Dry Suit Training as an Assistant

Jerry just bought a new Waterproof D1 Dry suit and Lee has had a DUI for a while, both needed training.  The shop is closed on Wednesday so what better way to spend hump day than diving.  

We all got in the shop van early and headed to southern Virginia.  Midweek we nearly had the lake to ourselves.  

End of May the water is getting warmer 64 degrees 30 feet, not bad for this time of year.

My task was to assist with the class as I am interning to teach Dry Suit instructor with the shop.  Tige gave me a few pointer and observations that will help with the next class I assist with.

A couple of dives working on their skills, a few tours around the lake so they could get used to the changes in buoyancy and the effect of pressure at depth.  Yeah, they got this.  Two more dry suit divers, done.

A good day of diving. A few minor trickles of water in the suits between the four of us. All and all a go way to spend a Wednesday.

Midweek Dry Suit Training.

Lee working his buoyancy

Photos courtesy of Virginia Scuba

Dry Suit Training

I bought my dry suit over a year ago.  I have an Aqualung Fusion Sport. The delay in training was Tige and I could not come up with a weekend to do the training.  One of us was either teaching or could not get two days together to make it happen.  So we decided on April 1  and 2.  No other students had signed up for classes, the quarry opens for the season that weekend and the water temp was in the mid-40s. Not great for an Open Water Class but great for Dry Suit.

We started out Saturday in the pool covering the basics. I took my full face mask knowing it would be cold in the open water. A fun class to take. Completly changes your buoyancy, have to lean and work out a new set of skills.

As luck would have it we remember to bring the camera into the pool.  At the quarry, we forgot them in the gear bag so no photos from Open  Water.  It was fun, undergarments are the key, dress for the environment you are going in to. The deeper you go the suit changes it characteristics add a little air to the suit, move it around, life is good in cold water.   Buoyancy is going to take several dives to work out the correct amount of weight than to manage the necessary amount of air in the suit. Just a reason to dive more!!!