Practice with induced task loading?

[TrimixToo]

One of my instructors had a deck of cards. On each side of every card was a simulated emergency. He'd just cascade them until you failed, over and over, until you could be 2-3 deep and not fail. It was a great exercise in prioritizing the right responses first.

 

[TMHeimer]

Then there is the old "throw everything to the pool bottom and go down and put it on" drill. Probably keeping weight belt on (or not?). Wetsuit/shorty on to begin with as well (though putting that on uw may be good Warhammer practice).
You may not be ready for this task yet but maybe after a while.

 

[txgoose]

After I wrote my post I got called away from the computer for the evening. I apologize for not being more engaged.

Thank you all for the replies. I should have known that it would escalate and be more daunting than I imagined. Blackout/no mask seems a million dives away, but I get it. I think that I could end a dive without my mask but haven't practiced that. It might need to be tested this weekend. I am not at all confident that I could maintain much trim/buoyancy with a blacked out mask. Skills left handed seems easy, but then I haven't had to do it, have I? I'll give that a go. Two pounds light on weight seems horrid. I'll give that a go as well. The playing cards with multiple failures may have to wait until next fall if I have to address them in decent trim. But again, I can see the value in learning stress management and failure prioritization. I do actually practice a bit of DSMB work. I am trying to stop taking a big breath before inflation. I tend to inhale and rise. which I assume is a bit stereotypical. working on normal breaths during deployment.

I have probably missed a post in my reply, that is not intentional. I'll be re-reading and incorporating some of these tests in small chunks, slowly building up difficulty. Thank you all for some great replies and ideas.

 

[rongoodman]

 

[Mosseltje]

When in perfect trim roll over and try to trim while looking up (belly up).

 

[txgoose]

When in perfect trim roll over and try to trim while looking up (belly up).

I tried this a little bit in my first open dive of the year. My wife wanted to rise above the thermocline and I was wanting to avoid us doing a slow drift to the surface. So I did this for a couple of minutes. I held it together for a about a minute, but then I got task loaded trying to maintain and keep track of my buddy with the upside down perspective. I couldn't keep track of both her rising and falling and my rising and falling with the new perspective. I'll work on that some more in the pool. (Eventually just watched my computer but it wasn't nearly as fun.)

 

[northernone]

"Do any divers that practice various skills have ways that they make it more challenging during said practice?"

-Snip-

Thank you all for the replies. I should have known that it would escalate and be more daunting than I imagined.

It's all fun and games until:

 

[txgoose]

It's all fun and games until:

Bahahaha! I shoulda seen that one coming.

 

[taimen]

Great buoyancy and nice trim. Can't do that myself (yet )
I always envy guys demonstrating skills, even gas switches etc. with bare hands, in wetsuits and without hoods.
Add a drysuit, thick drygloves and a 6 mm hood. Suddenly Basic 5 has more task loading.

 

[Landau]

OK here's milder one:

Assuming the pool is big enough. Practice navigating with the compass and kick cycles. Put a small coin on the bottom. Do out and back, square, rectangular and triangular patterns (or whatever works for your pool) to get back to it. Don't cheat by looking at the coin on the last leg. How close can you get.

It's surprising how much looking at the compass will mess up buoyancy when you aren't used to doing it.