Moving on to Drysuit

[mainedvr]

ok. So I've taken my OW in Mexico and now I'm home here in the Pacific Northwest. I'm so excited to get back out there. But I'm feeling a lot of anxiety about my Drysuit training. I feel like I have a good starter skill base with my bcd in a wetsuit, but for some reason I'm freaking out a bit about learning in the drysuit. Any advise besides to suck it up and put my big girl pants on?
Thanks!!

I just recently completed my drysuit course, and I also had somethings in my mind when I did my first ocean dives. As you read through the material they talk about feet first accent and so on, and of course this can happen but unless you totally freeze its managable in several ways so it says and just have to be proactive. Anyhow, the first time I dove after my course in the ocean I did think a few times about becoming the michelen man and blasting to the surface like a fast attack sub or something, but I quickly put that out of my head. Just dive to a comfort level till you get it and be proactive is something should happen, but heck worse things can happen like drowning....

 

[lerpy]

As most points have been covered, I will just re-iterate, only put the amount of air in you need to stop the squeeze. Putting more air than needed is more likely to cause buoyancy issues. As has been stated, use the BC for your buoyancy control, its easier and quicker to vent if required. Be aware that thick under garments can sometimes interfere with venting as they may bunch against the arm valve. Personally I sometime need to turn to my right slightly and stick my left arm ( vent arm ) up and give it a pump or two to help push the air out.

Once you get the hang of it you will be more comfortable and find your diving season extended.

 

[hayleyfish]

Thanks again everyone for the amazing information!!!

 

[Diving Dubai]

The best bit of advice I was given was be prepared for the pressure change at 33ft its the biggest one. Anticipate it in advance and prepare yourself - as you get shallower you'll be surprised at how much air keeps coming out of the vert. Take it slow

 

[Storker]

So am I understanding correctly that you think that I should use the drysuit as buoyancy when starting out?

You don't have to deliberately use the DS as a BCD. If you're neutral at one depth, just adding enough air to your suit to take off squeeze as you descend will leave you pretty close to neutral after descending to a greater depth.

Because of this, I don't "use my DS for buoyancy", but I don't need to "work" the BCD with depth as I do in a wetsuit. I just offset the weight of my gas with my BCD at the start of the dive, and then vent the BCD slowly as I use the gas. And as Gareth says, if you prefer to dive with the shoulder dump open, venting the suit on ascent is as easy as just rolling sligthly to the right and lifting your left elbow. The only thing to remember is that the suit vents slower than your BCD, so you have to anticipate buoyancy changes better. Worst case, if you suddenly get too buoyant for the suit to vent quickly enough, you can always dump some air from your BCD, and then tune the balance between air in the suit and air in the BCD when you've regained control of your buoyancy.

It works for me, in the gear I'm using

 

[D_B]

I would like to share with you my post about my Drysuit Class and the things I learned from it .. it was a good, hard class, and taught me much about the unique failure points that diving a drysuit has
good luck , learn a lot and have fun in your class

PADI Dry Suit Class

 

[Storker]

the unique failure points that diving a drysuit has

Do you mean stuff like:

• Forgetting to zip up the suit
• Not zipping up the suit completely¹
• Wrist seals leaking due to improper location on the wrist
• Wrist seals leaking because they're worn
• Neck seal leaking due to improper location on the neck
• Neck seal leaking because they're worn
• Neck seal leaking because you turn your head too much
• Neck seal "burping" when you go vertical because you didn't tuck it in, sending a small avalanche of water down the back of your neck
• Crotch seam leaking due to wear

There's no such thing as a perfectly dry drysuit. The best you can hope for is a reasonably-dry-most-of-the-time drysuit. If you don't have leaks, you'll have condensation. Wear a proper wicking layer under your undersuit; I strongly recommend thin wool. That'll keep you somewhat warm even if you have a flood. Modern wicking synthetics is a half-decent alternative. Shun cotton like the plague; there's no fiber that's better at keeping you cold when it's cold, particularly when the garment becomes damp (and it will!). Still, a drysuit, even a partially flooded one, beats a wetsuit hands down if it's cold. There's a reason that among the several dozen local divers I know or know of, I know of exactly one who dives wet. And he's often pretty cold after the dive, while we dry divers just chill in our undersuits.

¹ Old (and worn) joke, as we kit up: "How big do you want your ventilation opening today? is 5cm OK?"

 

[D_B]

oops, I was referring to failure modes due to its unique operation , feet up trapped air run away ascent is what I was mainly talking about

 

[Gareth J]

Has the Original Poster given any feedback yet. I would be interested in their view after a course.

Gareth

 

[FinnMom]

Just use some pool time to learn to roll back upright, then you know you have nothing to worry about. This makes it easier to relax and concentrate on learning to use your new kit. BUT don't let anyone get you in a suit with legs clearly too long and feet clearly too big => if the drysuit feet can escape from your feet while you are upside down, you do have a problem. Drysuits need to fit though, the suit must have room for your undersuit and still good maneuverability, but it can't be unreasonably large, and unreasonably small is much worse.

You can finds lots of excellent SB threads about learning a drysuit, I won't write what I amd many other have already written a few times.

I was really scared about an uncontrolled ascent when I started. After my 1st open water drysuit dive my buddy said "Gee, you really like this quarry a lot".
Me: "Why do you say that"?
He: "Everywhere we went, every single time you saw a big rock, you swam over and started hugging it".