Warmwater trained diver / first UK & drysuit dive

Well,

Wanted to pop on here and say "yeay", had my first outing in the UK today,
after training and diving in Cairns, Oz, and doing a few dives nr Malaga in
spain last year.

The differences i found were (thought this might be useful for others doing
the same thing):
* Drysuit & Undersuit, both loaned to me, got a little wet inside (unsure if
it was sweat or a leak, think some of each). Hood, Dry Gloves. I thought
the neck seal felt quite loose, but was assured this was normal. Didn't
leak round there, so no worries.
* Stayed warm enough for the 28 mins down there (18.6m max depth), which was
nice. (water temp 5oC in Gildenburg, with about 4m visibility)
* Didn't find controlling boyancy much/any more difficult that wetsuited.
Found myself underweighted when tank got to about 90bar. Also found feet a
bit floaty, ankle weights?
* Found the suit a bit more restrictive than when wetsuit diving, but this
was expected, got used to that fairly easily, forward rolls during drysuit
training was fun :)
* Found the dry-gloves quite restrictive, they made removing and replacing
the BCD & drysuit hoses difficult / impossible. Party because all the
equipment was new to me I guess, not sure I like having no real tactile
feedback to the hands, but I do like having warm hands. More practice
needed.
* Sealing a mask underneath the hood is interesting, think i'm going to need
to practice the removal / replacement skill somwhat.

The diving was about 10 mins spent doing skills on the 8m platform, fin
pivots, hovers, drysuit hose removal/refitting, forward rolls, etc (most of
the 10mins being drysuit hose! god damnit!!), followed by a leasurly fin to
the bus, the open sided lorry, the jet-plane, back to the bus, to the
platforms, a hover at 5m for 3 mins and out. A good first UK dive. Vis was
generally good (4m, i'm told that's good for the UK, not quite the 40m on
Horseshoe Reef however ;)) barring between plane and bus where there were a
few "clouds".

So, all in all, a good experience. Think if i can cure the leak (if there
was one) on the drysuit, get familiarised with the kit, and practice the
skills more in gloves etc, all will be well.

Bit more lake practice, find myself a club, and hopefully i'll be ready for
the sea when the weather warms up a bit!!

Comments and advice welcomed!

Gav.

> * Drysuit & Undersuit, both loaned to me, got a little wet inside (unsure
if
> it was sweat or a leak, think some of each). Hood, Dry Gloves. I thought
> the neck seal felt quite loose, but was assured this was normal. Didn't
> leak round there, so no worries.

With loaned / rented suits you'll never stay perfectly dry, but you seem to
have got away with it. Of course with your own you could get a neck seal
that fits perfectly.

> * Didn't find controlling boyancy much/any more difficult that wetsuited.
> Found myself underweighted when tank got to about 90bar. Also found feet
a
> bit floaty, ankle weights?

You seem to have done very well to keep good bouyancy control. I've taken
quite a lot of people in for drysuit orientation type dives since September,
some who've never dived before at all, others who've dived a lot before but
never in a drysuit. If they've dived before they generally can control
their bouyancy OK by the end of the dive, some the new divers can still be
bouncing along the bottom or stuck to the surface after 2 or 3 dives. If
you've got the bouyancy sorted straight away on your first dive you've done
well!
Ankle weights can help when you start in a drysuit, but generally i've found
that its best to get rid of them as soon as you can, the extra weight on
your legs can make finning harder.
Obviously when you're underweighted you can easily sort that next dive.

> * Found the dry-gloves quite restrictive, they made removing and replacing
> the BCD & drysuit hoses difficult / impossible. Party because all the
> equipment was new to me I guess, not sure I like having no real tactile
> feedback to the hands, but I do like having warm hands. More practice
> needed.

I've just got some dry gloves myself yesterday. Lovely for keeping your
hands warm, I didn't have any problems operating any kit once I was down and
they compressed, but on the surface it wasn't easy, although they weren't
fitted quite right which I need to sort out before I dive again.
Not quite sure why you'd want to be practicing removing and replacing hoses
on your first dive in the UK, certainly doesn't seem like a priority in
training, never found it necessary in my diving, and don't think you would
til you got into more technical type diving. If you can't do that, I
wouldn't be overly concerned at this stage.
And if you're talking about doing that on the surface, then you put your
gloves on too early!

> * Sealing a mask underneath the hood is interesting, think i'm going to
need
> to practice the removal / replacement skill somwhat.

