How do you keep warm during SI when it is cold outside??
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Leah,
You have all of the right ideas and for the temperatures you cite coping should be easy. Our reality is 10 degrees F less right now and I still haven't unpacked my drysuit.
There are 2 big things you need to combat.
One is evaporative cooling. If you can get out of the breeze and swaddle yourself in a towel or dive parka you can stay in your wetsuit. Getting out of it and into dry clothes is best but there is an effort regard balance point in there someplace. Do what is required. A calm sunny day is a huge advantage.
Second in cold water diving you wil become energy depeleted and loose body heat as time goes on. Dirinking hot drinks is one way to dump some heat back into your core. If you decide to stay in your wetsuit I do find it helpful to be pouring warm water down my collar from time to time. I bring a "cooler" of 1/2 liter bottles of hot tapwater for this. A few bottles before entering the water as well as when getting out and from time to time during the SI will block some of the evaporative cooling. Just getting a towel on your shoulders and standing out of the wind is a big help. Dry your head and don a warm hat regardless.
Pete
You have all of the right ideas and for the temperatures you cite coping should be easy. Our reality is 10 degrees F less right now and I still haven't unpacked my drysuit.
There are 2 big things you need to combat.
One is evaporative cooling. If you can get out of the breeze and swaddle yourself in a towel or dive parka you can stay in your wetsuit. Getting out of it and into dry clothes is best but there is an effort regard balance point in there someplace. Do what is required. A calm sunny day is a huge advantage.
Second in cold water diving you wil become energy depeleted and loose body heat as time goes on. Dirinking hot drinks is one way to dump some heat back into your core. If you decide to stay in your wetsuit I do find it helpful to be pouring warm water down my collar from time to time. I bring a "cooler" of 1/2 liter bottles of hot tapwater for this. A few bottles before entering the water as well as when getting out and from time to time during the SI will block some of the evaporative cooling. Just getting a towel on your shoulders and standing out of the wind is a big help. Dry your head and don a warm hat regardless.
Pete
H2Andy
Contributor
get a jacket on over your wetsuit and cover your head with a hat as soon as you can, and keep them on. get out of the wind to avoid the swamp cooler effect.
you can either stay on your wetsuit between dives or change out. i keep my wetsuit on because it is PAINFUL to get back into a cold, wet wetsuit when you are nice and toasty.
of course, the coldest air temperatures i've been diving in (Florida) have been in the high 40's... so i am not exactly a cold weather diver.
you can either stay on your wetsuit between dives or change out. i keep my wetsuit on because it is PAINFUL to get back into a cold, wet wetsuit when you are nice and toasty.
of course, the coldest air temperatures i've been diving in (Florida) have been in the high 40's... so i am not exactly a cold weather diver.
I have a one piece 7mm. When I get out of the water the first thing I do is get under the warm shower a couple of the dive boats have. Warm shower or not, I dry my head, pull my wetsuit off of my torso and keep on the rest. Then I put on a thick sweat shirt, a wind breaker and a knit hat. Works well...
Though hot items anywhere near dive equipment is a bad idea, I've used a canopy w/ sides in cooler temps. I purchased a Coleman propane heater from Wal-Mart (the one that takes the mini-cylinders). It's great for a small area, up close and personal warming. Plus, if you're doing a night dive in the same environment, you can use the same cylinders for the Coleman lanterns.
Jamie_r
Contributor
Bah humbug! if i had those temp's id be warm as could be! haha
I did a dive a couple weeks ago in my Bare supra 7mil jacket, with a shorty,no pants, 6.5mm mits, 7mm hood 7mm boots, normally I skip the gloves but it was just too cold. water temp was about 53 but for summer its usually up around 63
I normally dont get out of the water for a SI my friend and I usually just float around for a while (mostly because its a long swim from shore) but i tell ya when we get out BRRRRRRR. So now im buying a drysuit
I did a dive a couple weeks ago in my Bare supra 7mil jacket, with a shorty,no pants, 6.5mm mits, 7mm hood 7mm boots, normally I skip the gloves but it was just too cold. water temp was about 53 but for summer its usually up around 63
I normally dont get out of the water for a SI my friend and I usually just float around for a while (mostly because its a long swim from shore) but i tell ya when we get out BRRRRRRR. So now im buying a drysuit
I'm now looking for a nice jacket for my SI , when i was in Japan there were nice neoprene jackets with a fleece lining at most dive shops. They sold for between $80 and $130 , anyone know where i can get something like that here in the states.
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I keep my drysuit on.
You tough it up!!! Diving is an adventure and being chilly is just part of it----yea right....I have a drysuit now,,but dove several winters in wetsuits....I hear your pain.
I concur with others regarding the "boat coat." Mine is this one.
http://www.divegearusa.com/foncolcoatso.html
Shop around, as you can find them cheaper than that.
When I was wetsuit diving (Monterey-water temps down to ~47 deg.), it was a lifesaver for the second dive. Now that I dive dry, mostly from boats, I still wear it over my drysuit to block the wind out and back. Others who have tried it LOVE the thing.
One more testament to how nice they are. We were diving from a boat with some poor sap from Germany who didn't know what cold water diving was. He rented an ill fitting wetsuit and dang near froze after the first dive-hypothermia was setting in. I told him to get out of his wetsuit, put on what little clothing he brought, then wear my boatcoat over it. He didn't give me back my boatcoat until the heater was blasting in his rental car! They are THAT nice.
http://www.divegearusa.com/foncolcoatso.html
Shop around, as you can find them cheaper than that.
When I was wetsuit diving (Monterey-water temps down to ~47 deg.), it was a lifesaver for the second dive. Now that I dive dry, mostly from boats, I still wear it over my drysuit to block the wind out and back. Others who have tried it LOVE the thing.
One more testament to how nice they are. We were diving from a boat with some poor sap from Germany who didn't know what cold water diving was. He rented an ill fitting wetsuit and dang near froze after the first dive-hypothermia was setting in. I told him to get out of his wetsuit, put on what little clothing he brought, then wear my boatcoat over it. He didn't give me back my boatcoat until the heater was blasting in his rental car! They are THAT nice.
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