dotyj
Contributor
Hi all:
I finally got to wear gear today and practice pool session #1.
I discovered that I need help putting on everything except booties, mask, and regulator.
I wore a shorty wetsuit that was a medium large and was actually a good fit. No problem.
My friend Tim showed up to talk with the instructor. Tim will be my primary dive buddy so it was felt that he should be brought up to speed on what I'm doing so Tim will join in around my fifth pool dive.
I put the booties on then climbed out of my powerchair and sat on the floor to setup my gear. I had trouble getting the tank strap tight and needed help with it. Not what I could call a great start. I then checked for the O-ring on the tank and connected my first stage. I had no trouble laying everything out and putting the first stage on the tank. I pointed the SPG away from everyone and slowly opened the tank valve. No leaks, I did it right.
I put the primary regulator in my mouth, exhailed and inhailed a few times to test it. Having nothing to compare it to all I really knew was that I could breathe but it took a tad (Nothing bad or scarey) bit of effort to inhail. Seemed fine to me though, and was as it turned out.
I then put the shorty wetsuit on, with a bit of help and then had help putting the weight belt on.
Later today, Tim said it was a 12 pound weight belt. I said I couldn't lift it though. I've lifted 12 pounds before. He then said it was 12 pounds per side. I don't know if that is right, but it could be. I really couldn't lift it.
We started with less weight but my friend Tim told my instructor that I'm a cork in the water so my instructor grabbed a heavier belt.
Anyway I was able to walk on my knees comfortably with the weight belt on. "Not bad", I thought.
I sat at the edge of the pool and Tim and my instructor put the fins on my feet. I freely admit that my legs don't flex as well as I'd like so I couldn't reach well enough to do more than slip my feet into the fin pockets. The straps had to be completely re-adjusted to accomodate my small feet. The booties I wore were size 5.
The fins were the split fin style. When I was finally in the water I found that they propelled me pretty well for my first attempt and were easy on the legs, hips, and ankles.
I then put my mask on after applying some anti-fog stuff on the insides of the lenses. I had a bit a trouble lifting my arms over my head to do this, but that was because of the wetsuite. I was able to do it though so I figured at least I could replace a dislodged mask when I need to.
I then had the bcd strapped on and adjusted. In hindsight we should have done this in the pool. We didn't get a very good fit adjustment wise and I didn't know since I'd never worn one before.
My instructor did a final predive check and briefing. Then I was told to partially inflate my bcd, put my right hand against my regulator and mask, lean forward and slip into the pool.
I partially inflated my bcd. Anyone who knows me knows that my hand size is nearly as small as my foot size so I don't have much finger reach, but I did put the palm of my hand over the regulator and my finger tips over my mask. I slid forward as far as I could then leaned over forward and fell into the water.
To those who remember my post last week, I was wrong about the depth of the pool. It's only 6.5 feet deep. I'm not a great judge of distance.
Two things happened at that time. One, I effortlessly slid into the pool. Two the bcd was really loose and floated behind me. This totally prevented me from becoming vertical. I didn't give the I'm okay signal because I wasn't sure that I was. I took a very hesitant drag off the regulator turned and headed to the edge of the pool. I grabbed the edge of the pool but couldn't pull myself vertical with the bcd loose. But the instructor was right there, I was breathing normally and I knew I was okay.
The instructor got into the pool. I failed to signal something was wrong. I admit to being a bit overwhelmed but managed to pull my face out of the water, take the regulator out and tell her I was unable to get vertical. My instructor quickly got me vertical and corrected my bcd fit problem in just a few seconds.
I was still having trouble staying vertical so the instructor showed me how to use my body to keep myself vertical.
We went over the hand signals and we were ready for a quick swim.
The instructor gave the thumbs down, I gave okay, raised my bcd purge valve over my head, pressed the purge button and down I went. Very freakin' weird.
We swam near the bottom with the instructor right next to me. I was reminded to equalized my ears. We practiced turning and had a fun time before going back to our staging area where I was signaled to go up.
My class session was different than a standard class session from here on out. I can stand in shallow water no less than three feet deep, but not with my knees straight or my feet flat so we did ALL of todays skills in the deep water.
We practiced the two methods used to retrieve a lost regulator, we practiced removing and replacing the regulator, we practiced using the alternate regulator, we practiced mask clearing. In fact I had to clear my mask on the very first swim around the pool because... Yup I've got a mustache. My poor cheesey mustache may have to go. I didn't mind having to constently clear the mask in the pool, but I don't want to work that hard on my open water dives.
My instructor had the alternate regulator on the bcd so I used the instructor's primary for practicing the OOA scenerios. The hose was a tad short but I did great.
My instructor had her primary regulator out in front of me when I practiced finding my regulator by following the hose from the first stage in case I got into trouble. My arms are short so I wasn't able to lift my tank to help, but I found that I was easily able to reach the hose off the first stage and follow it to my regulator. What's funny and a good lesson for me today is that I ran out of air to blow before I had the regulator in my mouth. I wasn't worried since my instructor was right there with a regulator right in front of me though. This meant though that I had to use the purge button to clear my regulator and I did a great job with the purge button, but I forgot to block with my tongue. Yup, I had a mouth full of water. I then blocked with my tongue pressed the purge button again, swallowed the very little bit of water I had left in my mouth then inhailed slowly, blasted the regulator and inhailed again before giving the Okay sign.
