Drysuit disaster from La Jolla to DC...!

[Diverantz]

Hey internet dive buddies, looking for expert advice!

I'm just a baby diver and have been since my drysuit misadventures started, though by now I'm nearly up to 100 dives and wearing out my newbie excuses. Here's my sad drysuit story.

I got drysuit certified in La Jolla in Feb 2022. It went okay until my rented mask swamped, and while I was trying to clear it I caught air and did an unplanned ascent...shallow, but still-

So I tried again, in Lake Allure, May 2023. This time, ruin in the first five minutes: I'd overweighted myself, lost a fin, and sank to the (luckily shallow) bottom. I did the first dive, wound up being dangerously cold (didn't wear the undergarments, thought they'd be too "bulky"), couldn't even do the second dive.

OK. Third try. Present day. Last week I'm in the pool, tucking and rolling, when I catch too much air in my feet, unplanned ascent, can't right myself, lose a fin. Classic me in a drysuit.

Am I taking this act to the quarry this weekend? You betcha. Need all your tips and tricks for survival.

Maybe I can partially blame the ill-fitting rental gear for these mishaps, but am I really going all in and buying a drysuit at this point?

Also, if somebody in the Washington DC area wants to train a floundering would-be drysuiter, as, like, your do-good springtime project I'm here for it-

 

[NauticalNick]

Bit of a tough go at it so far but glad to see you've kept with diving in general!

Seems like most of these things could be chalked up to learning experiences with issues in weighting, undergarments and maybe some ill-fitting rental fins lol? For the first and third adventures, what do you mean by "caught air"? Are you perhaps just massively over-inflating your suit? Alternatively, seems it seems like you know how to use a BCD, perhaps just put a bit of air in your suit to eliminate squeeze and then use your BCD for buoyancy rather than the drysuit?

For the undergarments, when I did my drysuit cert in Iceland (in the winter), I just used some wool Icebreaker base layers and Nike thermal tights which I found to be adequate and quite flexible. There are certainly dedicated brands (fourth element etc.) too where the undergarments are actually quite lightweight and provide great thermal protection.

 

[Diverantz]

Bit of a tough go at it so far but glad to see you've kept with diving in general!

Seems like most of these things could be chalked up to learning experiences with issues in weighting, undergarments and maybe some ill-fitting rental fins lol? For the first and third adventures, what do you mean by "caught air"? Are you perhaps just massively over-inflating your suit? Alternatively, seems it seems like you know how to use a BCD, perhaps just put a bit of air in your suit to eliminate squeeze and then use your BCD for buoyancy rather than the drysuit?

For the undergarments, when I did my drysuit cert in Iceland (in the winter), I just used some wool Icebreaker base layers and Nike thermal tights which I found to be adequate and quite flexible. There are certainly dedicated brands (fourth element etc.) too where the undergarments are actually quite lightweight and provide great thermal protection.

Haha yeah maybe this is just what the drysuit learning process is?

So the caught air thing is, when my suit is inflated and then the air travels down to the feet, there's a little too much material, so in both cases I did a feet-first unplanned ascent... when it happened on Saturday it blew off my boot and fin. I think just a casualty of not having long enough legs acc to the industry, these drysuits?

I agree with you about using the BCD primarily, but in this most recent round of training they said the opposite: we should just be using our drysuits for buoyancy...!

Yikes.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I agree with @NauticalNick. Many agencies teach using the drysuit for buoyancy, which is dangerous. Use your BC as it was intended. After a few dives and getting your weight dialed in, it will become easier to use the air in your drysuit to avoid the squeeze and have just the right amount of lift. Starting off using only your drysuit, most divers will be overweighted and overcompensate with too much air in their suits. If you have so much that your boots fill up, you're diving in an unsafe manner.

 

[Imla]

A few things come to mind.

Do NOT ever! Use only drysuit for buoyancy. Especially when newbie. Yes it is simpler to deal with one source of expanding gas, but:
If you ascend in an emergency, or inadvertantly, or in any kind of way were you are not in control, you will end up vertical on the surface, your suit will burp gas, your wing will be empty. IE, ABSOLUTELY no buoancy. If your ascent happened as a result of an out of air situation, or a catastrophic loss of gas, then you will not be able to fill your bcd or your suit. You will be negative, and you might sink and die. (If you ascend after using your bcd for buoyancy, the air will expand in your bcd and you will be positively buoyant on the surface)

(Ok, that was a bit dramatic... but)

Tip #1 Do not overweigh. Drysuits are easier to handle with perfect weighting.
#7 Just use enough air to alleviate serious squeese. A little squeeze is Ok in the start, but will hinder isolation)
#2 Use heavy fins
#3 Slow down. Think before you act. When you have slowed down, stop, smell the roses, stabilize and feel the calm. Then you can think about what you want to do next.
#4 If you want to ascend, then dump air, and swim up. Dump first, Ascend later.
#5 Find a rock. Stabilize. Look at the rock for 10 minutes.
#6 Get a properly fitting suit! (People do their open water classes in drysuits in the nordics... it is doable)
#8 Finkeepers are nice and unobtrusive
#9 Gaiters can be a cheaper way to adapt a rentalsuit untill you get your own.

