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Question Dangerous to use a wetsuit?

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
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Theo Granlund

New Member
Jul 9, 2021
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Hi!

I'm very new to any sort of freediving but I am a certified scuba diver and above average swimmer.
Finnily enough I have never used a wetsuit (except with scuba gear on). I just ordered my first one and from what I understand they are buoyant. However, I recently heard or read somewhere that wetsuits can have a negative buoyancy at certain depths.
My question is if that is something I have to worry about. Don't want to swim down and not be able to swim back up...

Thanks in advance for any answers!
 
Wetsuits by themselves are never negative, always some buoyancy. They require using weights to counter that buoyancy. As you descend, water pressure compresses the wetsuit, reducing its buoyancy. Below a certain point, you become negative and require effort to swim back above your neutral point. Normal. Takes a bit of practice to get the right combination of suit and weight, but unless you are wearing a very thick suit, swimming back to the surface is not an issue.
 
Wetsuits by themselves are never negative, always some buoyancy. They require using weights to counter that buoyancy. As you descend, water pressure compresses the wetsuit, reducing its buoyancy. Below a certain point, you become negative and require effort to swim back above your neutral point. Normal. Takes a bit of practice to get the right combination of suit and weight, but unless you are wearing a very thick suit, swimming back to the surface is not an issue.
Thank you very much for the relpy!
 
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Thank you very much for the relpy!
There is a lot of argument over neutral depth. I believe most freedive courses recommend 10 meters but they are also assuming very deep dives. I'm not diving deep and generally like to hunt at around 20 feet, so I adjust my weight to be neutral that that depth. But there is another consideration. Many blackouts happen after the diver hits the surface. When you blackout you relax and do a passive exhale. If you have too much weight, you sink. Unless your buddy is there to save you, you die. So you should do a test by passively exhaling on the surface to see if you sink or float. Freeiive training businesses say that if I have enough weight to be neutral as shallow as 20 feet, then I'm going to sink with a passive exhale. That's why they say I should wear less weight so that I have to kick down to 10 meters to be neutral. But they are wrong. I float.

What is wrong with their hard and fast rule is that they are based in Florida and assume warmer water and thinner or no wetsuit. In
California we wear 5 mm and 7mm wetsuits and there is more rubber to compress and expand with changes in depth and a greater change in buoyancy with a given change in depth.

I hope this wasn't too confusing. If so, I'll try harder.
 
Last edited:
If you’re new to Freediving the chances of you going deep enough to make your suit heavy is pretty slim. I recommend taking a course and never dive alone. Slowly increase your depth. In Ontario we dive in cold fresh water and we tend to slightly underweight for additional safety.
 
Like Bill, I often like to dive shallow, to stalk fish in string weed for example. That involves carrying a lot of lead, which can be dangerous/hardwork if you suddenly, say, find a drop off and decide to dive much deeper.
 
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