Hehe - mask removal, always fun! Can be hard with a hood, depending on how
big or small the opening is around your face in the hood. Just pulling the
hood away from the mask with the palm of your hand should get it back enough
for the mask seal to drop onto your face, do that all around and it should
be OK. Obviously takes longer to get it perfect with thick gloves and a
hood, but you can get it on fairly easily and its just small leaks which
need adjusting for. It'll come with time.

> The diving was about 10 mins spent doing skills on the 8m platform, fin
> pivots, hovers, drysuit hose removal/refitting, forward rolls, etc (most
of
> the 10mins being drysuit hose! god damnit!!), followed by a leasurly fin
to
> the bus, the open sided lorry, the jet-plane, back to the bus, to the
> platforms, a hover at 5m for 3 mins and out. A good first UK dive. Vis
was
> generally good (4m, i'm told that's good for the UK, not quite the 40m on
> Horseshoe Reef however ;)) barring between plane and bus where there were
a
> few "clouds".

Still not convinced about removing drysuit hoses underwater, especially on
your first UK dive. Never dived there myself, but I was at Stoney yesterday
and in the morning there was 10-15m viz horizontally, and from 20m I could
see the SMBs of the people I was following very clearly on the surface.
Even managed to get to a point where we could see both Stanegarth and Wessex
just by turning around, which I was very impressed by - makes Stoney seem so
much smaller when the viz is good.

> So, all in all, a good experience. Think if i can cure the leak (if there
> was one) on the drysuit, get familiarised with the kit, and practice the
> skills more in gloves etc, all will be well.

Yep! Practice is good, when you join a club the easiest way to get more
practice is just follow around on an Ocean Diver course or something, go
through all the skills again.

> Bit more lake practice, find myself a club, and hopefully i'll be ready
for
> the sea when the weather warms up a bit!!

Who were you with to do your first dive? A friend, in which case probably
joining their club then you know people there already?

David

"David Walker" wrote in message:

> With loaned / rented suits you'll never stay perfectly dry, but you seem
to
> have got away with it. Of course with your own you could get a neck seal
> that fits perfectly.

Not sure it was the neck seal which leaked, get the feeling it was either
round the chest valve (though that could just have been the cold air when i
was pressing it), and just below the left knee. It's a suit the guy is
thinking of selling (fairly old (5 years?) Typhoon suit i think, dark
blue/black, with woolybear undersuit, think he wants about £300 for it, not
sure if that's good or bad? Tempted to hold out for a new suit, but will be
saving for quite some time if i go that route.

> You seem to have done very well to keep good bouyancy
control.....[snip]........If
> you've got the bouyancy sorted straight away on your first dive you've
done
> well!

Thanks (though i'll have to check my buddys thoughts before I feel
glorious!), i think it was the one thing I was quite anal about when doing
my training, probably why. Little taps and long waits is what I always tell
myself.

> Ankle weights can help when you start in a drysuit, but generally i've
found
> that its best to get rid of them as soon as you can, the extra weight on
> your legs can make finning harder.

Good point.

> Obviously when you're underweighted you can easily sort that next dive.

yarrr

> I've just got some dry gloves myself yesterday. Lovely for keeping your
> hands warm, I didn't have any problems operating any kit once I was down
and
> they compressed, but on the surface it wasn't easy, although they weren't
> fitted quite right which I need to sort out before I dive again.

Leaks?

> Not quite sure why you'd want to be practicing removing and replacing
hoses
> on your first dive in the UK, certainly doesn't seem like a priority in
> training, never found it necessary in my diving, and don't think you would
> til you got into more technical type diving.

I think because the guy was an instructor (BSAC), and wanted to see about
getting me signed off for drysuit training, it's one of the skills needed?

>If you can't do that, I wouldn't be overly concerned at this stage.
> And if you're talking about doing that on the surface, then you put your
> gloves on too early!

Could manage on the surface with gloves on (provided I could look at it,
i.e. no mask!).

> Hehe - mask removal, always fun!

Again a skill i practiced a lot when waiting for "my turn" on the PADI
course in "oz", so happy with it (similarly with lost-regs etc) but never
with a hood!

> Can be hard with a hood....[snip]......Just pulling the
> hood away from the mask with the palm of your hand should get it back
enough
> for the mask seal to drop onto your face, do that all around and it should
> be OK.

Good advice, i'll give that one a try next time.

>Never dived there myself, but I was at Stoney yesterday
> and in the morning there was 10-15m viz horizontally, and from 20m I could
> see the SMBs of the people I was following very clearly on the surface.
> Even managed to get to a point where we could see both Stanegarth and
Wessex
> just by turning around, which I was very impressed by - makes Stoney seem
so
> much smaller when the viz is good.

:) not many people in there stirring it up recently then?

