Anyone up for doing some drills with me?

[pacificgal]

And you can do a closed valve check while sitting in your living room, without the risk of drowning.

 

[andrewy]

Come on guys and gals dont kick him out of sand box yet. All he wants to do are some drills
Fuzzy drills are good, we do them all the time., but only in controlled environment with people you really know capable of helping and not panic. 3 people is much better too. Its GREAT that you want to learn more, this board and people here are great help , dont mind the critique. Everyone being constructive here.
Talk to GUE or UTD folks they will set you straight, take fundies or essentials sooner , they will teach you how to dive, not just how to breath and swim underwater , also get on list to dive week before and week after christmas as our office is closed

 

[pacificgal]

Shouldn't you be learning the skills before doing drills with them?
We learn the skills in a controlled environment before taking them out to the ocean with an instructor to do them and show proficiency in cold water/low viz etc.
Without having learned the skills yet, what are you trying to drill?
It seems you're trying to get a rescue class/essentials class by simply doing drills with people who have taken the classes. Some of this stuff should really be taught by an instructor, don't you think?

 

[Hepcat62]

I thought about writing a line-by-line response to your reply, but the wacky quoting made me give up. Here's the high level version...

Simulations are simulations. Emergencies are emergencies. In my understanding of the universe, if you fairly completely replicate an emergency, you have an emergency. In at least some of the cases you listed - by my estimation - you are not doing simulated drills. You are triggering emergencies. You are, perhaps, incrementally more in control of the situation for having triggered it at a known time. In some cases, you've specifically said that you are expecting somebody to trigger it at an unknown time. These are emergencies - not simulations. That is why training regimens that involve those types of exercises are so closely (both physically and mentally) observed - rescue is sometimes a necessary outcome.

Let me give you an example, using your runaway drysuit inflator "drill". If you limit yourself to practicing disconnecting and reconnecting the hose under normal inflation, that's a solid drill. You're practicing a motion, such that you can do it smoothly and calmly. Muscle memory DOES work under pressure, even if you didn't acquire it under pressure, so long as you're aware enough to remember that there's a solution (which is an entirely different skill unto itself).

If you actually intentionally significantly overinflate your drysuit to the point where there is real time pressure to react, then there are two options...

1. You manage to control the situation in time, and we're both safe
2. You fail to control the situation in time, and you rocket to the surface

I guarantee you that if option #2 occurs, I am NOT following you. I am NOT trying to stop your ascent. Frankly, even if I wanted to stop you, it would be extraordinarily difficult, and the most likely outcome is that I put myself in danger too. The extent of my involvement would be to make an expedited (but safe) ascent, and attempt to rescue you on the surface. There is no "clean up and try again". There is no drill. We had a genuine emergency, and hopefully you avoided the worst outcome.

Take a rescue diver course. Take a UTD Essentials or GUE Fundamentals style course. All of these courses will help give you a foundation for thinking about diving safety in a proactive, conscious way. I appreciate the fact that that's precisely what you're trying to do, but I think you need to see how some very experienced divers who take safety and preparedness VERY seriously approach the problem.

If you don't want to be proactive about safety for yourself, be proactive about it for the random person in the ocean you might need to be prepared to help. If you're a victim, you can't be a rescuer.

Just my 2c...

 

[rdjiv]

Some of the items you mentioned they perform in BUD/S training for the Navy Seals and there is ALWAYS an instructor or 2 right on top of the student to assist if they panic or struggle.
:zen:

Agreed.

Fuzzy - run out to the local recruiter and enlist to be a Navy diver.
Welcomd to NRD San Francisco

Once at dive school, you can do drills till you are blue in the face.
YouTube - Navy Dive School - Scuba Class 06010
https://www.netc.navy.mil/centers/ceneoddive/ndstc/CommandInfo.aspx?ID=2

Or if you think you can do better, try out BUD/S. Just keep in mind that it's more than the dive phase. Who knows, you might be able to use your free-diving skills to catch yourself a meal at SERE school.

 

[aquaregia]

imulations are simulations. Emergencies are emergencies. In my understanding of the universe, if you fairly completely replicate an emergency, you have an emergency. In at least some of the cases you listed - by my estimation - you are not doing simulated drills.

Stolen for sig.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

I'll look into the UTD and GUE courses, but I'm not going to be able to do them until after January since I'll be out of the country. The original reason I posted this was just to get people to do drills with me and to practice what I've already been doing on my own (obviously not the ones that require a buddy). But removal of BCD underwater, above the surface, removal of mask, doing things blind, drysuit drills, CESA, etc, I've all been doing by myself and did not think they were that dangerous. Just would like a buddy because it feels kinda sad just doing it alone. Now something like removal of all your gear at 130ft to give to a buddy and then doing a free ascent to reach a stage bottle at 50ft... that's something I wouldn't be entirely comfortable with with no buddy.

Really, I didn't think it would become that big a deal.

 

[Splitlip]

edit:

Never mind. All I saw was the thread title.

 

[ChadK]

That was a good video

 

[divad]

. Now something like removal of all your gear at 130ft to give to a buddy and then doing a free ascent to reach a stage bottle at 50ft... that's something I wouldn't be entirely comfortable with with no buddy.

Why would you do that?