Hitting the pool

[LiteWeight]

Good subject. Do you have a dive buddy/partner?

Partner: their job is to maintain neutral buoyancy while you perform your skill drills. They are a reference for you.

No partner: find a rope with a float or something, you need to tie a knot in it to reference a certain depth.

My wife and I took UTD Essentials course, it was amazing what you learned in 3 days.
First off, when I took my mask off I went up, up, and away. You want to practice skills first thing you should get a handle on is how you react when your mask is gone.

Find you a knot on a rope in a swimming pool, reference it, take your mask off don and clear, and you will be amazed where you end up. Oh by the way this assumes you have a back kick down also!

 

[boulderjohn]

I would just like to point out that this thread is in the New Diver forum. Most of the posts were very much at that level, that is, helping a new diver move up to the next level of proficiency.

Just a reminder that this is not the time to suggest working on stage bottle passing, etc.

 

[RJP]

I would just like to point out that this thread is in the New Diver forum. Most of the posts were very much at that level, that is, helping a new diver move up to the next level of proficiency.

Just a reminder that this is not the time to suggest working on stage bottle passing, etc.

Blackout mask, no-light, lost-line, injured-diver air-share exits?

 

[cloudflint]

I might struggle a bit to clear my flooded mask 5 times with one breath........

you may be surprised, if you really practice so you can clear your mask without a single bubble going past the lip of the mask and no water coming back in you would be amazed at how little air you need. My personal record is 7 clears using one of these masks:

Hardly an easy mask to clear with limited breath Its gotten to the point now where even with a huge mask like that it only takes very very little effort to clear it.

 

[RJP]

you may be surprised, if you really practice so you can clear your mask without a single bubble going past the lip of the mask and no water coming back in you would be amazed at how little air you need.

An interesting "navel-gazing" sort of exercise I suppose, but clearly a solution to a problem that doesn't exist.

:cool2:

 

[Cave Diver]

Just a reminder that this is not the time to suggest working on stage bottle passing, etc.

How about handing off your spare air?

 

[Bubbletrubble]

The reason for clearing the mask 5 times in one breath and then clearing while neutral and no reg in is because clearing the mask 5 times in one breath generally requires you to become very efficient at clearing your mask without wasting any air. Clearing the mask with your reg out and maintaining neutral buoyancy is an exercise in buoyancy. most peoples first reaction is to take a big breath then take their reg out and clear their mask, at which point due to their big breath they end up floating on the surface. They have to be able to clear the mask without dropping up or down, it can be harder than it looks!

@cloudflint: If a diver finds himself simultaneously with a flooded mask and lost reg, what should he do first? Clear his mask or locate a working reg? I don't know about you, but I'd be using a method to recover an air source (arm-sweep, feel for hose from first stage, switching to alternate reg, etc.). Restoring vision is nice...but it isn't nearly as important as breathing. I suppose clearing a mask 5x with one breath is a nifty trick, though. Personally, I wouldn't place it on my list of skills for a beginner to practice to improve buoyancy control, but that's just me.

 

[cloudflint]

@cloudflint: If a diver finds himself simultaneously with a flooded mask and lost reg, what should he do first? Clear his mask or locate a working reg? I don't know about you, but I'd be using a method to recover an air source (arm-sweep, feel for hose from first stage, switching to alternate reg, etc.). Restoring vision is nice...but it isn't nearly as important as breathing. I suppose clearing a mask 5x with one breath is a nifty trick, though. Personally, I wouldn't place it on my list of skills for a beginner to practice to improve buoyancy control, but that's just me.

Yeah if i lost my mask and reg on a dive i would put my reg in first. What the drill does do though is increase their proficiency at clearing their mask, they cant just furiously blow air through their mask till it clears, they have to seriously consider what they are doing and not waste air needlessly. If they can do it, it means that they are able to clear a mask promptly and with very little fuss. Its all about taking the basic skills and polishing to the highest level possible. We don't do this with neutral buoyancy since that would just make it even harder. We do a single clear with the reg out while holding neutral bouyancy to improve the bouynacy skills and we do clearing the mask 5 times on one breath generally while negatively buoyant to improve the mask clearing skills.

 

[RJP]

How about handing off your spare air?

"Put the Spare-Air down on the pool deck, and back away slowly..."

 

[Bubbletrubble]

We do a single clear with the reg out while holding neutral bouyancy to improve the bouynacy skills and we do clearing the mask 5 times on one breath generally while negatively buoyant to improve the mask clearing skills.

@cloudflint: So do you think your method is more effective at teaching buoyancy control and mask clearing skills than simply having students conduct remove/replace/clear mask drills while hovering?

I'm not an instructor or anything, just curious. Thanks for answering my questions.