lord1234
Contributor
First off, let me thank people who helped me specifically. From this board: Jbliesath, 113b3y(or some such), silpe, b30, and i am sure i miss others. Other people: bob sherwood of course, steve, nick, dennis, and mark.
Now the class:
I got to dutch early so that I could get tickets for all the stuff I need such as air/entry. Day 1 started with an introduction followed by a long discussion of equipment configuration. This last for a while and then we went in the water in 3buddy teams for our first dive. This dive was purely looking at our trim/bouyancy and propulsion. Me and my buddy team of Dennis and Tom went down for this dive. I knew I was going to have issues since I was a relatively new diver, and had no idea how dennis or tom would perform. First Bob showed us the propulsion techniques followed by us attempting to reproduce them. My frog kick looked like a dolphin kick, my flutter was good, and my back kick was not there at all. The helicopter was half a dolphin kick...bad. Did I mention that my trim and bouyancy was way off...yea.
So then we went to watch the video at the comfort inn. Gosh did we look horrible. I was waaaaay overweighted. By the end of the week in fact, I had lost 10 lbs. I don't think I know anyone wearing 12lbs around here with a 7mil wetsuit(including my BP). We were at the comfort till around 11ish at which point I had to leave to be able to get some sleep for the next day.
Day2:
We showed up a little down. I was upset with myself for being that bad, and felt like a ninny. Then I figured out that I was here to learn so I needed to relax more. This helped with my general spirits and with my buddy team we discussed the upcoming dive. On this dive we were supposed to follow a small "obstacle course" set up under water where you were to display certain skills. As we moved through the propulsion skills I felt good. Our team was sticking together and having good communication. Things were going great. My bouyancy/trim wasn't as bad. Then we got to the helicopter turn. The entire dive turned to S_H_I_T. We got confused as to who was going and lost control. Me especially being the least experienced diver had some serious bouyancy/trim control. Finally having (unsuccessfully) completed the course, we went on to the Basic 5. Here is where my team "died". Every single one of us exceeded the MOD. We lost control and were taken by bob over to the platform to practice there instead of continuing on.
The next dive saw us spending more time on the platform. Practicing skills, me and my buddies practiced basic 5 and nothing else before being taken up. Nothing really exciting on this dive, except with bob's help I was finally able to properly seat my weight belt and achieve proper trim/bouyancy.
After these dives we went to the hotel for more lecture/video discussion.
Day 3:
My buddy team showed up to dutch with renewed enthusiasm. I was psyched because I knew that after the first 2 dives, we had all improved considerably and were getting better each time. This time we once again went to the 27' platform and practiced all our drills. Basic 5, S-Drill, and Valve. This dive went much better.
dive 5:
Again more practice around the platform, this time without being on top of it. Me and my buddy team did much better.
Once done with this we went to a restaurant for some dinner, followed by me driving from allentown to lowell, MA in 5 hours...
Overall, a total of 17 hours of sleep, otherwise all time spent at dutch. I was completely impressed with the class teaching style.
Did I pass? No. Just a provisional for now.
also as a side note: Birdie(i think thats what you said your name was on here, I lost your pm, drop me another one)
Now the class:
I got to dutch early so that I could get tickets for all the stuff I need such as air/entry. Day 1 started with an introduction followed by a long discussion of equipment configuration. This last for a while and then we went in the water in 3buddy teams for our first dive. This dive was purely looking at our trim/bouyancy and propulsion. Me and my buddy team of Dennis and Tom went down for this dive. I knew I was going to have issues since I was a relatively new diver, and had no idea how dennis or tom would perform. First Bob showed us the propulsion techniques followed by us attempting to reproduce them. My frog kick looked like a dolphin kick, my flutter was good, and my back kick was not there at all. The helicopter was half a dolphin kick...bad. Did I mention that my trim and bouyancy was way off...yea.
So then we went to watch the video at the comfort inn. Gosh did we look horrible. I was waaaaay overweighted. By the end of the week in fact, I had lost 10 lbs. I don't think I know anyone wearing 12lbs around here with a 7mil wetsuit(including my BP). We were at the comfort till around 11ish at which point I had to leave to be able to get some sleep for the next day.
Day2:
We showed up a little down. I was upset with myself for being that bad, and felt like a ninny. Then I figured out that I was here to learn so I needed to relax more. This helped with my general spirits and with my buddy team we discussed the upcoming dive. On this dive we were supposed to follow a small "obstacle course" set up under water where you were to display certain skills. As we moved through the propulsion skills I felt good. Our team was sticking together and having good communication. Things were going great. My bouyancy/trim wasn't as bad. Then we got to the helicopter turn. The entire dive turned to S_H_I_T. We got confused as to who was going and lost control. Me especially being the least experienced diver had some serious bouyancy/trim control. Finally having (unsuccessfully) completed the course, we went on to the Basic 5. Here is where my team "died". Every single one of us exceeded the MOD. We lost control and were taken by bob over to the platform to practice there instead of continuing on.
The next dive saw us spending more time on the platform. Practicing skills, me and my buddies practiced basic 5 and nothing else before being taken up. Nothing really exciting on this dive, except with bob's help I was finally able to properly seat my weight belt and achieve proper trim/bouyancy.
After these dives we went to the hotel for more lecture/video discussion.
Day 3:
My buddy team showed up to dutch with renewed enthusiasm. I was psyched because I knew that after the first 2 dives, we had all improved considerably and were getting better each time. This time we once again went to the 27' platform and practiced all our drills. Basic 5, S-Drill, and Valve. This dive went much better.
dive 5:
Again more practice around the platform, this time without being on top of it. Me and my buddy team did much better.
Once done with this we went to a restaurant for some dinner, followed by me driving from allentown to lowell, MA in 5 hours...
Overall, a total of 17 hours of sleep, otherwise all time spent at dutch. I was completely impressed with the class teaching style.
Did I pass? No. Just a provisional for now.
also as a side note: Birdie(i think thats what you said your name was on here, I lost your pm, drop me another one)
