Twins Shutdowns Saga - Hope at last!! (Guildy Sat 15/1/05)

[JAG]

I've put this in the misc section as a couple of sections are covered..

As you may or may not be aware, a couple of months back I attended a Twinset Familiarisation course with Mark Powell. http://www.yorkshire-divers.co.uk/fo...ight=wraysbury. My posting towards the bottom of the page.. and subsequent follow up http://www.yorkshire-divers.co.uk/fo...ad.php?t=14076

Anyway, been having major problems reaching the valves despite numerous kit adjustments etc.. I always had a sneaky feeling that my undersuit (Weezle Extreme) was contributing to my problems. In the pool last week, went in wearing my drysuit and a t-shirt and was able to do shutdowns ok in the end.

Had been thinking for a while about going for one of the Xerotherm Arctics. The general opinion seemed to be that the Arctic was very good, but still should be worn under a thinsulate or something. That was no good to me as I felt I would still have the problem. After seeing a post from GottheBug saying that he just used the Arctic on it's own and was quite happy with it, I decided to take the plunge. Ordered it from Mark Powell last Thurday afternoon and it was waiting for me at work when I rocked up Friday morning! Top service!

So, j.w., Conor and I arranged a trip to Guildy yesterday for some skills practice.

I donned the Arctic, my Aerdura d/s and off we went. Went to the 6m platform and attempted to do shutdowns. I couldn't do them. I was seriously pissed off. I could just touch the valve guard but was still miles away, but, an improvement. No matter what jiggling about I did underwater I couldn't reach them. After j.w and I spent about 10 mins, with Conor patiently waiting, we continued the dive. Dive lasted about 45 mins and with the Arctic didn't feel cold at all. To be honest, didn't feel any different from using the Weezle Extreme, so that was a major plus.

On exiting the water I noticed that I had a few folds of suit around the crotch area and a thought came to me. Maybe I forgot to lift the folds of the suit above the waist belt and that was preventing me from reaching the valves?? Made a mental note to ensure this was covered next dive.

Second Dive
During kitting up I ensured I lifted any suit folds above the waist band..
Off we went in again, this time down to the 8m shelf. I signalled I was going to attempt to reach my valves again. After about 15 seconds of stretching my arms out and making sure I was ready to attempt it again, I gave it a go. BINGO!!!! I could reach them, not just about, but full on! This was the first time I had done this outside of a pool. J.W. and I done this for about 10 minutes again before continuing the dive. Once again the Arctic performed well. Did a 30 odd minute dive and I didn't feel cold at all. Apart from my hands! On the way back, at the bus I started doing simulated shutdowns in open water, admittedly about 2m off the bottom, so I had some kind of reference point. I was as happy as a pig in shit! Buoyancy wasn't spectacular during these simulated shutdowns but it wasn't bad either. The relief was immense. After all the tweaks, advice and changes (thanks to everyone, especially Garf and j.w.) over the last couple of months to have it all come together is a great feeling..

A big for the Arctic though. Well impressed with it.

I was going to do an actual trip report but my fingers now hurt.. Suffice to say that Guildy was cold (6Deg), with no viz, but I still thought it was great Met Louigi and Narked at 90, good to see you gents again.

Thanks to j.w and Conor for another good day out.

All the best,

Ian

P.S. That was my last dive as a single man. Next stop.. Sharm!!

[Conor]

Thanks for another good day out, good to get back in the water, but I still have to work on my bouyancy.

Another vote for the Artic, I got mine from Mark as well, and wearing it under a thinsulate I have never felt warmer on a dive, weven though it was 6 degrees. Things also got better on the second dive having popped into the shop and come out with an extra 2kg and a pair of 5mm semidry gloves (mmmm toasty).

It was a great day out and it was good to meet some other YDers (narked@90, Louigi and Jason (?)).

Congratulations for next weekend Ian, hope you both have a great day.....and keep us posted on J.W.'s news

Conor