Warm and fuzzy feelings

[immerlustig]

i´m spending pretty much all my diving in some really warm areas like thiland or egypt or oz.

so far so good.

but now i´m back in austria and am confronted with some seriously low temperatures. 20 degrees celsius (on the surface! don´t want to know what happens at 20 meters or so!) is close to extreme for me already. (and yes, i´m a bit whimpy)

now i was told and i read lots about freediving wetsuits and what i find really hard to believe is that my 5mm semidry overall (hood, no arm/leg zips, very tight front zip) should be so much worse than a pure freediving suit.

wearing my suit i´m out of the water after maybe 25-30 minutes with proper shivers. are those of you who manage some hours in 10 degrees celsius just hardcore freaks or is it really the suit that makes the difference?

i don´t plan to spend much more time in european lakes, i´ll be back in the tropics soon but i do already think about buying one of those freediving suits.

so any story about the real warm and fuzzy feeling are highly welcome.

and if you are already at it maybe you could also tell me about a possible use for scuba diving (durability etc.).

to all of you in the tropics : i envy you
to all of you anywhere else : i salute you

roland

 

[narked]

Maybe it's time for a new discipline for those of us in colder waters, Drysuit Freediving.
When I was on holiday in Cornwall, bought me a cheap 5mm full length wetsuit for doing some snorkelling. Bloody freezing at first, but after a few minutes it's not too bad. Dunno what the water temp was, but was probably under 20 degrees. Next time I'm in wales with the dive club i'll chuck the wetsuit in my bag and try it out there, probably be a water temp of about 10-15 degrees c.
There must be warm freediving wetsuits out there, people like Alun seem to dive at Dorothea quarry all year round, and that place is cold in a drysuit.

Matt

 

[tuomo]

warm wetsuits

I have a omer chino 45 7mm wetsuit thats made of yamamoto open cell neoprene, and that is very warm. I actually find it too warm for water temperatures higher than 18 C.

On our trip to barents sea this summer the water temperature was as low as 6 C and i still wouldnt get cold at all.

I know that picasso has similar suit made of yamamoto neoprene aswell and that should be as warm as my omer.

Tuomo

 

[immerlustig]

hi tuomo

what you are describing sounds almost like fairytale magic to me.

...too warm above 18 degrees...

unbelievable! :t

thanx for the good news. i see a light at the end of the tunnel.

cheers

roland

 

[immerlustig]

matt

drysuits are of course an option. but personally i refuse to notexpose myself to water no matter what. even if it means getting out after 30 minutes.

thanx for the suggestion anyhow.

by the way, is there such a thing as a freediving wetsuit??

roland

 

[efattah]

Winter Specialist

In winter in Canada, I use a picasso 3mm top, picasso 5mm pants, and then another picasso 5mm top (total: 8mm top, 5mm bottom). Between the two tops, I sandwich two sodium-acetate heat packs (http://www.thermo-pad.com). This allows me to dive for 1.5 - 2 hours in water which is 3C on the surface. Of course, you must also load calories (pasta) the night before, and also in the morning a few hours before diving.

Also, I have almost no fat on my body.


Eric Fattah
BC, Canada

 

[icarus pacific]

sure it's not all that saved-up chi keeping you warm? rofl

sven -warm in my 7mm Picasso w/ a 3mm vest when it's gonna be a long day.

 

[immerlustig]

eric

that trick with the thermo pads is new to me. but sounds really good. will look around to maybe find some of those things here.
(better than pissing in your suit anyway:yack )

another question: with such thick suits how is manouverability? in my regular semidry armmovement higher than shoulderlevel is quite an effort.

thanx

feeling a bit better already

roland

 

[tuomo]

Actually the freediving suits like picasso and omer are easier to move in than regular wetsuits due to the open cell structure in neoprene. This means that the neoprene does not have cloth on top of it like normal scuba suits have.
Since you live in europe i would suggest you look into the omer rather than picasso, for picassos are quite expensive here.
I austria you could propably manage with 5 mm suit.

You should also note that freediving suits are not very suitable for scuba etc , since they rip quite easily, but for freediving they are great.

Tuomo

 

[immerlustig]

thanx for the advice tuomo

you also answered my next question : what is open cell neoprene.

i´ll look into omer suits and also cressi (since i´ve seen those on the shop here).

and using it for scuba, i think my scuba career will slowly come to an end anyway. unless i need some money to pay the rent in egypt or wherever else.

cheers

roland