If all else fails, buy a good instructor and get som proper guidance. (A GUE instructor will probably be well able to tell you what to do...)

Oh... and wear wool.... (And never cotton!)

 

[rongoodman]

It sounds like a lot of the problem is the suits not fitting properly, with too much room in your feet/legs for air to gather and probably elsewhere too. If the boots are flexible, like DUI Turbosoles, a pair of fin keepers(Freedive Fin Keepers (Rubber)) worn over them can keep most of the air out. You can also use gaiters to minimize the space in which air can gather in your lower legs. I agree with other posters about using your BC for buoyancy, with just enough air in the suit to allow your undergarments to loft. Excess air will be easier to handle if it's confined to your BC.

 

[Diverantz]

t sort of sounds like a lot of the problem is the suits not fitted properly, with too much room in your feet/legs for air to gather. If the boots are flexible, like DUI Turbosoles, a pair of fin keepers(Freedive Fin Keepers (Rubber)) worn over them can keep most of the air out. You can also use gaiters to minimize the space in which air can gather in your lower legs. Agree with other posters to use your BC for buoyancy, with just enough air in the suit to allow your undergarments to loft.

I'm starting to think that's the problem too, but I don't want to sink all that money into a drysuit before I know if I can even use one, or want to....maybe this is one of those cases where you just have to take the plunge and make that $1-2k investment / mistake? I've been renting everything; I told myself I can have nice things after I hit 100 dives-

 

[Diverantz]

A few things come to mind.

Do NOT ever! Use only drysuit for buoyancy. Especially when newbie. Yes it is simpler to deal with one source of expanding gas, but:
If you ascend in an emergency, or inadvertantly, or in any kind of way were you are not in control, you will end up vertical on the surface, your suit will burp gas, your wing will be empty. IE, ABSOLUTELY no buoancy. If your ascent happened as a result of an out of air situation, or a catastrophic loss of gas, then you will not be able to fill your bcd or your suit. You will be negative, and you might sink and die. (If you ascend after using your bcd for buoyancy, the air will expand in your bcd and you will be positively buoyant on the surface)

(Ok, that was a bit dramatic... but)

Tip #1 Do not overweigh. Drysuits are easier to handle with perfect weighting.
#7 Just use enough air to alleviate serious squeese. A little squeeze is Ok in the start, but will hinder isolation)
#2 Use heavy fins
#3 Slow down. Think before you act. When you have slowed down, stop, smell the roses, stabilize and feel the calm. Then you can think about what you want to do next.
#4 If you want to ascend, then dump air, and swim up. Dump first, Ascend later.
#5 Find a rock. Stabilize. Look at the rock for 10 minutes.
#6 Get a properly fitting suit! (People do their open water classes in drysuits in the nordics... it is doable)
#8 Finkeepers are nice and unobtrusive
#9 Gaiters can be a cheaper way to adapt a rentalsuit untill you get your own.

If all else fails, buy a good instructor and get som proper guidance. (A GUE instructor will probably be well able to tell you what to do...)

Oh... and wear wool.... (And never cotton!)

Oh wow, thanks for these tips!

Super helpful: I didn't even know about finkeepers, will investigate and see if I can rent them for this weekend-

I don't think we have GUE instructors in the Washington DC area but I'll see what I can find... thanks again!

 

[Imla]

Oh, btw, men and women have different centres of balance. Speaking in extremes, the A shape with buoyant hip curves and relatively small lungs tend to make women "top heavy" with a resulting feeling of toppling over in flat trim. End result being a very upright trim.
Men, with larger lungs, and smaller waists have heavier legs and more buoyant torsos.
So, in short, women might need to have lead placed as low as it can go to balance out the top heaviness.

 

[Imla]

Oh wow, thanks for these tips!

Super helpful: I didn't even know about finkeepers, will investigate and see if I can rent them for this weekend-

I don't think we have GUE instructors in the Washington DC area but I'll see what I can find... thanks again!

Finkeepers are 6-10$... not gonna break the bank.

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