> Yep! Practice is good, when you join a club the easiest way to get more
> practice is just follow around on an Ocean Diver course or something, go
> through all the skills again.

Sounds like a top idea to me :)

> Who were you with to do your first dive? A friend, in which case probably
> joining their club then you know people there already?

People I was diving with were from the Ely (where I live, so they were first
on my list of people to contact) "Grey Goose divers" BSAC, which is sadly on
its way out it would seem (not enough people to keep it going?) they're all
looking at other clubs to go join. I met with them in a pub, and they
invited me out for a dive, seem like a good bunch of lads.

I've got a guy from work who is also interested in UK diving having, again,
done a PADI course in Oz, we're going to be doing the rounds looking for
like-minded people to dive with :)

Anyway, cheers for the advice, always welcome.

Regards,

Gavin.

On Sun, 25 Jan 2004 15:11:53 +0000, David Walker wrote:

> Ankle weights can help when you start in a drysuit, but generally i've found
> that its best to get rid of them as soon as you can, the extra weight on
> your legs can make finning harder.

It would seem to me that the effort of lifting about a pound of lead ankle
weight is insignificant when compared to the effort of pushing a fin
through water.

Jason

--
http://www.scuba-addict.co.uk/ for trip reports including diving
the wreck of the President Coolidge in Santo, Vanuatu

> No, I had gloves with the rings, and they were too far down the arm, ie
the
> rings were almost at my knuckles! Meant that by the time I got the gloves
> on the ends of the glove's fingers were about 10cm past my fingers.
> Something I need to sort, get the sleeves adjusted on my drysuit I think.

Ahh, now i recall your post! I suggest hanging from a door frame to stretch
your arms, cheaper than suit mods!

> Its certainly not in any of the current BSAC training up to DL, and I
highly
> doubt it's in anything beyond that. I think thats something he might find
> useful for his diving, and decided to make you do it too - again though I
> can't see any benefit to it for anyone who isn't doing 'technical' diving,
> and certainly not on their first drysuit dive.

Ahh, fair enough then! I'll ask him next time I see him!

> > :) not many people in there stirring it up recently then?
>
> Loads! No idea is there's more than where you were, but certainly in the
> hundreds. Much less than in the summer obviously, but still a lot.

Yeah, think there was maybe 40 people at Gildenburg this morning, didn't
count so could have been more/less!

G.

"Gavin Carey" <gicarey@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:bv0qsc$tab$1@news7.svr.pol.co.uk...

> Typhoon suit i think, dark
> blue/black, with woolybear undersuit, think he wants about £300 for it,
not
> sure if that's good or bad?

> Regards,
>
> Gavin.
>
>

Walk away!!!

> > No, I had gloves with the rings, and they were too far down the arm, ie
> the
> > rings were almost at my knuckles! Meant that by the time I got the
gloves
> > on the ends of the glove's fingers were about 10cm past my fingers.
> > Something I need to sort, get the sleeves adjusted on my drysuit I
think.
>
> Ahh, now i recall your post! I suggest hanging from a door frame to
stretch
> your arms, cheaper than suit mods!

Ummm... wrong way! Need shorter arms, not longer. In theory it shouldn't
be much harder than changing a wrist seal, just worried it may get expensive
if the old seals (which are fine) won't go back on or if something goes
horrible wrong! I'm going to get in touch with the shop I got it from next
week see what they advise.

David

"Tricky" <scubatricky@nospam.yahoo.co.uk> wrote ...

> > Typhoon suit i think, dark
> > blue/black, with woolybear undersuit, think he wants about £300 for it,
> > not sure if that's good or bad?

> Walk away!!!

Some of the Typoons are known as "Typhoon Teabags" by divers - thousands of
little perforations... I don't know what they are like now but I believe
there may have been fabric lamination problems with some earlier Typoons
that caused them to leak like a sieve after a while!

Keith L

"Tricky" <scubatricky@nospam.yahoo.co.uk> wrote ...

> Walk away!!!

"Keith Lawrence" wrote in message:

> Some of the Typoons are known as "Typhoon Teabags" by divers - thousands
of
> little perforations... I don't know what they are like now but I believe
> there may have been fabric lamination problems with some earlier Typoons
> that caused them to leak like a sieve after a while!
>
> Keith L

OK, that doesn't sound good, and i was a bit damp, though I didn't really
feel it, barring on my left shin whilst hanging at 5m.

G.

> Shorter arms on the suit, longer arms on you? hence the doorframe gag ;)

Ahhh - hang me, not the suit! :O\ I'll, ermmmm, think about it... maybe!
:O)

David