Yesterday I finished my AN/DP with Jimmy Gadomski (@fl_tekdiver) • Instagram photos and videos of Florida Technical Diving and am so happy that @grantctobin and @Mouth Breather recommended him!
The short version is that I would absolutely recommend Jimmy for serious technical instruction. For the long version, read on...
The training consisted of 5 days (Monday through Friday). On Monday we had a classroom session to go over eLearning material. As I already knew all of it, we ended up doing a cursory review, but Jimmy also spent a lot of time 'deconstructing' my setup. He didn't like my butt plate... it had to go. He didn't like the LPI hose routing, so we fixed that. He changed the rigging of my AL72 deco bottle, so we changed that around. We also moved around the D-rings to prepare for the bottle and talked a lot about the theory of why everything must be streamlined, no entanglement points and so on. Initially, it felt like a blow, I mean I've been diving this setup for close to 8-months and had everything just right. But, I told him that it's his class, his rules and I want to learn the right way (he teaches DIR). Now that I know what I know, I'm so glad he did what he did.
I didn't realize this at the time, but Jimmy is incredibly accomplished in deep wreck penetration and cave diving. Here's an example of one of his dives, imagine getting stuck in that shaft at 200ft? Deadly. So, again, I appreciate (in hindsight) that he tore apart my gear configuration. It came in useful in our future dives...
Tuesday was our first dive, just so he can get an idea of how I dive and it's my first time carrying an AL72 bottle! We went to the Ancient Mariner Wreck (70ft) followed by a 90ft reef. We did some swim-throughs and he worked on my bottle trim. We did TONS of skills, he tested everything to make sure I can essentially continue: valve drills, S-drills, mask swaps, kicks, DSMB deployment, bottle handling, passing a bottle, dealing with two bottles, maintaining stops, random equipment failures, and so on. The first day he put me through my paces. Oh and everything had to be done while maintaining perfect buoyancy and trim. While testing he also kept making adjustments to me and my gear. I have several videos where he pointed out issues to work on. Here's on embarrassing video for reference:
It seems he was happy enough with how I performed, so on Wednesday we went to the Lady Luck Wreck. This was a 30+ minute decompression dive, followed by another deep reef.
Again, more testing, more drills, more failures to deal with and more skills. The most interesting one was to lead and be lead through the wreck with a long-hose deployment. That hose just isn't long enough! But great experience! Here's another sample video of the difference in trim and bottle placement. We still weren't happy, but it was better than before:
Carrying two bottles (better, but more tweaks needed):
After the dives we went back to the classroom. Normally this is where there would be a discussion about gradient factors, dive planning and so on. But because I already knew all of that, we just ended up going into much deeper theory, including normoxic and hypoxic trimix dive planning/theory, isobaric counterdiffusion and so on. I was tasked with coming up with a primary, lost gas and contingency plan for tomorrow's dive to the Lady Luck.
On Thursday morning we had a briefing, compared everyone's dive plans (at this point we had a Helitrox student join us) and set off on the dive. We started with the rear engine room compartment and then lower part of the engine room, followed by the upper part and then we exited through the smoke stack onto deck level. We followed the stairs up to the wheelhouse. I was testing out different fins and they made the whole experience more complex, especially as we were squeezing through these tight openings and stairs. I had to find new techniques for getting through restrictions (even door ways!) as the deco bottle was now in the way. Even more reason to streamline and this is where Jimmy's initial concerns and tweaks to my gear finally sunk in and paid huge dividends.
We went from the wheelhouse back down into the the forward compartments holds and performed more drills/skills. Then up to the deck where we again worked on my trim,, bottle trim, kicks and drills. As it nears our planned bottom time (and tank return pressures) we move slightly away from the wreck and deploy our DSMB's and start the ascent. As soon as we do, Jimmy turns the computer on my wrist so I can no longer see it. It's "broken" I had to get back to the surface based on my timer, depth gauge and slate only. Well, that's an unexpected surprise! But we did just that. The profile looks off, but it seems our average depth was a bit higher than planned. Still, pretty good, if I may say so myself
I'm now tasked with coming up with the plans for the next days' dives to the Miller Lite wreck. I was also told that I'll be in charge of running the dive! So here's the plan:
Friday, we again compared plans, picked what we're going to run, etc. One of the goals was also to test how narced I'd get and understand the feeling (spoiler, we didn't). We set off to the wreck. Did all the pre-dive checks, the captain lined us up for the hot drop and down we went. It was a nice easy descent. About 2-minutes to get to the deck at ~130ft. We explored the wreck and did more skills/tests (never enough of those!). After 10-minutes Jimmy turned over the reigns to me. I lead the team through the wreck and at around 27/28-minutes we made our way out of the wreck to deploy DSMB's. We ensured everything was done as a team and started our ascent. I had the team level off at 70ft for our gas switch. No problems across the board, so we went to our first deco stop. Stayed there until everyone was clear and kept on progressing further. ~50-minutes of decompression later we were out of the water and I'm told I pass. Woohoo! Here's the dive graph:
Here's a picture of my and bottle trim during our last deco... so happy with that, compared to where we started in the beginning!
So in conclusion, Jimmy has a very relaxed vibe about him, but he takes this extremely seriously. He's a perfectionist and he worked on so many little things with me. Both in terms of theory and physical execution. The above write-up isn't everything that happened, it's just the highlight reel. I appreciated Jimmy's rigor... I appreciate that he has high standards and he changed my diving configuration, technique and so on. This is exactly what I wanted from my instructor.... the training, not just a C-card. I got my ass kicked in multiple ways and and came out better for it. I wish these 5-days didn't have to end, I feel transformed as a diver (hopefully the pics/video's show this as well). From here on out it's more dives and more practice. Going to the Hydro tomorrow for dive #72... can't wait!!
