Kiwi -- I initially found the same thing to be true for my statics...drys were better than wets. But I eventually discovered a much greater ability when doing wet versus dry. I think there were many reasons for this, but perhaps the most significant was the shift to supervision: I went from doing my early wet statics by myself (no buddy to serve as safety) to doing them with a coach. (Duh!)
Sounds like you may be doing your wets alone; if so, I'll bet that's a key factor in limiting your performance while wet ...you're probably unconsciously afraid to really push yourself and see what you can do, not knowing where you are timewise (no taps or voice encouragements), and always afraid you could BO or samba. Which is a very concern! ;-)
Additionally, I found that it took some time doing wet statics before I really got the conditioning going.... began to see the adaptation (full dive reflex) kicking in. My view is that all people are wired or created with the "feature" to do this stuff (mammalian dive reflex)...it just takes concentrated conditioning to train the body as to *when* to flip the switch and turn that "feature" ON. It makes total sense (to me) that once anyone gets that going they should be able to do significantly longer wet statics than dry. And that's also because...
In addition to the reflex elements that kick in (lower heart rate, blood shift to the core, a shift in blood PH allowing easier O2 release from hemoglobin, etc), it's also possible to achieve a much more relaxed position just floating in the water (held stationary by light touch of coach's hand on your back) versus almost any position on land, where we're fighting gravity and must use some muscles to hold ourselves in position, or even fully relax (true whether sitting on the floor, or even lying down). And that translates into a difference in O2 consumption.
For me, it also seems much easier to "drift" mentally, thinking about nothing at all, when I'm doing wet statics....whereas in dry statics it's a little bit harder for me to just "drift off" into never-never land. And when I'm not drifting but thinking about specific things (or looking at things, like the stop watch), I think my body must be using more oxygen.
When doing wet statics, I relax and keep my eyes closed all the time until the last minute. Then, I slowly open my eyes, begin watching for for signs of peripheral vision deterioration, reach out and secure the lip of the pool edge, begin bringing my feet under me, and plant a stance, still keeping my entire body low in the water and face and shoulders in ~ same position. That's the home stretch...before I finish. Hopefully clean
You commented that you weren't sure about contractions....not sure what you meant by that, but I've found that the more conditioned I am, the farther I can go into the static time before the onset of contractions. I also see this right-shift of contractions when I do a series of pre-performance warm-up statics (wet or dry), as that conditions my body to "prepare to adapt" for an apnea dive. Then, once the contractions begin, I just need to respond as slowly and gently in my response of "pushing them down". I have no idea where you are in terms of actual times, or the number of contractions you're currently handling, but a big part of breaking through to much longer statics is learning how to deal with contractions....both physiologically and mentally. Once I realized that the first contraction wasn't really a danger signal, just a natural urge to breathe (and that I really had a lot more O2 still available ro operate on), I was able to think about the contractions more clinically....in a sort of abstract way....and then become aware of their spacing, and how the frequency was increasing. I am now to the point were I'm handling 40+ contractions a minute before I end a wet static session (at more than 5 minutes). I can't get anywhere close to that with dry statics, and I think that's due to my wets being done (a) with body in contact with the water, (b) with total floating/relaxed position, (c) nothing to think about, (d) a coach to keep me aware of time marks and encourage me as I hit key milestones, etc.
Lastly, if you really want to ramp up your performance (statics, or any other discipline), I highly recommend you consider attending one of the professional freediving courses, where it seems almost every attendee walks out with significant gains in their PB's (in static, dynamic,and CW dives). I attended Kirk Krack's Advanced Performance Freediving clinic last year...and with Kirk and Martin Stepanek as my trainers and coaches, I saw incredible improvements in my performances -- far beyond what I imagined I might achieve. So, check them out...
www.performancefreediving.com
Hope this helps.
