ANDP drills to practice in sidemount

[DirtFish]

Wow, so you pretty much removed all tanks, hovered and reattached with a 2ft variance. OK, great challange and I'll practice this for sure. I'm a firm believer in practice and being prepared. So is the 2ft variance the standard?

Yes, for my class the +-2ft. was mandatory. Also to clarify, my instructor sent me a video of him doing all of the skills and how he wanted them done. He also wanted me to send him videos of me practicing the skills so he could comment on what I was doing right and wrong. Since he was half way around the world from me this gave me a chance to practice before we met in Curacao for the class. He was very shall we say "no nonsense and precise" in a GUE sort of way, which is why I picked him.

 

[Tigerpaw]

I use them all the time inside of shipwrecks and mexican caves. You miss half the view if you always look down and in front.
Barrel rolls and upside down swimming are pretty common for me.

Oh wow that's legit? I thought it was a joke. I've done it in open water just goofing off but I'll give it some serious consideration now.

 

[Scuba_Sonya]

Great to hear you're progressing with your ANDP e-learning and preparing for the open water portion! You’re definitely on the right track by thinking ahead about skills to practice.

 

[Tracy]

Oh wow that's legit? I thought it was a joke. I've done it in open water just goofing off but I'll give it some serious consideration now.

It isn't something covered as part of a course, but yes I frequently turn upside down while diving. I like to look at everything.

 

[happy-diver]

Yeah I've often dived with whales above me, or going up upside down with my fins piercing the surface first
or the ocean putting me wherever it likes, also swimming upside down furrowing the bottom, with my head

 

[happy-diver]

So bloody easy in warm water...

Yeah man and I moved from warm climate diving to being wrapped up like you, there is something wrong with me

 

[Tigerpaw]

It isn't something covered as part of a course, but yes I frequently turn upside down while diving. I like to look at everything.

I tried it today at the end of practice!

 

[halocline]

Right now I'm planning on practicing with my two SM tanks which are AL80's and two AL40's. SO maintaining buoyancy with those tanks should be a good start?

If you haven’t done any stage diving, I would spend a decent amount of time practicing with your SM AL80s and one additional AL80 as a stage. Getting comfortable switching between the stage and SM tanks, dropping and picking up the stage, etc…is something you’ll be relying on all the time. It took me a lot of practice to get fluent at re-attaching the AL80 stage to my drop D (I have a razor). Once you’re pretty good with the clumsiness and off-balance of having 2 AL80s on your left and one on your right, managing the smaller deco bottle should be a lot easier.

 

[Tigerpaw]

If you haven’t done any stage diving, I would spend a decent amount of time practicing with your SM AL80s and one additional AL80 as a stage. Getting comfortable switching between the stage and SM tanks, dropping and picking up the stage, etc…is something you’ll be relying on all the time. It took me a lot of practice to get fluent at re-attaching the AL80 stage to my drop D (I have a razor). Once you’re pretty good with the clumsiness and off-balance of having 2 AL80s on your left and one on your right, managing the smaller deco bottle should be a lot easier.

WOW,............OK, interesting. So why use one AL80 instead of 2 for stage cylinders? Is it because you have to work up to it? Oh and what's a good depth to practice at, 20ft, 30ft?

 

[Tracy]

As somebody that teaches this course, I would recommend you go the other way. Part of the course is how to carry and work with a deco bottle. Practicing with it before hand isn't going to help if you are practicing it incorrectly.
Practice diving in the rig you will use. Practice the various kicks, work on motionless stability. These are all pre requisites to that course.
Showing up to an advanced level course without the prerequisite skills will turn your ANDP course into an intro to tec course. Being able to carry stages and deco cylinders isn't something you need to demonstrate on the first day.