Ice Dive Training before ice-in 2012/2013

[oldflounder]

...The hard part is overcoming all the obstacles to get to that point.

Well I did get up to the Lake today as I was hoping I would.
I am starting to think ice diving might be an extreme sport/recreational activity/whatever.

The air was low 20's, water was 35, 1' chop, ice forming 3' out from the shore and a good steady 20mph wind blowing ashore.

After spending 1/2 hour getting geared up, I never got my face any deeper than 3' underwater.

I entered the water and tried to shoot some air into my drysuit to warm up but nothing happened. That's a first for me. I shot a few squirts into the bcd to give me some buoyancy before I got over my head. I put the full face mask on, being careful to only breath through the ambient air valve, but I did activate the 2nd stage a couple times. At this time I was in neck deep water next to a dock so I ducked down to 3' to check my gauges, etc. Then I had another free flow like last year. The first stage froze up on the outside as did my ffm reg and my Air2 on my bc inflator. Everything was encased in a thin layer of ice. I have read that one quick fix for a freeflow is to shut off the tank and let the water thaw it out. Well that wasn't happening as my shut off valve was frozen in ice also. I started with 2500 and in 2 minutes I was at 0. I don't think free flow shut off switches on the regs would even work as they would probably freeze up also.

I was out last week as well. I experimented with a new cofiguration. I put my cheap Lowe's latex chemical gloves under my silicone seals hoping the silicone would seal against the latex. No such luck! I may as well have left the zipper open. I came out drenched from head to toe. The water must have been pouring in the sleeves the whole time.

And then I have the problem of not being able to pop my ears with the ffm on. Another issue I have to find a solution for.

If I ever make it down to 30' in ice water it should be easy after that.

Those of you that are planning to take an ice diving class this winter and haven't been diving since October should get out there beforehand and prepare. There is a Hell of a lot more to it than just spending a couple hours in a classroom and jumping into a hole in the ice!!!

[GTO]

Originally Posted by oldflounder

...The hard part is overcoming all the obstacles to get to that point.

Well I did get up to the Lake today as I was hoping I would.
I am starting to think ice diving might be an extreme sport/recreational activity/whatever.

The air was low 20's, water was 35, 1' chop, ice forming 3' out from the shore and a good steady 20mph wind blowing ashore.

After spending 1/2 hour getting geared up, I never got my face any deeper than 3' underwater.

I entered the water and tried to shoot some air into my drysuit to warm up but nothing happened. That's a first for me. I shot a few squirts into the bcd to give me some buoyancy before I got over my head. I put the full face mask on, being careful to only breath through the ambient air valve, but I did activate the 2nd stage a couple times. At this time I was in neck deep water next to a dock so I ducked down to 3' to check my gauges, etc. Then I had another free flow like last year. The first stage froze up on the outside as did my ffm reg and my Air2 on my bc inflator. Everything was encased in a thin layer of ice. I have read that one quick fix for a freeflow is to shut off the tank and let the water thaw it out. Well that wasn't happening as my shut off valve was frozen in ice also. I started with 2500 and in 2 minutes I was at 0. I don't think free flow shut off switches on the regs would even work as they would probably freeze up also.

I was out last week as well. I experimented with a new cofiguration. I put my cheap Lowe's latex chemical gloves under my silicone seals hoping the silicone would seal against the latex. No such luck! I may as well have left the zipper open. I came out drenched from head to toe. The water must have been pouring in the sleeves the whole time.

And then I have the problem of not being able to pop my ears with the ffm on. Another issue I have to find a solution for.

If I ever make it down to 30' in ice water it should be easy after that.

Those of you that are planning to take an ice diving class this winter and haven't been diving since October should get out there beforehand and prepare. There is a Hell of a lot more to it than just spending a couple hours in a classroom and jumping into a hole in the ice!!!

your freakin me out here! if your going to be answering all your own threads, at least get a second screen name. Just kidding...I'm bored too

[oldflounder]

Originally Posted by GTO

your freakin me out here! if your going to be answering all your own threads, at least get a second screen name. Just kidding...I'm bored too

Hi GTO - You're right - I should convert this to a blog - it's just been a one-way dialogue. I'm not bored though. I'm trying to get others interested in ice dive training before the actual ice gets here. I'm running out of time though.

I'll be going up to Ctr. Hrb. town docks this Saturday with couple of others. I want to finish laying out some bottom guidelines and investigate the ramp behind the Mount. After that I should be able to end this thread as I expect ice-in to be occurring shortly.