Drysuit certification really needed?

[BlueTrin]

Off the top of my head, you should also have practiced disconnecting and reconnecting the DS inflator hose, and removing/replacing your gear at the surface. I forget if it is standards or not, but I make sure my students do both with gloves on regardless of temps that day.)

So I forgot to mention the first one, but yes the instructor asked me to do it.

What is the second one ?

I did not do the training with gloves but I think it is great you ask your students to have gloves as the first time I did it by myself with gloves I struggled a bit before to get used to it.

 

[JackD342]

So in fact my point is that the drysuit class is too short on the practical side IMHO. So I agree with you.

The one I had felt just like ‘here are the basics so you can learn by yourself’ which is maybe what’s it’s supposed to be ?

What else do you wish you had learned? In an ideal world, you could practice diving in different types of suits, with different amounts of insulation, with different styles of BCDs, in different temperatures both salt and fresh. But this is not really practical, nor would anyone want to pay the cost of something that in-depth. Yep, the course is getting you educated on and practiced in the raw basics, in a reasonably cost effective way, so that you can take it from there with your future diving and add to experience on your own.

From your first post I thought you found the course very easy and considered it pointless. Now it sounds like you may have thought you were ill prepared for drysuit diving after competing the course. If it is the latter, then perhaps there was a rush to completion that wouldn't have happened with a different instructor.

Two tangential thoughts:

1. A certification card is not a license. It is just portable testimony that you have learned a specific set of skills in a specific manner. Yes, some certifications open opportunities for what others in the industry will allow you to do, while others are more like collectibles for bragging rights.
2. If you are taking a drysuit course, and already have a brand/style of drysuit in mind for later purchase or rental, then seek out a course that uses that suit. Drysuit styles vary widely, and it is better to learn in what you will later use.

 

[BlueTrin]

What else do you wish you had learned? In an ideal world, you could practice diving in different types of suits, with different amounts of insulation, with different styles of BCDs, in different temperatures both salt and fresh. But this is not really practical, nor would anyone want to pay the cost of something that in-depth. Yep, the course is getting you educated on and practiced in the raw basics, in a reasonably cost effective way, so that you can take it from there with your future diving and add to experience on your own.

From your first post I thought you found the course very easy and considered it pointless. Now it sounds like you may have thought you were ill prepared for drysuit diving after competing the course. If it is the latter, then perhaps there was a rush to completion that wouldn't have happened with a different instructor.

Two tangential thoughts:

1. A certification card is not a license. It is just portable testimony that you have learned a specific set of skills in a specific manner. Yes, some certifications open opportunities for what others in the industry will allow you to do, while others are more like collectibles for bragging rights.
2. If you are taking a drysuit course, and already have a brand/style of drysuit in mind for later purchase or rental, then seek out a course that uses that suit. Drysuit styles vary widely, and it is better to learn in what you will later use.

So it is both: I found the skills fairly easy to do but because we only did two ascents from 10m, I did not feel so confident afterwards.

So one thing that would have been nice is maybe to have had a progression to 20m or more?

I think I would have been happy to pay for one/two more days with deeper progression. But maybe you are right: I can just do this by myself either with a buddy or pay a guided dive and ask the divemaster to work on this with me ?

I think you almost convinced me . Also I always agreed on the fact that the drysuit class is good value at its price. I just wish I could pay more to have even more practical dives.

 

[JackD342]

So I forgot to mention the first one, but yes the instructor asked me to do it.

What is the second one ?

I did not do the training with gloves but I think it is great you ask your students to have gloves as the first time I did it by myself with gloves I struggled a bit before to get used to it.

You should have practiced removing your BCD at the surface, and then putting it back on and re-adjusting it. If you find you have a tangled hose, or forgot to turn your air on, you need to be able to deal with it.

I actually had the air turned off scenario happen to me once wearing my Fusion suit. I was rushing from a deep dive with an AOW student to join my OW instructor/students, and forgot to turn the air back on after topping off my cylinder with a transfill. I was just starting my descent when I realized my air was off. How many things wrong with this teachable moment? I was alone at the surface with no buddy, and of course hadn't done a pre-dive safety check to discover my air was off. Anyway, quick oral inflation of the BCD, removed it, turned the air on, replaced it, and continued on down.

If I had a dollar for every time a student asked "Can't I take my gloves off?"....

 

[JackD342]

I just wish I could pay more to have even more practical dives.

Oh man!! Are you really having trouble finding someone to accept your money for diving??

 

[BlueTrin]

Oh man!! Are you really having trouble finding someone to accept your money for diving??

Nah, I am actually trying to find more dive buddies (not paid divemasters) but willing to go to the coast with me

 

[JackD342]

Nah, I am actually trying to find more dive buddies (not paid divemasters) but willing to go to the coast with me

And to add to the context of drysuit training, it is available to integrate into the OW course. If a diver wants to start by learning in a drysuit, they would complete that extra set of academics, add the pool orientation with the suit, and then do just one more dive after completing the 4 OW dives in the drysuit. So yes, very basic is the intent.

 

[Storker]

did not do the training with gloves but I think it is great you ask your students to have gloves as the first time I did it by myself with gloves I struggled a bit before to get used to it.

How can you dive in drysuit conditions without gloves? I haven't done one single dive back home bare-handed and don't intend to do so ever.

 

[JackD342]

How can you dive in drysuit conditions without gloves? I haven't done one single dive back home bare-handed and don't intend to do so ever.

There are conditions that might require a drysuit to dive, but there is no drysuit that requires those conditions to dive. Plenty of training happens on warm days and in warm-ish water.
You might have just been in 45° water below the thermocline, but it is 85° air temp and sunny at the surface doing gear remove/replace, or maybe 70° at 20 foot when you disconnect/reconnect the inflator. So yes, first inclination of many students is "This is hard, can't I take my gloves off?" And my answer is "No, you can't. You are learning to do this because it is hard to do."

 

[grf88]

These make connecting the suit inflator hose underwater a lot easier. Just push on, no need to pull collar back.
EZ-ON Adapter: Turns LP Reg Hose into BC/Drysuit Inflator Hose