Deliberate task overloading for training.

[ScoobaChef]

I regularly practice worst case scenario's while handling multiple tasks (zero vis, towing a float, camera, under/over weighted, air bubble in the feet, etc) in calm shallow conditions with the help of a very attentive dive team.

The other day I was night diving and I lost my mask on descent in black water while while running a line to tie off the flag and attempting to video my buddy. After the first shock if the water hitting my face, I stopped my descent, stowed everything, continued down to get my mask and reset everything without really thinking about it and without my buddy(who was an arms length away) even having a chance to realise there was a problem.

so I was wondering if anyone else does their own stress training and if they find the same value in it that I do.

 

[AfterDark]

Diving is stress training. My last dive: I made a 200 yard surface run with my scooter toting my camera, flag and float. Secured the scooter to the float made my dive towing the float and scooter into an incoming current, took some pictures, tended the line to the float keeping 10' more than my depth of line out. My line is marked every 10'. After a SS returned to my scooter stowed my camera and made the return trip against an outgoing tide. Total time 1hour 45min / 70F surface temp / 64F @40FSW max depth / avg depth 25FSW / bottom 1hour 15 min. Really a typical solo dive for me.

 

[TSandM]

I don't do a lot of it any more, but I'll tell you that technical classes are all about exactly what you described. Tech instructors will load on failures and complications until you can't handle them any more. You learn a lot.

 

[DennisS]

We got the whole drill with stress training when I was YMCA trained in 1972 for the MDCC marine technician program. You would go down and knew it was coming. One person would grab your mask, another would be taking off your fins, someone else was releasing your tank. Someone would take your primary. There was a lot of harassment. Lesson learned. Make sure you hang on to your tank and second stage to breathe on, everything else is minor. Once you don't have air, it gets stressful real fast.

 

[Superlyte27]

I don't do a lot of it any more, but I'll tell you that technical classes are all about exactly what you described. Tech instructors will load on failures and complications until you can't handle them any more. You learn a lot.

It's the funnest part of what I do.

 

[ScoobaChef]

I don't do a lot of it any more, but I'll tell you that technical classes are all about exactly what you described. Tech instructors will load on failures and complications until you can't handle them any more. You learn a lot.

Guess that explains where I got into the practice. All of my instructors were either ex military, tech instructors or tech divers. Back in 89, I did my JOW thru Naui with an ex navy seal and boy did he pile it on. But after a 20 year gap of no diving, all the skills were still hardwired into my brain.

 

[beanojones]

I don't do a lot of it any more, but I'll tell you that technical classes are all about exactly what you described. Tech instructors will load on failures and complications until you can't handle them any more. You learn a lot.

All I can say about that is that Navy Divers who are experienced recreational divers are beyond boring to
do this with.

When you are trying to stress people with taks loading who had to routinely lose consciousness underwater in training, it's hard to get them task overloaded.

And absolutely amazing to see pure poise under insane amounts of stress. I had a DM gear exchange team with one side being such a diver, and the guy did not get the reg back for a minute and a half when the partner hung up on Mask R&R and never said boo. He even managed to keep streaming tiny bubbles for a part of it.

He just kept hanging the OK sign out behind his partner's head to reassure me that he was OK.

 

[corvettejoe]

I don't do a lot of it any more, but I'll tell you that technical classes are all about exactly what you described. Tech instructors will load on failures and complications until you can't handle them any more. You learn a lot.

Agreed!!

My instructors had their slates with pre-written problems on them. Some of them were "EVERYTHING IS BROKEN ALL AT ONCE RIGHT THIS SECOND OMG PANIC!!!!"... those were the fun ones to deal with LOL

Some memorable class-failures were:
Dragging my instructor up from the bottom of a spring with LP108 doubles in sidemount while unconscious. The extra weight was so heavy my fellow student buddy had to help as I didn't have enough lift to do it myself.

Another one was pulling my instructor out of the bottom of a cave to the surface while unconscious and doing safety stops.

One class dive involved my "mask failing" in the middle of a deco stop in a tight solution tube while I was "guiding" a tourist (my instructor)

The few people I dive with the most are also my instructor/mentors... there is hardly ever a dive where they don't mess with me (knock my mask off, unclip something, turn a valve off, try to clip random stuff on me without noticing, take things off me without noticing, etc). Sometimes I come out of a dive with a few of my clipped off items missing, only to find them on my buddy LOL. You become VERY aware and alert on subsequent dives. I'm pretty comfortable to the point they stopped messing with me.

I was so used to it that by the time I did higher technical courses, it was all just muscle memory to fix a problem. It made me a much better diver for it.

 

[dfx]

Our OWD class included some drills like that. The toughest one was called "blackout doff and don with harassment". You were blindfolded (still had the mask on though) and took off all your gear. As you started to put it all back on, the instructors started to "harass" you... loosen straps, drag you around, toss you over, turn off your air. Completion was optional as this was basic OWD, but it was on the course program nonetheless.

 

[Dive Bug Bit Me]

My biggest challenge was my deco class. The instructor had me count down each minute of simulated deco with hand signals while maintaining position in the water column. Wasn't allowed to miss one minute through each ascent. Add in a few multiple failures, lost mask, gas, etc and this became challenging.

Learnt a ton.