thevalkyry
Queen of the Turtles
First let me say that, physically, this class kicked my butt!! I have never been so tired in my life.
On the overall, I would say that my biggest take home message from this class is sort of like when I first had my breakthrough about neutral buoyancy. Dont just wear your equipment, use your equipment. I am a strong swimmer and very comfortable in the water. But just because I am capable of treading water with a gazillion pounds of scuba equipment on doesnt mean I should. In the middle of a rescue skill I often dont remember to inflate my own BC until my leg starts to cramp. And as Eric says, you only want one problem in the water at a time.
During pool work, when trying to capture a panicked diver the instructor yanked my regulator out of my mouth because I got within reach of her flailing arms. Trying to apply the lesson learned I was trying to stay further off when I did this in the lake. So my grasp was weaker and he turned on me. WOW! Talk about a transfer in panic. So again - use your equipment. It's not like I couldnt have dropped down where he wouldnt follow me. I did better on my second attempt, but I really think that is something I need to do a few more times. But grrrrr; the competitive-perfectionist in me is still chewing her liver over not getting it right the first time.
Bringing someone up is much easier. Especially if their power inflator is working
. But hauling someone to shore is less easy. Dragging someone up from 32 feet down and then 50 feet out was taxing - that's what left me barely standing.
The instructors headed out for a fun dive post-class. Normally, I would have been all over that, but I just cringed at the idea of all that gear. As it was it took me almost an hour to gear down even dealing with everything in bite-sized peices...
Final thought - so glad this is a group activity.
On the overall, I would say that my biggest take home message from this class is sort of like when I first had my breakthrough about neutral buoyancy. Dont just wear your equipment, use your equipment. I am a strong swimmer and very comfortable in the water. But just because I am capable of treading water with a gazillion pounds of scuba equipment on doesnt mean I should. In the middle of a rescue skill I often dont remember to inflate my own BC until my leg starts to cramp. And as Eric says, you only want one problem in the water at a time.
During pool work, when trying to capture a panicked diver the instructor yanked my regulator out of my mouth because I got within reach of her flailing arms. Trying to apply the lesson learned I was trying to stay further off when I did this in the lake. So my grasp was weaker and he turned on me. WOW! Talk about a transfer in panic. So again - use your equipment. It's not like I couldnt have dropped down where he wouldnt follow me. I did better on my second attempt, but I really think that is something I need to do a few more times. But grrrrr; the competitive-perfectionist in me is still chewing her liver over not getting it right the first time.
Bringing someone up is much easier. Especially if their power inflator is working
. But hauling someone to shore is less easy. Dragging someone up from 32 feet down and then 50 feet out was taxing - that's what left me barely standing. The instructors headed out for a fun dive post-class. Normally, I would have been all over that, but I just cringed at the idea of all that gear. As it was it took me almost an hour to gear down even dealing with everything in bite-sized peices...
Final thought - so glad this is a group activity.
