Gidds
Contributor
Now I know exactly WHY there are no other female divers around!
Ok so I did the drysuit-in-the-pool stuff just now. I arrive at the LDS to a room full of men who look rather concerned. Apparently there is no such thing as a drysuit that will fit me, at least not anywhere in the northeast. For those of you who have not met me I am fairly tall and pretty slim. They have managed to scare up a suit that will be ok for me to use in the pool but not one for open water stuff. Do I still really want to do this? Yes of course I want to do it, I'm the epitomy of stubborn and it is fricken' cold up here but I don't want to stay home, I want to go diving darn it!
So we go over drysuit features, how to work a drysuit, different kinds of drysuits for different things, what not to do with a drysuit, etc. Now the fun part; I have to put on the drysuit. It's a trilam suit with latex seals with the zipper across the chest so it's not too evil to put on. Since the suit is pretty huge on me I can't quite zip it all the way but no problem. The boots are also two sizes too big but oh well. There is some concern about the fact that I have a total chicken neck so I get to wear a lovely rubberband thingy just in case. Great.
NEXT I get to get in the water and get in my gear. The o-ring in the high-pressure inflator hose blows and gets replaced. Great. I'm wearing my usual rental Balance back-inflate and 16lbs of lead integrated. Fine. Now I get to figure out how to vent this suit that I am swimming in. Fun fun until my snoopy buddy walks in. He is sent away so that my undivided attention can be focused on venting. At least he didn't see me out of the water in the sasquatch suit. Ok I can vent. We talk about squeeze and what to do about it and then I get to lay on the bottom in the shallow end and see how I feel about wearng a drysuit. I have mildly floaty feet but not too awful. I swim the width of the pool then start to come back and the o-ring in my tank goes. Lovely! :shakehead O-ring gets replaced and now I know exactly what it sounds like when your o-ring blows. Now I get to go play in the deep end and figure out how not to feel like a shrink-wrapped piece-o-salmon and how to vent while ascending. Ok that's not so hard and bouyancy in a drysuit is kinda nice. Good. Swim around for awhile. Now the tricky part: stand on my head, turn upside down, get out of it. I have no idea why everybody thinks this part is so awful. No trouble at all, being upside down is rather fun and no water is getting in despite all the squirming and twisting I'm doing. Fine. Now I have to be able to pop the inflator hose off just in case the valve gets stuck and my suit is inflating. Now we have a problem. The average eight year old boy has bigger hands than me for starters. Ok with effort I can get the thing off bare-handed. However, with gloves it is just NOT happening. Grumble. I am told that if I want to get signed off for the drysuit thing I have to figure out how to get the hose off with my gloves on. Additionally I now have to hunt around and see if there is a small rental suit anywhere in the state before I can do my two open water dives :frown: Now I get to examine my personal finances and figure out how on earth I am going to be able to afford a drysuit since renting one is just not going to work *much scowling*:frown: Maybe I'll rob a few convenience stores for starters because I am NOT staying home, I want to go diving!
Ok so I did the drysuit-in-the-pool stuff just now. I arrive at the LDS to a room full of men who look rather concerned. Apparently there is no such thing as a drysuit that will fit me, at least not anywhere in the northeast. For those of you who have not met me I am fairly tall and pretty slim. They have managed to scare up a suit that will be ok for me to use in the pool but not one for open water stuff. Do I still really want to do this? Yes of course I want to do it, I'm the epitomy of stubborn and it is fricken' cold up here but I don't want to stay home, I want to go diving darn it!
So we go over drysuit features, how to work a drysuit, different kinds of drysuits for different things, what not to do with a drysuit, etc. Now the fun part; I have to put on the drysuit. It's a trilam suit with latex seals with the zipper across the chest so it's not too evil to put on. Since the suit is pretty huge on me I can't quite zip it all the way but no problem. The boots are also two sizes too big but oh well. There is some concern about the fact that I have a total chicken neck so I get to wear a lovely rubberband thingy just in case. Great.
NEXT I get to get in the water and get in my gear. The o-ring in the high-pressure inflator hose blows and gets replaced. Great. I'm wearing my usual rental Balance back-inflate and 16lbs of lead integrated. Fine. Now I get to figure out how to vent this suit that I am swimming in. Fun fun until my snoopy buddy walks in. He is sent away so that my undivided attention can be focused on venting. At least he didn't see me out of the water in the sasquatch suit. Ok I can vent. We talk about squeeze and what to do about it and then I get to lay on the bottom in the shallow end and see how I feel about wearng a drysuit. I have mildly floaty feet but not too awful. I swim the width of the pool then start to come back and the o-ring in my tank goes. Lovely! :shakehead O-ring gets replaced and now I know exactly what it sounds like when your o-ring blows. Now I get to go play in the deep end and figure out how not to feel like a shrink-wrapped piece-o-salmon and how to vent while ascending. Ok that's not so hard and bouyancy in a drysuit is kinda nice. Good. Swim around for awhile. Now the tricky part: stand on my head, turn upside down, get out of it. I have no idea why everybody thinks this part is so awful. No trouble at all, being upside down is rather fun and no water is getting in despite all the squirming and twisting I'm doing. Fine. Now I have to be able to pop the inflator hose off just in case the valve gets stuck and my suit is inflating. Now we have a problem. The average eight year old boy has bigger hands than me for starters. Ok with effort I can get the thing off bare-handed. However, with gloves it is just NOT happening. Grumble. I am told that if I want to get signed off for the drysuit thing I have to figure out how to get the hose off with my gloves on. Additionally I now have to hunt around and see if there is a small rental suit anywhere in the state before I can do my two open water dives :frown: Now I get to examine my personal finances and figure out how on earth I am going to be able to afford a drysuit since renting one is just not going to work *much scowling*:frown: Maybe I'll rob a few convenience stores for starters because I am NOT staying home, I want to go diving!
