My Drysuit Experience w/o Course

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Will do.

I am actually thinking about the GUE drysuit primer now. My wife was not the most enthusiastic about doing fundamentals (ok she was only going to do it because I wanted to). I was thinking the drysuit primer would be less pressure and get her interested in doing more with GUE.

I think that's a good call. You'll get a lot more than you will from a course taught by most mainstream agency instructors. I'm not a GUE instructor, never will be (I solo dive, dive air up to 100 feet, dive sidemount in openwater), but the instruction I provide is heavily influenced by DIR, which is why I teach for an agency that allows me to add sensible performance requirements. I said most, as there are former DIR instructors who teach for agencies like NAUI and SDI (ones that allow adding things) or instructors who have trained with DIR agencies and add to the courses they teach.

Now I'll say this publicly (and hopefully not violate the terms of basic scuba discussion, anyone can talk to me via PM for this paragraph), but GUE is often maligned for a couple of reasons. One, there were some individuals in the past who would make comments that were ... shall we say controversial? They have not been around for years. Second, there is so much mediocrity in the mainstream agencies that there is a lot of resentment from those mediocre instructors for those who possess better skills. Third, the GUE system/philosophy is more rigid than mainstream agencies. But this is because they have the end always in mind: technical/cave diving. They don't dive air recreationally, as with nitrox, you always check your breathing gas, just as you would in a cave dive to 300 feet. Your practices do not change when you go from recreational to technical diving (but you do have more stuff). You just build upon it. They set up rigorous standards early on so that bad habits are not acquired and need to be broken as you advance in the diving you do. They do not target the segment of the market that just wants to float behind a DM and look at pretty fish (nothing wrong with that, btw).

In my area (Seattle), there all the GUE instructors are great: low key, very pleasant personalities, great divers, and thorough in their instruction.
 
Dry suit diving is actually easier in many ways, on ascent, the 'dumping' of gas is automatic. It's just a matter of getting used to it.
Yes only if you're not flat in the water.

Will do.

I am actually thinking about the GUE drysuit primer now. My wife was not the most enthusiastic about doing fundamentals (ok she was only going to do it because I wanted to). I was thinking the drysuit primer would be less pressure and get her interested in doing more with GUE.
Don't even bother paying the 50$ to GUE, course materials are fairly common sense, just hire a GUE instructor to do a few dives and see if there's interest to do fundies.
 
my wife had issues with her long hair and si-tech silicone neck seals. she now sports a regular old swim cap, and it has made it very easy to doff/don. she leaves it on for the dive, under her hood.
 
Gareth J:
Dry suit diving is actually easier in many ways, on ascent, the 'dumping' of gas is automatic. It's just a matter of getting used to it.
Yes only if you're not flat in the water.

I am not sure that is a true statement. Air will migrate to the highest point. If you are head down and feet and arse up, then it will migrate to your feet. If you are flat, your shoulder is one of the high points, especially if you roll slightly.

Ascending with one of my old buddies (who was a GUE instructor), as he dumped from the kidney dump (on the BC) you could see the gas vent from his CVD.
The whole point of a CVD is it maintains a constant volume. As you ascend, the gas expands, the CVD (if at a high point) vents the expanding gas, maintaining a constant volume in the suit.
 

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