The ABC of drysuit diving

[Superlyte27]

Ask Jim Wyatt Boulder. I know you did at least some of your instructor with him. I probably co-taught with him more than anyone. His stance was, “dive in what you’re comfortable in”.

Edit
We might be saying the same thing. I read your post very quickly. Ultimately, we can’t teach you to master buoyancy in a 2 day class and teach everything else required in that class. Have your buoyancy squared away before hand.

 

[boulderjohn]

Ask Jim Wyatt Boulder. I know you did at least some of your instructor with him. I probably co-taught with him more than anyone. His stance was, “dive in what you’re comfortable in”.

Edit
We might be saying the same thing. I read your post very quickly. Ultimately, we can’t teach you to master buoyancy in a 2 day class and teach everything else required in that class. Have your buoyancy squared away before hand.

We were indeed saying the same thing.

 

[KevinNM]

You know what? After literally 1 minute that I wrote I thought "Why not?". I was saying that because I was thinking I was putting together too many things to learn...
But it actually makes sense to start from 0 with the DS and tec...

It's is a LOT harder. Fundamentals is hard enough without making it harder. It takes a lot of dives for most people to get comfortable in a DS. The ascent drills are just horrible you if you don't have it down cold, because you are already stressed by the air share and DSMB you are running, so you'll go to stop at 20 feet and you won't.

 

[pointy]

Just enough air to get the squeeze off. Drysuit is not primary buoyancy, wing is. Go to 20' of water and get in every orientation possible and resolve it. Keep dump valve all the way open.

I often hear people say, with great certainty, that a wing (or BC) is for buoyancy control and that you should only add enough air to the suit to avoid squeeze.

I use a trilaminate suit in cold water. The only thing that keeps me warm is the air inside my suit which give the undergarments loft. I don't see the point in carrying enough extra ballast to submerge while there is air in the BC. It is easy to control buoyancy with the suit alone, so why is it better to dive with air in two different compartments?

 

[Superlyte27]

I often hear people say, with great certainty, that a wing (or BC) is for buoyancy control and that you should only add enough air to the suit to avoid squeeze.

I use a trilaminate suit in cold water. The only thing that keeps me warm is the air inside my suit which give the undergarments loft. I don't see the point in carrying enough extra ballast to submerge while there is air in the BC. It is easy to control buoyancy with the suit alone, so why is it better to dive with air in two different compartments?

A wing is designed to keep you in trim at all volumes of gas in the wing. A drysuit is not designed to keep you in trim at all.

 

[Superlyte27]

Oh, and seek better undergarments.

 

[tbone1004]

@pointy if you are diving single tank, the ballast for the gas is pretty negligible. AL80's can easily be dove without a wing for buoyancy and many still do. I did 2 weeks ago for a good sized dive.
When you dive with doubles, sidemount, rebreather, etc. it's just way too much gas to put in something that is not designed for buoyancy. It is also horrible to try to swim because of the drag created in the suit and usually uncomfortable due to the volume in your legs.

 

[FinnMom]

The wing is designed for BC, it’s a better and more precise tool for BC, esp. because it keeps the gas in a much smaller, localized area. That said, the smart money is on being perfectly capable of using either one.

******
Some very cold water undersuits are like down sleeping bags: they crush down to an incredibly small loft, but are most effective when allowed to expand and get large, soft and puffy. These Michelin man/Pillsbury doughboy suits, do require a bit of extra air and roominess. If the water is really cold, these kinds of suits are really nice, and IMO much more comfortable in the tight bends of the elbows and knees than suits with more blanket-like insulation.

 

[boulderjohn]

pointy if you are diving single tank, the ballast for the gas is pretty negligible. AL80's can easily be dove without a wing for buoyancy and many still do. I did 2 weeks ago for a good sized dive

I agree.

If you are properly weighted and have enough air in your suit to prevent squeeze when diving single tanks, there is a really good chance you will not need any air in the wing. Even the old DUI drysuit manual said that.

People diving in cold water do indeed often put a little extra air in the suit (and thus carry more lead) in order to stay warmer. A sadly departed ScubaBoard regular, TSandM, offered the equation lead = warmth.

 

[Diver0001]

So the point of this topic is: any thoughts, tips, suggestions, stories, anecdotes, and everything in between, that you want to share with a drysuit-noob diver?

Go diving.

All the BS about where the bubble goes is just BS. Whatever feels comfortable to you and under control is what you need to do on the short term.

In terms of tips I would say to spend a LOT of time in the coming 10-20 dives on trim and on experimenting with where you want to put your bubble. If there is one area where new drysuit divers can book the most progress, it's in trim.

One of the true "smoke and mirrors" illusions you see on internet is about "perfect buoyancy". In a dry suit, it's never about "perfect buoyancy", it's about "perfect bubble control". All those videos of people you see who *seem* to have perfect buoyancy don't. They have perfect bubble control. This is the reason why so many technical divers use drysuits. Once you have it figured out a drysuit is VERY forgiving and VERY stable.

Take a look at this video. It's me near the end of a dive swimming away from a reef and getting ready to launch a blob. There was a fairly strong current and I was wearing this gear for the first time (aside from the drysuit that I had made 1/2 dozen dives in).

When I look at it I see all the errors but given the context it looks pretty stable, don't you think? It's not because I spent a lot of time dialing it in. I hadn't even done a proper buoyancy check yet (I did that later in the day) it was the first dive with this gear. It's because I understand bubble control. The rest of the internet rhetoric is just fluff.

The only other tip I can think to give you right now is to wear a weight belt even if there is no weights on it. Just having the belt will help you divide the drysuit into "top" and "bottom" chambers and restrict airflow between the torso and the legs. Restricting the air flow between torso and legs allows you more time to anticipate and react to changes in pitch.

R..