We surfaced a few times between exercises. On one decent I let too much air out of my bcd and and tagged the bottom. No big deal. I probably had too much weight on. On one ascent I put too much air in the bcd and popped up like a cork. My instructor warned me to do things a litte at a time. I told her I knew I'd gooofed and that I would try to be more careful. Not a big deal in six and a half feet of water.
After all the lessons we took a couple of more swims. I'm learning to be more horizontal and getting a feel for it. I really need to work on my buoyancy though. I ended up doing pushups on the bottom of the pool a couple of times. I could have crawled around the pool at that rate.
Next week I'm going to try a different bcd. I had real trouble pressing the fill and purge buttons on my bcd. My finger strength sucks.
I was in the water nearly two hours total. I used about 700psi of air. I had about 2300psi left when we finally hit the edge of the pool to doff the gear.
I need to find out if I can put a weight belt on so that the buckle is on the right hip. with all the gear on I couldn't reach the release to remove the belt. I could only just touch it.
I also need a bcd with larger or easier to press shoulder releases. I did okay with the chest release and had a bit of trouble with the waist release.
I got the belt off, with help and my instructor put it on the edge of the pool. Boy was I buoyant. By this time I was having a much easier time remaining vertical.
I got the left shoulder of the bcd the waist and the chest straps released and slid right out of the bcd. That was easy.
I raised my feet and my instructor removed my fins.
I climbed out of the pool and disassembled my gear was was shown how to clean verything up.
I need help getting the wetsuit off but it went well.
I didn't like the mask I wore. Not enough perifrial vision to keep me happy. It was like having tunnel vision. I'll try a different mask next week.
The gear was effortless to cart around in the water. I'm slowly getting comfortable with it. The gear felt very constricting and unwieldy out of the water and the bcd felt a bit constrictive in the water at first but remained quite comfortable and not bad to wear at all.
I'll need lots of work with buoyancy. I keep rollercoastering. Pretty fun but not very useful.
I feel bad for anybody who's clausterphobic. I can see where scuba diving can make a clausterphobic person nervious.
I don't know if this is normal, but with all the gear on I felt somewhat removed from the water. Almost as if I was watching the bottom of the pool on TV. Is that normal? Dangerous? I don't know.
My next session is at 9:30am this coming Saturday 10/12/2002. I'm ready to go!
I finally got to wear gear today and practice pool session #1.
I discovered that I need help putting on everything except booties, mask, and regulator.
I wore a shorty wetsuit that was a medium large and was actually a good fit. No problem.
My friend Tim showed up to talk with the instructor. Tim will be my primary dive buddy so it was felt that he should be brought up to speed on what I'm doing so Tim will join in around my fifth pool dive.
I put the booties on then climbed out of my powerchair and sat on the floor to setup my gear. I had trouble getting the tank strap tight and needed help with it. Not what I could call a great start. I then checked for the O-ring on the tank and connected my first stage. I had no trouble laying everything out and putting the first stage on the tank. I pointed the SPG away from everyone and slowly opened the tank valve. No leaks, I did it right.
I put the primary regulator in my mouth, exhailed and inhailed a few times to test it. Having nothing to compare it to all I really knew was that I could breathe but it took a tad (Nothing bad or scarey) bit of effort to inhail. Seemed fine to me though, and was as it turned out.
I then put the shorty wetsuit on, with a bit of help and then had help putting the weight belt on.
Later today, Tim said it was a 12 pound weight belt. I said I couldn't lift it though. I've lifted 12 pounds before. He then said it was 12 pounds per side. I don't know if that is right, but it could be. I really couldn't lift it.
We started with less weight but my friend Tim told my instructor that I'm a cork in the water so my instructor grabbed a heavier belt.
Anyway I was able to walk on my knees comfortably with the weight belt on. "Not bad", I thought.
I sat at the edge of the pool and Tim and my instructor put the fins on my feet. I freely admit that my legs don't flex as well as I'd like so I couldn't reach well enough to do more than slip my feet into the fin pockets. The straps had to be completely re-adjusted to accomodate my small feet. The booties I wore were size 5.
The fins were the split fin style. When I was finally in the water I found that they propelled me pretty well for my first attempt and were easy on the legs, hips, and ankles.
I then put my mask on after applying some anti-fog stuff on the insides of the lenses. I had a bit a trouble lifting my arms over my head to do this, but that was because of the wetsuite. I was able to do it though so I figured at least I could replace a dislodged mask when I need to.
I then had the bcd strapped on and adjusted. In hindsight we should have done this in the pool. We didn't get a very good fit adjustment wise and I didn't know since I'd never worn one before.
My instructor did a final predive check and briefing. Then I was told to partially inflate my bcd, put my right hand against my regulator and mask, lean forward and slip into the pool.