Thanks for reading this far. Hope it helps others.
The short version is that I would absolutely recommend Jimmy for serious technical instruction. For the long version, read on...
The training consisted of 5 days (Monday through Friday). On Monday we had a classroom session to go over eLearning material. As I already knew all of it, we ended up doing a cursory review, but Jimmy also spent a lot of time 'deconstructing' my setup. He didn't like my butt plate... it had to go. He didn't like the LPI hose routing, so we fixed that. He changed the rigging of my AL72 deco bottle, so we changed that around. We also moved around the D-rings to prepare for the bottle and talked a lot about the theory of why everything must be streamlined, no entanglement points and so on. Initially, it felt like a blow, I mean I've been diving this setup for close to 8-months and had everything just right. But, I told him that it's his class, his rules and I want to learn the right way (he teaches DIR). Now that I know what I know, I'm so glad he did what he did.
I didn't realize this at the time, but Jimmy is incredibly accomplished in deep wreck penetration and cave diving. Here's an example of one of his dives, imagine getting stuck in that shaft at 200ft? Deadly. So, again, I appreciate (in hindsight) that he tore apart my gear configuration. It came in useful in our future dives...
Tuesday was our first dive, just so he can get an idea of how I dive and it's my first time carrying an AL72 bottle! We went to the Ancient Mariner Wreck (70ft) followed by a 90ft reef. We did some swim-throughs and he worked on my bottle trim. We did TONS of skills, he tested everything to make sure I can essentially continue: valve drills, S-drills, mask swaps, kicks, DSMB deployment, bottle handling, passing a bottle, dealing with two bottles, maintaining stops, random equipment failures, and so on. The first day he put me through my paces. Oh and everything had to be done while maintaining perfect buoyancy and trim. While testing he also kept making adjustments to me and my gear. I have several videos where he pointed out issues to work on. Here's on embarrassing video for reference:
It seems he was happy enough with how I performed, so on Wednesday we went to the Lady Luck Wreck. This was a 30+ minute decompression dive, followed by another deep reef.
Again, more testing, more drills, more failures to deal with and more skills. The most interesting one was to lead and be lead through the wreck with a long-hose deployment. That hose just isn't long enough! But great experience! Here's another sample video of the difference in trim and bottle placement. We still weren't happy, but it was better than before:
Carrying two bottles (better, but more tweaks needed):
After the dives we went back to the classroom. Normally this is where there would be a discussion about gradient factors, dive planning and so on. But because I already knew all of that, we just ended up going into much deeper theory, including normoxic and hypoxic trimix dive planning/theory, isobaric counterdiffusion and so on. I was tasked with coming up with a primary, lost gas and contingency plan for tomorrow's dive to the Lady Luck.
On Thursday morning we had a briefing, compared everyone's dive plans (at this point we had a Helitrox student join us) and set off on the dive. We started with the rear engine room compartment and then lower part of the engine room, followed by the upper part and then we exited through the smoke stack onto deck level. We followed the stairs up to the wheelhouse. I was testing out different fins and they made the whole experience more complex, especially as we were squeezing through these tight openings and stairs. I had to find new techniques for getting through restrictions (even door ways!) as the deco bottle was now in the way. Even more reason to streamline and this is where Jimmy's initial concerns and tweaks to my gear finally sunk in and paid huge dividends.
We went from the wheelhouse back down into the the forward compartments holds and performed more drills/skills. Then up to the deck where we again worked on my trim,, bottle trim, kicks and drills. As it nears our planned bottom time (and tank return pressures) we move slightly away from the wreck and deploy our DSMB's and start the ascent. As soon as we do, Jimmy turns the computer on my wrist so I can no longer see it. It's "broken" I had to get back to the surface based on my timer, depth gauge and slate only. Well, that's an unexpected surprise! But we did just that. The profile looks off, but it seems our average depth was a bit higher than planned. Still, pretty good, if I may say so myself
I'm now tasked with coming up with the plans for the next days' dives to the Miller Lite wreck. I was also told that I'll be in charge of running the dive! So here's the plan:
Friday, we again compared plans, picked what we're going to run, etc. One of the goals was also to test how narced I'd get and understand the feeling (spoiler, we didn't). We set off to the wreck. Did all the pre-dive checks, the captain lined us up for the hot drop and down we went. It was a nice easy descent. About 2-minutes to get to the deck at ~130ft. We explored the wreck and did more skills/tests (never enough of those!
). After 10-minutes Jimmy turned over the reigns to me. I lead the team through the wreck and at around 27/28-minutes we made our way out of the wreck to deploy DSMB's. We ensured everything was done as a team and started our ascent. I had the team level off at 70ft for our gas switch. No problems across the board, so we went to our first deco stop. Stayed there until everyone was clear and kept on progressing further. ~50-minutes of decompression later we were out of the water and I'm told I pass. Woohoo! Here's the dive graph:Here's a picture of my and bottle trim during our last deco... so happy with that, compared to where we started in the beginning!
So in conclusion, Jimmy has a very relaxed vibe about him, but he takes this extremely seriously. He's a perfectionist and he worked on so many little things with me. Both in terms of theory and physical execution. The above write-up isn't everything that happened, it's just the highlight reel. I appreciated Jimmy's rigor... I appreciate that he has high standards and he changed my diving configuration, technique and so on. This is exactly what I wanted from my instructor.... the training, not just a C-card. I got my ass kicked in multiple ways and and came out better for it. I wish these 5-days didn't have to end, I feel transformed as a diver (hopefully the pics/video's show this as well). From here on out it's more dives and more practice. Going to the Hydro tomorrow for dive #72... can't wait!!
Thanks for reading this far. Hope it helps others.
