On Sun, 16 Jan 2005 06:34:48 GMT, "Michael Daly"
wrote:

On 15-Jan-2005, Galen Hekhuis wrote:

I don't think there is a "drysuit certification"
anyway, at least I haven't heard of it, but like I say, I don't dive.

There is drysuit certification. Since you use your drysuit instead of
BC for bouyancy control, you have to learn the ins and outs of the
drysuit. There are also issues wrt making sure the air in the drysuit
doesn't go into the legs etc.

Clearly I was wrong. I would have been more accurate if I had said that
there was no certification requirement to use a drysuit like there is for
getting SCUBA tanks filled with air. It is very difficult to get a SCUBA
tank filled if you cannot show proof of training from some agency, there is
no such restriction on donning a drysuit.

BTW dive drysuits that I've seen are much tougher than paddling
suits. They tend to be aimed at pro or very serious divers
(since the average rec diver avoids cold water) and are made
to last.

All the drysuits that I've seen have been owned by local divers, and, while
they don't think of themselves as being professional, they do consider
themselves rather serious about cave diving (though sometimes not about
other things). I don't know what you consider cold, but a lot of divers
I've talked to consider decompressing in 73 degree water to be rather
chilly, considering it may be some time of doing virtually nothing. In any
event, most of what I hear them complain about is little leaks as opposed
to tears and rips. While drysuits used by kayakers may be of lighter
construction, they aren't made of flimsy material either. Unless one is
completely submerged, it is difficult (though not beyond the realm of
possibility) for me to imagine a circumstance in which a kayaker might have
their drysuit flood to the point of becoming a hazard in itself.

What I know about immersion protection could be put in an ant's brain and
it would roll around like a B-B in a boxcar, which is one of the reasons I
generally stick to the warm waters of Florida. I don't have to deal with
shoveling snow out of the driveway, either.

Galen Hekhuis NpD, JFR, GWA
Guns don't kill people, religions do