I partially inflated my bcd. Anyone who knows me knows that my hand size is nearly as small as my foot size so I don't have much finger reach, but I did put the palm of my hand over the regulator and my finger tips over my mask. I slid forward as far as I could then leaned over forward and fell into the water.
To those who remember my post last week, I was wrong about the depth of the pool. It's only 6.5 feet deep. I'm not a great judge of distance.
Two things happened at that time. One, I effortlessly slid into the pool. Two the bcd was really loose and floated behind me. This totally prevented me from becoming vertical. I didn't give the I'm okay signal because I wasn't sure that I was. I took a very hesitant drag off the regulator turned and headed to the edge of the pool. I grabbed the edge of the pool but couldn't pull myself vertical with the bcd loose. But the instructor was right there, I was breathing normally and I knew I was okay.
The instructor got into the pool. I failed to signal something was wrong. I admit to being a bit overwhelmed but managed to pull my face out of the water, take the regulator out and tell her I was unable to get vertical. My instructor quickly got me vertical and corrected my bcd fit problem in just a few seconds.
I was still having trouble staying vertical so the instructor showed me how to use my body to keep myself vertical.
We went over the hand signals and we were ready for a quick swim.
The instructor gave the thumbs down, I gave okay, raised my bcd purge valve over my head, pressed the purge button and down I went. Very freakin' weird.
We swam near the bottom with the instructor right next to me. I was reminded to equalized my ears. We practiced turning and had a fun time before going back to our staging area where I was signaled to go up.
My class session was different than a standard class session from here on out. I can stand in shallow water no less than three feet deep, but not with my knees straight or my feet flat so we did ALL of todays skills in the deep water.
We practiced the two methods used to retrieve a lost regulator, we practiced removing and replacing the regulator, we practiced using the alternate regulator, we practiced mask clearing. In fact I had to clear my mask on the very first swim around the pool because... Yup I've got a mustache. My poor cheesey mustache may have to go. I didn't mind having to constently clear the mask in the pool, but I don't want to work that hard on my open water dives.
My instructor had the alternate regulator on the bcd so I used the instructor's primary for practicing the OOA scenerios. The hose was a tad short but I did great.
My instructor had her primary regulator out in front of me when I practiced finding my regulator by following the hose from the first stage in case I got into trouble. My arms are short so I wasn't able to lift my tank to help, but I found that I was easily able to reach the hose off the first stage and follow it to my regulator. What's funny and a good lesson for me today is that I ran out of air to blow before I had the regulator in my mouth. I wasn't worried since my instructor was right there with a regulator right in front of me though. This meant though that I had to use the purge button to clear my regulator and I did a great job with the purge button, but I forgot to block with my tongue. Yup, I had a mouth full of water. I then blocked with my tongue pressed the purge button again, swallowed the very little bit of water I had left in my mouth then inhailed slowly, blasted the regulator and inhailed again before giving the Okay sign.
We surfaced a few times between exercises. On one decent I let too much air out of my bcd and and tagged the bottom. No big deal. I probably had too much weight on. On one ascent I put too much air in the bcd and popped up like a cork. My instructor warned me to do things a litte at a time. I told her I knew I'd gooofed and that I would try to be more careful. Not a big deal in six and a half feet of water.
After all the lessons we took a couple of more swims. I'm learning to be more horizontal and getting a feel for it. I really need to work on my buoyancy though. I ended up doing pushups on the bottom of the pool a couple of times. I could have crawled around the pool at that rate.
Next week I'm going to try a different bcd. I had real trouble pressing the fill and purge buttons on my bcd. My finger strength sucks.
I was in the water nearly two hours total. I used about 700psi of air. I had about 2300psi left when we finally hit the edge of the pool to doff the gear.
I need to find out if I can put a weight belt on so that the buckle is on the right hip. with all the gear on I couldn't reach the release to remove the belt. I could only just touch it.
I also need a bcd with larger or easier to press shoulder releases. I did okay with the chest release and had a bit of trouble with the waist release.
I got the belt off, with help and my instructor put it on the edge of the pool. Boy was I buoyant. By this time I was having a much easier time remaining vertical.
I got the left shoulder of the bcd the waist and the chest straps released and slid right out of the bcd. That was easy.
I raised my feet and my instructor removed my fins.
I climbed out of the pool and disassembled my gear was was shown how to clean verything up.
I need help getting the wetsuit off but it went well.
I didn't like the mask I wore. Not enough perifrial vision to keep me happy. It was like having tunnel vision. I'll try a different mask next week.
The gear was effortless to cart around in the water. I'm slowly getting comfortable with it. The gear felt very constricting and unwieldy out of the water and the bcd felt a bit constrictive in the water at first but remained quite comfortable and not bad to wear at all.
I'll need lots of work with buoyancy. I keep rollercoastering. Pretty fun but not very useful.
I feel bad for anybody who's clausterphobic. I can see where scuba diving can make a clausterphobic person nervious.
I don't know if this is normal, but with all the gear on I felt somewhat removed from the water. Almost as if I was watching the bottom of the pool on TV. Is that normal? Dangerous? I don't know.
My next session is at 9:30am this coming Saturday 10/12/2002. I'm ready to go!
