Being THAT person

[lavachickie]

In November I was that woman, sorta. I'm probably in the top 1% of women divers based on BMI. I'm a big girl. The feeling of water at the base of my nose freaked me out. The drysuit freaked me out. The lack of visibility freaked me out. (I didn't panic, but I felt very clearly that it could case panic in an already stressful situation.)

It's now May, I'm at 30some dives (about half cold water in PNW, about half on dive trips to Cozumel and Maui) and comfortable in my gear and doing well -- making some advancement or learning something with each and every dive. I should note I'm also 40 lbs lighter, my core is a hell of a lot stronger (gearing up in drysuit and other cold water gear, then walking a block to the entrance point will do that). I'm more excited about diving than ever, and appreciate both cold and warm water for their own reasons.

You've gotten lots of great responses here. I can't add much. I'll summarize my big points:

1. After finishing the OW class, you have but the start of the skills and tools you need. I expected to emerge from training with some sense of mastery. *bwahahahaha* You must go out and USE them. Find other divers willing to dive with you, as a newer diver, to support you and assist you. Be aware that there's a HUGE difference between a fantastic diver, and a fantastic diver that has the personality of a mentor. Find the latter.

2. So you're big. Who cares. Do your time, study your theory, practice your skills and become a kick ass diver. Amaze the other people on the boat. Break through their stereotypes and rock their world. I've seen a LOT of divers do this, and plan on doing that myself. (I've already done it a small bit... and its awesome.) As this sport focuses you more on your physical body, you might see changes happening. I can tell you that my weight loss has been fairly easy, and has had AMAZING results. A little can go a long way.

3. As you improve, your weight needs will reduce. I have shed almost ten pounds of lead for cold water diving since my OW certification. Yes, I was overweighted then, but I got to a point where I felt property weighted, then it was clearly too heavy for the same gear configuration after a few weeks.

4. Stay on Scuba Board! I can't tell you how much I've learned here. Keep reading books about diving. Keep taking certifications and trainings.

5. Get involved in your local dive community. Go to meetings. Hang out at the shop. Sign up for dive buddies on other online boards. Link up with divers on Facebook.

6. Relax. Overall, this should be fun. We all progress at our own speed. You will find your place, and you'll have great advancements and then things that happen which humble you. It's just how it goes. Roll with it. Learn with it. Enjoy it!

7. Slow down. It's said often on here that the best divers are often the ones who take things the slowest. And it's true. Slow and controlled is the name of the game. If you think you're going slow enough... then still slow down. =-)

Amy

 

[Indian Valley Scuba]

PM sent, check out our offer.

 

[kanonfodr]

While I wasn't that guy in quite the same way (I only weigh 120 lbs) I had my learning curve that I am still working my way over. A great mentor/instructor can do wonders for you, it did for me. Regular diving with divers more experienced than yourself will do wonders as they can not only provide constructive criticism about your diving, many of them tend to dive as an example to others.

As for size vs. air consumption: One of my preferred buddies has me outweighed by a fair margin (I won't compare directly) but if we were to dive similar tanks he would drown me, all while looking infinitely more controlled in the water. You can go ahead and start a cardio training program, it definitely won't hurt, but honestly you just need to go diving.

Case in point: I was a huge air hog at first, and I can run 8.3 miles without stopping and finish in under 65 mins, so I would say that my cardio fitness is above average. I just wasn't comfortable in the water. It wasn't until I ran into some good local divers that could mentor me in a few areas that I started calming down.

You would be surprised at how breathing correctly or incorrectly can improve your total performance as a diver. When I start breathing harder, it becomes harder for me to hold trim and stay neutral. But if I'm breathing slow and relaxed, both trim and neutral bouyancy feel like a warm blanket; so natural and comfy.

So in closing; find a mentor, dive regularly, and pay attention to your breathing.

Peace,
Greg

 

[Quero]

The same DI was really patient with me. He was about my size, so he understood many of my issues.

This being the case, my suggestion would be to use this guy as a resource. Book additional coaching sessions with him, for example, and get him to sit down with you at a computer and help you research weight harness systems.

