Cold water diving is a PITA
- Thread starter billt4sf
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have billt4sf take fundies right now. After which, he would be able to tell you exactly what I'm trying to get across.
Oh, come on now. There's no need to turn another thread into one of those...
I'm not a GUE instructor, and I'm certainly not some kind of zealot. Neither are the vast majority of GUE divers I know. I am a GUE diver, and a PADI DM, amongst a variety of other things. Knowing our local GUE instructors, I don't think that anybody - including them - would suggest that now is the time for Fundies in this situation. I do think it's a very valuable course, and I would absolutely recommend it (or something similar) to most people at some point, but only when those people are at a point where they can get the full benefit from it.
The most important things are to be safe and have fun, and that's the priority right now.
It sounds to me as though Hepcat is doing precisely what these folks need right now. They need a bit of help getting their equipment dialed in -- and he's totally right; the downside of a harness is that it takes a bit of fussing to get it just where you want it, and the upside is that once you have it there, you will never have to adjust anything again -- and they need, more than anything else, bottom time. I vividly remember my first summer of diving, and I had many of the same frustrations they have. But I had one big thing going for me, because I bought all my own gear immediately out of OW, so I wasn't paying horrendous rental fees for anything, AND I had the same gear on me for every dive, so that variable was out of the picture. Sounds like Bill and Emily are working on that, and it will help.
Having taken Fundies with a colleague who had 8 dives, and one who had 16, I'd be the first person to say that, if you want to convince someone to give up diving, especially cold water diving, put them in a Fundies class too early. It's a skills REFINEMENT class, not a "Let's try to figure out how not to turn turtle" class.
Having taken Fundies with a colleague who had 8 dives, and one who had 16, I'd be the first person to say that, if you want to convince someone to give up diving, especially cold water diving, put them in a Fundies class too early. It's a skills REFINEMENT class, not a "Let's try to figure out how not to turn turtle" class.
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Thanks, Lynne. Yes, that was precisely my point.
A lot of student and instructor frustration could be avioded if SOMEBODY, ANYBODY would start divers out with a class whose only goal would be to dial in each student with respect to trim and reasonable buoyancy control. There should be a formal procedure to address each of the many variables so that the process becomes comprehensible to the new BP diver. Diving is easy if you can hang motionless, in trim, for at least 30 seconds.
Diving is also easy if you thrash about in constant motion to overcome shortcomings in pitch, yaw, and roll.
"Hanging in trim" is frustrating beyond words if your only option is to use sheer determination to overcome physics.
Love this! Beautifully put.
OP
billt4sf
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That's sure. We are *extremely* appreciative of the time and effort that Brian spent with us!
I agree with you, Lynne. We are not going to take a Fundies class now. Even if we felt we were ready, which we do not), we don't have the money. So no worries there!
Try this:
Here's a short experiment: whatever you're doing right now, reach your left hand to a few inches directly above your left shoulder. Did you do it? I bet your pinky is higher than your thumb. At least mine is. So why do gear designers put the deflate valve at the higher end of the BC inflation hose (where your pinky finger is naturally)? Yes, I can turn my hand around so my thumb is at the top -- but it's not a natural position. Now try all this, and press a small button (assuming that you never forget which button is for which) with 5 - 7mil gloves on. You'll never convince me that this is optimal design. It's poor human-interface design. Very surprising for divers that revere safety and pride themselves on having standardized gear that is "right". to my mind, that inflation hose should have the buttons restructured and the hose itself should be firmly attached just above your shoulder, probably to the harness, so it's always in the same place and you don't have to look for it or fumble with it.
Frankly (and I know this is sacrilege in some quarters) this is one of the reasons I bought my i3 jacket BC. (The other reason is because I hate weight belts -- still do.)
- Bill
Raise your hand as if you are holding a drink and your thumb will be at the highest point. This is the natural position for most of the divers I know and comes from years of practice.
elmer fudd
Contributor
The only difference between diving cold water and warm water is one of degree, (pun unintentional). You just need more of everything to dive in cold water. More suit, more lead, more wing, more air, etc...
That can be kind of overwhelming at times. I really don't like drysuits myself. I find them constrictive, slow and awkward and I don't like all the lead I need to wear in order to sink them, but when you're diving down to 100' in 45 degree water they beat the snot out of being chilled to the bone. Being the guy that's thumbing the dive because you can't stop shivering just isn't cool.
The solution here is to dive wet when you can. I think the water temperature in Monterey averages about 55 degrees doesn't it? For dives up to 60' on a warm day that's perfectly manageable with a good 7mm wetsuit. Do that and you can lose half your lead as well as forget about managing the air bubble in your drysuit. You'll also find that you will move more easily in the water and feel much sleeker.
That can be kind of overwhelming at times. I really don't like drysuits myself. I find them constrictive, slow and awkward and I don't like all the lead I need to wear in order to sink them, but when you're diving down to 100' in 45 degree water they beat the snot out of being chilled to the bone. Being the guy that's thumbing the dive because you can't stop shivering just isn't cool.
The solution here is to dive wet when you can. I think the water temperature in Monterey averages about 55 degrees doesn't it? For dives up to 60' on a warm day that's perfectly manageable with a good 7mm wetsuit. Do that and you can lose half your lead as well as forget about managing the air bubble in your drysuit. You'll also find that you will move more easily in the water and feel much sleeker.
eelnoraa
Contributor
Try to operate the deflate botton using your index finger, not your thumb. It is very natural to place index finger on top of the deflator button. As for locating the inflator, it should be held nearby your left chest d-ring is by bungee. And if you have to look for or fumble with the inflator, I think your corrogated hose is too long. Also, to deflate the wing using the deflator is usually during initial descent. Once in water, 90% of the time, venting is through rear dump.
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