How to keep warm in cold water

[kellya]

Does anyone have adice on staying warm in cold water. I have all the gear 2 peice 7mm wetsuit and all the accsories but i still get really cold. If you have any tips to hepl i would appreciate it.
ps whats a open cell wetsuit?

 

[Pablo]

What kind of suit are you using?

Have a look in the elios web page (http://www.eliossub.com/html/spot1.html ).. they have great info,.

Open cell suit means that the neoprene has been cut leaving the oppen bubbles of the neoprene on one of the sides of the material. He becomes really flexible, what enable to tailor a perfect fitting suit with no zips, and therefore get an warmer (less exchange of cold water) and more flexible suit. But they are more fragile and can be a pain to get on.

If I'm cold I swim hard and fell better. Thick gloves and booties and in the extreme a facial mask.

Is a tread somewhere about warm up suits (try the find function).

If nothing works get get a dry suit and plenty of fleece: Ok for snorkeling or diving, but forget about freediving!!!

 

[DeepThought]

7mm + accessories and still cold? are you using a scuba suit or an apnea suit? apnea suits are much much warmer.

On this thread, Eric Fattah mentions thermo pads. Worth checking.
http://www.thermo-pad.com/

 

[Jussi]

There's an article written by Peter Scott about cold water freediving available on deeperblue:

http://www.deeperblue.net/article.php/303/17

http://www.deeperblue.net/article.php/306/17


Maybe that will answer some of your questions.

 

[kellya]

Yah all the gear and still cold

i Can stay in the water for a while like 1 hour then i start to freeze i think the main reason is the suit doesnt fit me that well. I am a string bean so the suits fit me in length but not like my chest and legs. thats the reason i think. Heeheh i tried to use one of those heat pack things you shake. i shook it up and put it in a ziplock baggie and stuck it in my suit.DIDNT WORK it needs oxygen. that was a cold dive. I only saw five fish but the vis was like 2 feet. the herring are spawning in the bay i was in. The fish were also only like 5 cm long. But the place look awsome. It had huge ledges and rocks. But no good fish. It mustve got picked over by fisherman. I was supposed to go diveing yesterday and see a resident wolf eel but my friend got sick. I would freedive down to it but its 100 feet down and i would die

 

[Pekka]

Kellya, When you dive try not to use your hands at all, also don't look up while surface swimming. (obviously you gotta sometime, but avoid such neck movements.) also do not let your feet sink so as you would be in standing position at the surface.
Have depth guage on both wrists to seal the suit... what else..
I have suit that is just a tad too thin for diving at the moment and these are few of the things that extend my diving time. Try not to pee in your suit.. it may feel warm, but actually after a while you just get cold..

or just get a custom made suit.... and do what ever you like..

my 2c hope it helps..

Pekka

 

[kellya]

open cell

I changed mt mind about open cell suits. i would like to look into them. Does any one know how expensive they are? and good sites to find them? thx

 

[Pekka]

take a look at the eliosub site posted...

 

[DeepThought]

Re: Yah all the gear and still cold

Originally posted by kellya
Heeheh i tried to use one of those heat pack things you shake. i shook it up and put it in a ziplock baggie and stuck it in my suit.DIDNT WORK it needs oxygen.

The thermo-pads mentioned work differently, no oxygen invloved - there is a quite detailed explenation on site. quite interesting actually.

 

[Yeti]

keeping warm!?!

EAT MORE PIES!!!



Not long now, summer's a comin' soon !!!!

 

[kellya]

Therma pads

Does anyone know were to find these. They are exactly what i was looking for. the only problem is i dont want to put my credit card online. Does anyone know were to get them. If you have ever hear anything i would love to hear about them.

 

[Pablo]

Some mountain/adventure/active sports gear shops have them.

 

[Roan]

Kellya,
If you're built like a string bean and you want to freedive in Canada, you simply must get a custom fitted suit. Sooner or later you'll have to shell out the ducats for one, might as well do it right from the get go.

 

[Jon]

Spend the money on a custom ELios wetsuit. I did, and wished I would have sooner! It's simply the warmest suit I've ever used.

I bought a 6mm opencell suit with highwaist pants. I also bought an extra vest to under it but haven't needed it yet since I have been so warm in the suit without it. In the past I've used Cressi and Picasso suits, but none were warmer than my Elios custom.

You'll also want 5mm+ socks and 3-finger mitts. I use Picasso mitts with a double wrist seal so that no water can get through, but any 3-finger mitt would be better than a pair of gloves.

I have used those heat packs in hte past, both the kind that need 02 and the ones that don't, and will say that a custom wetsuit makes more of a difference than all the heat packs you can stuff into your suit.

If you really get cold while your out you can birng a thermos of warm water to pour into you gloves and boots a couple of hours into your diving day.

Jon

 

[Pablo]

Is not much we can say after this freezing pict :duh, but have a look in here http://www.deeperblue.net/article.php/15/18

 

[OceanSwimmer]

Jon, I have to tease you after seeing this cold water freediving photo: You're wearing a Picasso suit! 'Nuf said

 

[Jon]

Actually, that's a picture I took of Ted.

Here's a shot that he took of me, before I bought an Elios suit.

Jon

 

[scrounger]

i dont do this, but a few people i know do. the fill thier suite up with warm water before it has a chance to fill with the cold water from the bad seals of the suite. i just try to keep all the leaky spots sealed and dont worry about filling up before jumping in. you might want to try an elastic weight belt to keep your waiste closed up if your wrst ankles and neck are not leaky.
lance