Once you've done a couple of practice dives with this instructor or another mentor and have solved some of the easily-fixable stuff (like re-tightening your weight belt once you get to depth, punching a hole in your hood to let trapped air escape, etc.), get together with some other divers for some purely fun dives. Look for a club through your LDS, local college, or join some SB divers on their trips. Generally speaking, experienced divers in those kinds of settings are quite ready to take a newbie under their "pectoral fins". Once you're a more experienced diver, you can play it forward!

 

[Herk_Man]

If you would be willing to make the drive to Washinton Pa some evening or weekend when I am not diving or teaching I would be happy to meet with you at the shop where I do my pool sessions. There is another instructor there who also uses a DUI weight harness that is usually at the pool hanging up. If it is not I'm sure I could get him to leave it there for an evening. And if not we have several BIG bc's. I would be happy to go over some basic weighting and trim with you. Would probably be looking at about 3 hours in the pool and then I will be hitting Mt Storm a few times in the next couple months.

Any time I'm there I'd let you know and we could get in a dive or two somehow. The cost to you would be 30 bucks for the pool session plus your time and effort. The dives at Storm would be gratis as long as you have your own gear. I hate to see divers that did not get out of their OW classes what they should have. I cannot though bring myself to penalize them for that. After that it would be up to you to decide what direction you wanted to go. If you want to do some formal classes fine. If not that's ok as well. All I ask is that if not, you take what you learn initially and practice every chance you get. And let me know from time to time how it is going for you.

And I am totally serious about this. See my website for contact info. Oh and one other thing that $30 bucks. Would come off the cost of any future course.

You know (and Jim, please don't be offended by this, I've hit the Thanks button for you plenty of times) I've frequently been a little upset at Jim about the gruffness of his posts and his criticism of more abbreviated dive instruction courses. I believe that there is a market and a consumer that are right for those types of courses.

However, I'm right with Jim on this one. Whoever signed you off (and this is not a slam on you) did you a great disservice. If you are that uncomfortable with your skills and have that much trouble with buoyancy, and you are in the possession of a dive card that now grants you the ability to rent gear and dive all over the world without supervision, then in my opinion, that operation failed you. Just because they say they certify people in 4 days doesn't mean they always should. Some people are not as at ease in the water as others. You, by your own admission (which takes guts), are one of those people.

If you have the time, I'd take Jim up on his offer. From what I've learned about him in reading his posts, I think he is just what you need to really get where you need to be to enjoy this great sport.

 

[Herk_Man]

Buoyancy control in a 7mm wetsuit is difficult in to 10 to 25 foot depth range. If you start ascending, you will ascend quickly as the air bubbles in the wetsuit expand. If you start descending, you will descend quickly as the air bubble compress.

Once you get below 25-35 feet, and the 7mm wetsuit is compressed more, you will find it easier to manage your buoyancy and dial-in your weight.

You are also needing so much weight to sink yourself and all that thick neoprene at the surface that you might be overweighted at depth.

What are your options?

Try carrying a little less weight - you might find it necessary to actually turn vertical and swim downwards to get below the surface. Once you swim deep enough - about 10 feet of so - your wetsuit will compress enough that you'll start sinking without having to swim downwards.

Also, if you're going to wear that much neoprene (7mm or more) try staying a little deeper where your wetsuit will be adequately compressed, and you don't have those large swings in garment buoyancy with changing depth.

Finally, if you need that much neoprene because of the cold, try switching to a drysuit. You'll no longer have to deal with a garment that changes buoyancy with changing depth, like a wetsuit.

And nothing says you have to put air in your BCD to ascend. Just swim up a little bit. If the cells in your wetsuit are what are creating too much buoyancy on the way up, then let them do the work for you. If you achieve neutral buoyancy at depth and just use your fins to go up a bit, the rest should start taking care of itself.

 

[drrich2]

I'm 6'1" & just under 285 #; I used to weigh around 355 #. When I did the OW course, put a wet suit on me & I was shaped like a bowling pin, and no way Jose was that weight belt going to stay around my mid-section. I ended up girting it up over my stomach, and slowly but uncontrollably pivoted.

The weight integrated BCD is my friend; if you tried to hand me a weight belt today, I'd give you a dirty look!

Now, you've got a lot of good advice, and since you've just come out of training and dealt with buddy checks and what not, my next bit may sound redundant. Take it for what it's worth. It follows on which some of what TSandM told you about panic.

