Ditch and don

[dweeb]

Actually Dweeb, both bailout and doff & don are required for OW students in the YMCA program.

That's what I was trying to say, but when I inserted the parenthetical difference part, I forgot to finish editing the sentence.

 

[dweeb]

OK .. I never MADE my students do that .... but I have had open water students do a bail out in the pool ( jump in with all the gear in your hands and put it on )and the ditch and don

It was a small class and they were all very good - I had run out of things to do and they started asking me about the drills I was doing with my AI before their class - so I had them try

Those were the students who LEAST needed to do it. The students who might balk at it are the ones who stand to benefit the most from it. That's why it should be required.

 

[dweeb]

I think it is a kind of silly excercize.

It's actually very meaningful. It reveals whether you have control of the situation or vice versa.

 

[dweeb]

The last time I checked, panic avoidance was a real world skill. In fact, it may be the most critical, life saving skill any diver ever learns, it will save your life.

And task loading is one of the best ways to probe one's panic threshhold.

 

[dweeb]

I had so much fun with this I had a buddy time me. 1:25 to ditch, and 2:15 to don.......

Most students do the bailout in about 1 to 2 minutes. Then there was the class where half the students were in the same ROTC group, and competed on everything. They all did it in 1:00 to 1:30, but after they all decided they had done it as well as they could, one of the ladies in the class did it in 55 seconds. Amazing how they all suddenly were compelled to practice it more.

 

[dweeb]

Oh gimme a break Walter, it is an old fashioned technique that is adapted from military training and is designed to weed out the weaklings by having them fail in the pool.

Training and certification have two roles. One is to impart knowledge and skill. The other is to condition
access upon verified competence. If not for the second, there would be no need for tests, or any evaluation of skills.

As Walter pointed out, avoiding panic is an essential skill, and a sound training and certification process will
evaluate a student for a suitable ability to not panic when
stressed. Task loading, while not directly applicable to a defined diving situation, provides a safe way of evaluating this. Any person intimidated by doing a bailout should not be diving.

 

[DavidPT40]

Ok, how about the manuever shown in Jaws 4. If a Great White Shark is chasing you through a shipwreck, you take off your scuba tank, hold it inverted, and unscrew the nozzle. They still practice that in Open Water dont they? Or is that reserved for the Advanced Open Water?

 

[GDI]

The ditch and don skill is not used by many agencies anymore. It is a confidence building exercise. I think the best way for you to practise this is to start with a mask, snorkel, fins, booties and weight belt. Take a deep breath under control 2-3 times than descent removing the fins, weight belt and mask. I suggect you place the belt on top of the fins and the mask to ensure they stay down. Surface and tread water for a short period of time. Descend put on the weight belt then the fins (any order don't matter) then put the mask on your head the snorkel in your mouth. As you ascend clear the mask (boyles law will help you here) Since the snorkels today are not "J" tibes and have purge valves you will need to blast the snorkel clear as you break the surface. Keep your tongue in the snorkel as a splash guard slowly inhale and then blast again, now breath. Practise this until you can get it down. Now once you have it down move onto scuba. descend and place the fins down,and remove the scuba unit. place the weights (if not weight integrated) over the complete package. place the mask on top of the scuba unit. Shut air off and remove the reg from your mouth and place it on top of the scuba unit. Ascend exhaling to the surface. Tread water then descend, turn on the tank, clear the reg and breath, clear the mask. You may want to put the weights on before the mask either way is ok. replace fins then replace scuba unit. secure all equipment and surface. This was a basic skill requirement for ACUC certification. Practice it and it will come.

 

[GDI]

Now if you want to try some task loading stress exercises try this. Have two students blindfolded. Try to make sure the students are about the same size, but this is not critical. Start the students in a buddy breathing situation not alternate air sharing- buddy breathing. While buddy breathing have them remove their equipment and exchange it with their buddy. This is all done in the neutral buoyant trim position. All pieces of equipment except wetsuit and blacked out mask are exchanged. the results are interesting.

 

[dweeb]

Now if you want to try some task loading stress exercises try this. Have two students blindfolded. Try to make sure the students are about the same size, but this is not critical. Start the students in a buddy breathing situation not alternate air sharing- buddy breathing. While buddy breathing have them remove their equipment and exchange it with their buddy. This is all done in the neutral buoyant trim position. All pieces of equipment except wetsuit and blacked out mask are exchanged. the results are interesting.

We did a variation on this in our OW class - blacked out masks, one tank, buddy breathe across the bottom, switch rig to other buddy, BB and swim back, switch it back.