ANDP drills to practice in sidemount

[Tigerpaw]

I have completed e-Learning for ANDP and I will be doing the open water portion in January. Besides buoyancy and finning, what are some skills I can practice so I can be more efficient AND be ready to do my open water. I'm assuming valve drills is one of the skills, what are some others?

Oh, my setup is two AL80's for sidemount and then I'll be adding two AL40's for simulation of O2 and deco gasses. I'm also assuming removal and reinstalling the 40's would be a drill as well.

 

[Valerii Vakshul]

Entering the water with a RIB/entering the water from the shore/entering the water with a JAPM deck

 

[lermontov]

do a search - plenty of discussin on this

Advice on TDI Advanced Nitrox and Deco Procedures training

Hello folks, I'm considering doing the TDI ANDP (Adv Nitrox + Deco Procedure) First, seeking advice on the appropriateness. I am an recreational diver who used to live in Oz (Australia) but have relocated to Taiwan. I had the opportunity to do the TDI Sidemount course when I went home to Oz...

scubaboard.com

if you can hold your position in column of water while shooting an SMB and moving tanks form one side to the other then youll be fine

get your head around the maths do lots of calculation and scenarios - the more you are prepared around the planning etc the more youll absorb on the course

youll be asked to shoot an smb at the 21m mark ( or some predetermined depth ) make sure you get the smb out and are ready to launch before you get there so there a smooth transition -dont get to the mark and fluff around fro 5 minutes getting organised

 

[inquis]

I'm also assuming removal and reinstalling the 40's would be a drill as well

And dropping them (intentionally), which requires buoyancy/wing adjustment. By using wing and lungs you can be very smooth.

When dropping a full bottle, I vent the wing to descend, larger breath to halt descent, drop/clip off the bottle (becoming positive), and finally exhale back to neutral and hopefully normal breathing range.

As I pick up a bottle, I again use a larger than normal breath while inflating the wing until I'm positive and the bottle lifts. Then exhale, hitting neutral and normal breathing range at the same time.

 

[happy-diver]

Here is the only skill you need, for diving that is!



A skill I would love to have is to play that music

 

[lermontov]

Here is the only skill you need, for diving that is!



A skill I would love to have is to play that music

yeah you need to practice those upside down tricks - youll use them all the time

 

[Tigerpaw]

And dropping them (intentionally), which requires buoyancy/wing adjustment. By using wing and lungs you can be very smooth.

When dropping a full bottle, I vent the wing to descend, larger breath to halt descent, drop/clip off the bottle (becoming positive), and finally exhale back to neutral and hopefully normal breathing range.

As I pick up a bottle, I again use a larger than normal breath while inflating the wing until I'm positive and the bottle lifts. Then exhale, hitting neutral and normal breathing range at the same time.

Is the variance allowed 3ft? Dropping tanks and picking them up, gonna practice that this weekend for sure! Thanks.

 

[kensuf]

The skill I see most ANDP students struggle with is SMBs, yet it's really critical in Florida where most of the deco involves drifting.

I'd focus only on the core skills (buoyancy, managing your sidemount rig/reg swaps, shooting an SMB) and skip anything more advanced until you get to class. The worst thing you could do is to practice skills, but do so incorrectly, thus needing to break bad habits and be retaught.

 

[DiveLikeAMuppet]

The skill I see most ANDP students struggle with is SMBs, yet it's really critical in Florida where most of the deco involves drifting.

I'd focus only on the core skills (buoyancy, managing your sidemount rig/reg swaps, shooting an SMB) and skip anything more advanced until you get to class. The worst thing you could do is to practice skills, but do so incorrectly, thus needing to break bad habits and be retaught.

This and situational awareness.

You should be able to execute basic diving skills such as swap regs, deploy DSMB, ascent as a team, play with your computer, write into wetnotes and so on while maintaining full awareness of where you are in relation to your team, what your team is doing and where you are in relation to your environment.

You can learn handling stages on the course, you can't learn situational awareness quickly. Nothing worse than disappearing into your own little blissfully ignorant bubble while deploying a DSMB... Meanwhile what other people see is you finning in a cloud of silt because you were right next to a quarry slope, slowly drifting upwards and turning your back to the team, completely unaware of the fact that your teammate just had a freeflow and you are about to hit a training platform with your head.

 

[GF99/99]

I have completed e-Learning for ANDP and I will be doing the open water portion in January. Besides buoyancy and finning, what arehy some skills I can practice so I can be more efficient AND be ready to do my open water. I'm assuming valve drills is one of the skills, what are some others?

Oh, my setup is two AL80's for sidemount and then I'll be adding two AL40's for simulation of O2 and deco gasses. I'm also assuming removal and reinstalling the 40's would be a drill as well.

Don't forget to review your theory, this is usually where most people struggle.

For actual skills main things I have seen people struggle with is the simple things. Main one is basic buoyancy.

• Maintaining buoyancy while doing a task. Very important because you will need to hold a depth at multiple deco stops. Practice doing things in the blue. Best way is to send up an SMB and clip your reel off let it go so its just hanging and use this as a visual reference so you know if your floating or sinking. Now with your reel hovering a meter or two front of you practice doing task (can be anything really its just for practice) Remove and replace your mask, unclip and re-clip things from your butt d-ring/pouch, pulling your wet notes out and write down a note or draw a picture just to task load yourself, unclip and remove a tank then clip it back, etc. etc. . If you can have a friend film you and review the video, it helps alot when you can see your self. It is always surprising to many people when in there head they are doing great but then when they seem a video of themselves they realizing they flapping around like crazy. Most common thing I have seen is everyone is always a little to positive so they are head down (can't see there buddy) feet up kicking/flapping around to keep themselves down while trying to do a task.
• Fumbling START drills. Might seem silly but write it down on your slate then practice with a friend out loud.
• As simple as it may sound; fumbling around trying to remove things/put things back from your butt d-ring or pouch. Practice/get that muscle memory of where to reach and how to manage your equipment (especially with pouches)

For non physical skills:

• Understanding decompression theory
• Understanding physiological issues; gas density, Hypoxia, Hyperoxia, Hypercapnia, O2 tox, CNS, OTU's, etc.
• Gas management; MOD calcs, SAC rates, gas used, turn pressures/way points, loss of gas etc.