Panic and drowning often go together in deaths, from what I understand. If you learn to keep your cool, you will probably survive your dives. One of the best things you can do to help yourself do that is to always have air, and know you have air. Most anything you run into in the water can be dealt with if you stop, relax, think it through and then act on your plan. So, 3 tips to make sure you always have (& know you have) plenty of air:

1.) After you gear up, before you giant stride off a boat or walk in for a shore dive, take a small breath off your regulator.

2.) Puff a little air into your BCD.

1.) & 2.) are because it's real easy to forget to turn your air on, or took hook up your inflator from Reg. to BCD. That last can also happen if you go to Bonaire & get used to your reg. & BCD being hooked up all day for shore diving so you don't have to keep re-hooking the inflator every time, but then you break down your gear that night to wash it, then gear up the next morning & forget to reattach the inflator.

3.) Learn to VERY OFTEN check your SPG & watch your air.

Think about it; one of your best opportunities for panic is to giant stride off a boat into the ocean or a lake, heavily weighted, plummet below the surface, suddenly find yourself sinking & unable to breath or inflate your BCD, with the surface retreating from view, and if you exhaled, you're probably sinking & picking up speed. Make it a very deliberate habitual part of your dive prep. routine, and it can help keep you safe.

Now, maybe everybody does that every time & it's too basic to mention, but I thought it was worthwhile.

Richard.

 

[JohnB47]

There is a lot of good information in this thread. But one thing that I did not see mentioned has to do with low volume masks. When I learned to dive, about 40 years ago, the masks had a single flat lens in front of your face. There were some recesses in the bottom of the rubber part to pinch your nose, but there was some space in front of your nose. If you were in a horizontal swimming position, and your mask leaked a little, your nose was not soaking in the water. Last year, when I started diving again after a long "surface interval," I found that most masks today are the low-volume kind. Most of them are really uncomfortable for me because I have a somewhat large nose. Also, if these masks leak at all, your nose is in the water! I finally found one that does not leak much. However, the other thing that you could try is to get an old-school type mask that has plenty of room in front of your nose. It will take longer to clear your mask, but you will not be soaking your nose in water every time you get a little water in your mask. And if you have trouble with your mask fogging up, you can leave a little water in the mask so that you can swish it around to clear the fog. You may not be able to find those kind of masks in your LDS, but they are available on-line, often quite cheap. You might give this a try, and later progress to a low-volume mask when you feel more comfortable in the underwater environment.

 

[senseiern]

When I say I panicked, I don't mean the "OMG! I gotta get to the surface!"-shedding my wieght belt and inflating the BCD asap, kid of panic. I mean, the DM was moving from mask removal and reseat to navigating out 60' and back using the compass, and I felt if I did that without getting to the surface to make sure my mask was set, I may panic on the navigation.

So, I headed to the surface first to get the mask set. I probably could have done the nav, which was the last test without surfacing, but I felt it better to do what I needed to relax before pushing the comfort zone.

I have practiced in a pool quite a bit, removing and reseating the mask, but this was my first time with gloves and a hood, so I was learning as we tested.

Because of the criticisms towards the DM I won't mention his name.

As for getting a card without really being ready, I am well aware of the dangers, and will not go diving on my own...I probably won't do that no matter how good I get...and won't think myself more skilled than I am. The card just allows me to get gear whenever a dive opportunity comes up.

I won't dive with anyone who hasn't had a lot of dives, and will make completely clear that my dive buddy knows I am not pushing myself very much until I get more dives in. I plan on diving with only people who are very experienced until I get comfortable.

I passed the tests. But, I know I am not super-diver.

Rather than trying to make someone online happy by acknowledging how inexperienced I am, those that criticize will just need to wait the two years that most new divers make fatal mistakes, we'll just need to wait and see what happens. I have more skills and a better understanding that 99% of the world's population. I have a greater desire than many divers to get out and dive. And, I have a healthy respect for the underwater world to keep from making dumb moves.

 

[BarrelRoll]

senseiern,

I just wanted to congratulate you, honestly.

The biggest thing about "that guy" as you put it is that he typically causes everyone else grief, and feels entitled to do so, but most importantly he has no idea that he's being "That guy".

The fact that you're aware of the phenomenon and are consciously striving to not be that guy is extremely commendable.

Deep breaths, stay calm, keep learning!