Drysuits

[Mdemon]

When I bought my dry suit,  I got trained up by my more experienced buddies (one of whom was an instructor) and that was that - it didn't occur to me to do an "official" course. I hadn't been asked for any specific "dry suit" docs until the other day.  Having no "formal" dry suit training to show, the boat master wouldn't let me dive.  OK, it's his boat, his rules.

My question is this - is there a requirement to have formal dry suit training (PADI/BSAC/whatever), or was this bloke being overcautious?  

[budgy]

In that situation all you can do is let him keep his boat and you keep your money.  
There is a dry suit training endorsement in the old training schedule with SSAC and although just about everyone dives in a dry suit here, I don't know of anyone who bothers anymore with the formal training assessment.

[milkybarkid]

We had a similar problem in our club. A lad couldn't hire a suit from Stoney Cove because he had no dry suit qualification, even though he had regularly dived in one before. In the end we convinced them by sending in a few instructors.

As a result, a couple of people in the club who often hire dry suits decided to do the BSAC 'dry suit training' course, which is a half day course with two dives that costs a fiver and can be run by pretty much anyone. It gives you a sticker you can wave under anyone's nose.

There's no requirement in BSAC to do the course, mind.

Cheers
Matt

[Jay]

PADI course runs something like this:

1. Pay your £75
2. Collect your speciality card

Before you knock me, I actually hold the PADI card!

[Mr T.]

Agree with Heads and the other guys on this one.

Boat Skippers and dive venues are becoming more and more cautious about getting their ass sued if anything goes wrong with in the water - the 1st question the HSE will ask after an 'incident' is: "did you check his/her quals before allowing them to dive?" If they say "err...well...no", then they are in a whole new world of hurt, so they cover their ass. Your diving fee compared to the amount they'd get fined is what keeps them awake at night.

The above said, neither the BSAC, SSAC, SSI, SAA, TDI/SDI nor PADI 'Dry-suit Orientation Courses' is a bad thing - and where diving in the UK is concerned, they're not just 'another badge' to collect, they're a matter of safety and commonsense

Dry-bag diving is completely different to wet-suit diving: you're using your suit (down to 40 metres at least, after that the pressure on your suit is so great (not uncomfortably so!) that you'd use most of your gas keeping it inflated and have to revert to your BC/Wing) for buoyancy - this brings its own pleasures and issues to consider.

No one can tell you that learning how to correct/avert/prevent an 'inversion' (where the air in your suit rushes in to the boots/feet of your suit) is a bad skill to to have - you do not want to head surface-side, feet-1st, at a rate of knots on any dive - this would count as a 'rapid, uncontrolled ascent' and brings with it all the nasties of DCS or worse.

Also, any of the above club/agency courses will teach both you and your buddy how address an inversion, so you're not trying to fight it alone - never a bad thing!

Added to this, learning how to avoid/address 'suit-squeeze' (where, under deeper pressure, your suit literally squeezes around you so that you feel 'vacuum-packed') is gonna make for a more comfortable dive.

And lastly, if you don't already have this skill, the course will teach you how to weight yourself correctly in a dry-bag. It may seem obvious to us all, but I'm willing to bet that many accidents that do occour each year might be avoided (and lives saved) if the above skills had been both learnt and practised.

Never more so than in UK water conditions (sea or freshwater) are these skills more important - indeed, the fact that UK conditions 'force' us (in most cases) to wear a dry-bag speak for itself.

Hope this helps and dive safe all.

[andy2tanx]

i have to say that drybag training was done in my initial OW and was surprised to find that this is not the case with all schools in the uk.  I hate to see new divers suffering in semi when instructors are in a nice warm bag!

[Gavin Yates]

I'm like Andy I learned in a drybag and so it's normal for me and a bit weird diving wet in comparison.

I've got to agree with Bren - if I was an operator I'd wanna see everything before setting off. Not to p*ss off the customers but just to make sure that IF anything happened they've discharged their responsibility.

Rather than put an operator in a difficult situation I'd say just do a quick course - you might learn sommat you might not but it's only half a day in a long diving career.

[Lou]

I did a "drysuit orientation" the other week.  Got a school stamp and instructor number in my logbook, but no qualification.  Would it count?  Who knows? Maybe with one but not with another...

I can see the point of checking before hiring - just like car hire, but what skipper checks quals beyond the basic?  After all, they'll let you jump in to 40m to the bottom on a 30m ticket, or have nitrox in your tank without checking, so why bother with a drysuit?

Besides all that the main part of learning to use a drysuit is practise, practise, practise - as I am learning!

[Dr Stevil]

Gah!! Not the drysuit training issue again!

I got really annoyed recently with some idiots on the BSAC Instructor Forum going on about the new Diver Training Program and "where's the lessons on teaching DS diving" FFS! only the DTP has changed, not the way to use a suit.

Any BSAC divers who have used a suit for some time can get a sticker for their QRB from HQ, its either free or for a nominal charge, I don't know what "evidence " you have to provide but I'm sure it won't require a 'statement of completion' from a formal course. If anyone needs an instructor to sign them off on this let me know and we can do a dive on a regular "YD Troop gig" (to borrow Bren's phrasing) and sort that out.

However, if anyone wants a "formal course" that's easily done, I'd be quite happy to do it, depending on location, there's an obligatory one DS use in the pool/sheltered water.

I've been training complete beginners for some time now and never found it too hard to cover this topic in the course of the normal training, consequently the recent angst over formal DS training seems a bit over the top to me. In fact the only problem I've found with any regularity is getting the trainees to use sufficient lead to make them sink in the first place.

Incidentally, I don't have this "sticker" myself (never needed it to date) nor have most other bsac instructors I know, wonder what that skipper would make of that ?

Chee-az
Steve


(Edited by Steve W at 1:15 pm on Nov. 28, 2002)

[Ben Harris]

Know what your feeling. I refused to waste £190 on a specialty course at capernwray or the £130 at stoney for 2 dives (PADI). I bought a dry suit and an instructor mate showed me how in a day. Its not rocket science. Ive logged up 40 dives since in cold water with it with no problems.

Yet I would have a problem if asked by a skipper to show a Padi / BSAC card. I dont have one.

If pushed I would show him my log book to prove my experience. If that didnt work Id tell them to stick it. Just having a card from PADI doesnt mean anything. People should start arguing the toss about the PADI grip over everything. (Old arguement !!!)

I trained as a Padi OW and was not impressed so wont do anymore training with them. I intend to do my training with SDI /TDI as the courses are better. Still I refuse to pay to do a dry suit course just to get a certificate. Its a waste of money doing that. I personally only want to train to learn something new.

Should have fun trying to dive on a Sharm liveaboard shouldnt I!!!!!!!!

Oh well rant over!!!!