new to dry suit

[beeger]

Treeguy - I agree with Lonnie. I’ll also expand on this topic a bit: There really is nothing complicated about diving a drysuit. The techniques are simple enough, but the execution can take some getting used to in order to be proficient. Should you take a class? I’d say absolutely provided that you can find an instructor who is really going to “teach” a class as opposed to just going through the motions of “here’s-how-to-add-air” and “here’s-how-to-remove-air” from the suit. The instructor should start by covering topics like the relative merits and disadvantages of different types of drysuits and underwear, care and maintenance of your specific suit, how different types of drysuits affect your weighting in terms of total weight and the ratio of “ditchable” to “non-ditchable,” use of dry suit accessories (dry gloves, hoods, argon, etc.), the relationship between BCs and drysuits for buoyancy control, among other topics. In the water (preferably in a controlled, relatively shallow environment like Square) demonstrate and have you perform a number of skills repeatedly: basic adding and removing air, dealing with a stuck inflator valve, dealing with a stuck exhaust vale, feet first ascents, trapped air, dealing with trim issues, etc.. A good instructor will not just have you do these things but will help you become comfortable by fine tuning your techniques. Unfortunately most dry suit classes I’ve seen are not anywhere near this thorough either in terms of knowledge or skills. This is too bad because the diver then goes away without the knowledge and skills to 1) really get the most enjoyment out of their drysuit diving from the beginning; 2) save money in the future by understanding the trade-off’s between drysuit accessories and possibly even drysuit/underwear purchases; 3) be as safe as possible.

There are many good drysuit divers out there who have never taken a class. And that’s fine. It’s just a shame that better drysuit education is not readily available. The premise is not that someone “needs” to take a drysuit class … it’s that someone should “want” to take a drysuit class because of the knowledge and skills transfer that should occur. However, that “wanting” should be based on having excellent educational opportunities readily available.