Diving in Central Kentucky??????

[Mitchell Hamm]

Thanks! and yeah, i heard that, but I did it fastest, better though cause i did each one about 5 times to end the same time as everybody else.

 

[Land Locked]

Yep, slow and easy Mitch, this is not a speed sport. Diving at the Denver aquarium last year the one skill we had to pass before the dive in the shark tank was a full mask flood. I haven't done it in years.....it was well worth going back and re-visiting a skill I had not practiced in a long time, never know when someone may fin you in the face!

 

[tstormdiver]

Thanks! and yeah, i heard that, but I did it fastest, better though cause i did each one about 5 times to end the same time as everybody else.

I bet you heard that from your instructor. He/ she is wise & telling you that for the exact same reasons I posted before. Skills in diving is not a race against the clock or the other divers, it is to show you that you can survive underwater, under almost any circumstances. Not to be taken lightly. Like I said before if you take a moment to think through (but don't over think it) the skill you're doing, you are bound to find some ways that will make that technique work better for you. I know & understand completely that you are excited about learning a new & very cool sport . You're absorbing everything like a sponge. I'm the same way. I've come a very long way in 3 1/2yrs from an Open Water student like you, all the way to an Open Water Instructor & now a beginner Technical Diver, but it has been with a lot of hard work, lots of dives & slowing down & taking the time to make sure my skills are just right. You'll do just fine in your course, Mitch, not much doubt on that. Have fun!

 

[tstormdiver]

Diving at the Denver aquarium last year the one skill we had to pass before the dive in the shark tank was a full mask flood. I haven't done it in years.....it was well worth going back and re-visiting a skill I had not practiced in a long time, never know when someone may fin you in the face!

Your story, Chris, reminds me of last year. I hadn't practiced breathing off a free flowing regulator since my initial Open Water course, almost 3yrs before. My Instructor Trainer/ Certifier had us to do the skill again for our course, as that is 1 thing he wants taught, since a free flowing regulator is a fact in the colder waters around here. 2 weeks later in my Adv. Nitrox class, I had my secondary regulator (my primary was shut down for a drill & I couldn't easily reach it because of stiffness from the cold & thick undergarments) started free flowing at 95 ft. I had to breathe it all the way to the surface. If it hadn't been for reviewing that skill a couple of weeks before, I would have probably freaked & bolted for the surface & failed the course. But all was well, I kept my head, got to the surface safely, got everything back under control, then went right back down to do my (simulated) deco.

 

[Mitchell Hamm]

so, a free flowing is when the air is flowing unregulated by your breathing? It's when it just keeps going and you arnt controlling it? oooooo, sounds cool. and Ill deff try to slow down tomoro. thanks all!

 

[Land Locked]

Free flow should be part of your o/w training Mitch....

 

[tstormdiver]

Yes, Mitch, when a regulator free flows, it give a continuous stream of air. Regulators of today, if the they fail, will fail open. They will give you too much air instead of no air. You can not keep the regulator in your mouth when this happens because there is too much air pressure for your lungs. it takes a little bit of a technique to breathe off of it. I my case, I bumped the purge valve of my secondary regulator I was breathing off of, which started the chain reaction. In the 42 degree (air is colder when it comes out) water at that depth, it froze (iced up inside the first stage regulator) open & started free flowing.

 

[Mitchell Hamm]

Yeah, i know Chris, just asking because you all are much more personable than my instructor... (no personality, glad he doesnt hav a full face mask, happy i cant hear him underwater). I was just checking. lol

 

[tstormdiver]

Yeah, i know Chris, just asking because you all are much more personable than my instructor... (no personality, glad he doesnt hav a full face mask, happy i cant hear him underwater). I was just checking. lol

Typical teenager....... He'd probably think the same thing if I were his instructor. LOL!

 

[Mitchell Hamm]

Hey! im not typical! lol, nah! i like you, haha