that it seemed she couldn't draw a breath. (9:05 into the linked video)
With my rudimentary, marginal knowledge of drysuit things, I could see a person getting pinched if there was a fold of skin in a wrinkly part that was getting squeezed, and that could cause injury I suppose. But how could a dry suit exert so much force against a person's body (assuming that the diver had a functioning regulator system in their mouth and an adequate supply of air) that it would squeeze their body, boa constrictor style, to the point that would make it impossible to draw a breath?
An uninflated drysuit, at any given depth, cannot exert any more pressure against a diver's body than the ambient pressure. If one were to try and breathe atmospheric pressure air at depth, I get that that ain't gonna work. So we have regs and a pressurized air source that cancels that differential out.
Pressure at 85' exerted on a diver's bare skin ~ 37-38 psi. Pressure transmitted to the external surface of the drysuit ~37-38 psi. The pressure of the interior surface of the dry suit against a diver's skin ~37-38 psi. First stage IP ~120-145 psi equalized to ambient would have the air in lungs pushing outward ~37-38 psi.
Was that narrator or diver that was trying to help wrong in the assessment that she was squeezed to the point of being unable to draw air? Maybe out of air or other malfunction, but drysuit pressure?
Am I missing something?
But I was watching a yootoob on the death of Linnea Mills during a drysuit training exercise. Tragically bad mojo and galactic-class CF all around. But there was one thing that stuck out and baffled me from that video. IIRC, there was one guy who was trying to go after her as she was sinking and reported that her uninflated suit was squeezing her so hard at 85 feet that it seemed she couldn't draw a breath. (9:05 into the linked video)
With my rudimentary, marginal knowledge of drysuit things, I could see a person getting pinched if there was a fold of skin in a wrinkly part that was getting squeezed, and that could cause injury I suppose. But how could a dry suit exert so much force against a person's body (assuming that the diver had a functioning regulator system in their mouth and an adequate supply of air) that it would squeeze their body, boa constrictor style, to the point that would make it impossible to draw a breath?
An uninflated drysuit, at any given depth, cannot exert any more pressure against a diver's body than the ambient pressure. If one were to try and breathe atmospheric pressure air at depth, I get that that ain't gonna work. So we have regs and a pressurized air source that cancels that differential out.
Pressure at 85' exerted on a diver's bare skin ~ 37-38 psi. Pressure transmitted to the external surface of the drysuit ~37-38 psi. The pressure of the interior surface of the dry suit against a diver's skin ~37-38 psi. First stage IP ~120-145 psi equalized to ambient would have the air in lungs pushing outward ~37-38 psi.
Was that narrator or diver that was trying to help wrong in the assessment that she was squeezed to the point of being unable to draw air? Maybe out of air or other malfunction, but drysuit pressure?
Am I missing something?