Tuesday evening, I was checking out a new moderately high end grocery store near here. While walking the aisles (and chuckling sadly at some of the stuff that must be there just so scientifically illiterate people can feel smug as they waste their money), I came across a Norwegian brand of bottled water: VOSS. Well, it just so happens that one of our DM course's instructors uses "VOSS" all the time as an acronym for "Value, Objective, Sequence of events, and Summary", which make up the framework of teaching the in-water skills. Seeing a nice cylindrical glass bottle with VOSS in big letters down the side was just too much, so I bought him a bottle.
So, at lunch yesterday, I dropped by the shop and presented him with his very own bottle of VOSS. He was thoroughly enthused, and it's now on his desk in the shop. Of course, nothing is ever so simple as dropping off a bottle of water, eh? While I was there, he noted that the currently-running Rescue course had moved their pool session up to this week (it had been scheduled for next week). He called the other DM candidate on the spot, and we moved our class to last night (Wednesday instead of the usual Thursday).
The pool was fun, although I'm *really* looking forward to being able to use my new mask. My almost-as-high-volume-as-a-HydroOptix mask has become too annoying. Of course, since it's a prescription mask, there is that little problem. To deal with that, as of last Saturday, I now have (disposable single-day) contacts on order. I'm a glasses person by nature, but I've worn contacts before, and being able to see topside and below *and* have a very nice frameless low-volume mask will be very pleasant, indeed. (And using single-day disposables means I don't have to worry about losing them. Que sera.)
Anyway, we did a bunch of things in the pool (practicing all the skills, both as "student" and "teacher"). My compadre may be a bit rustier than I (especially since he hasn't assisted with any classes yet -- I learn lots of wrong ways to do things by watching students
), but he's coming along nicely enough. I've worked with several classes now, so I've had plenty of opportunity to internalize all the usual stuff, but I'm still polishing (and when my contacts come in, there will be *much* rejoicing -- the mask is wonderful already, even if I can't see while wearing it :biggrin
.
Oh, by the way, my back kick has actually started to work *much* more consistently! I was just puttering around while the other guy did the unconscious diver on the bottom drill several times (so, he's a little out of practice), and I finally seem to have discovered how to do a back kick *properly*. I have to keep it up, of course, but I was actually going consistently in the right direction, and I seem to have finally found the "feel" of a properly done back kick. (Once you find the feel, you can build muscle memory, or at least that's how I seem to work.)
After everything was over, we made our way out and geared down (hehe, that sounds funny, but it's *got* to be the opposite of gearing up, eh? :biggrin
. Everyone was just about out of the building, and the shop van was already running. The instructor asked me if I had everything so he could turn out the lights.
It was then I jumped.
I asked him when I'd get a chance to do more of the watermanship skills, specifically the 900-yard snorkel in 18 minutes or less (which is the longest-time, most endurance-based skill I have left). He asked me when I wanted to do it, and I said I'm game whenever. He asked if I wanted to do it tonight; was I ready? I said I couldn't really tell whether I was ready or not until I tried. Good enough.
So, he shut off the van and got his iPhone (which has a stopwatch, of course), and I grabbed my split fins (purchased off eBay *specifically* for just this one skill, although I can use them for other things if I want
). I had two instructors, the other DMC, and some other guy forming my audience of four, and after a few breaths to get my pace figured, I was off and kicking.
I've done my share of 20+ mile day hikes, and the most important thing to do is to settle into your natural pace and then just keep going. As long as you keep a pace, you can go quite a bit farther than you *feel* you can go. This was quite a bit shorter, of course, but the same general idea. By about the second lap or so, I'd settled into my pace, and from there on, it was just a robotic march to the finish. (I look straight down, except at the turns, as looking ahead makes you aware of how far you have to go each length.)
I kept count on my right hand, one to five fingers, then a fist for six, repeated three times. Trying to count in your head doesn't work too well, at least for me. (I lose count and end up going quite a bit extra, as I always round down if unsure.) As I made the turn to the second half of the second-to-last lap (counting a lap as two lengths), I signaled out of the water above my back, "Time, Question, 1." My usual buddy would have easily understood ("What's my time going into the last lap?"), but nobody on the surface seemed to have a clue (or so they said later). I figured there was no point to sprint a full lap (two lengths) without knowing I needed to, so I kept my set pace going until the final turn. Then I went all in on a final sprint to the wall (no point in leaving anything in the tank, eh?).
I hadn't practiced the snorkel swim itself, so I didn't really know what to expect, time-wise. I figured it would at least give me an evaluation of where I was, if I was over the limit. I didn't try to push myself to go faster, choosing instead to simply take my natural pace and go with it, since I can keep that pace up almost indefinitely (although having a drink would be nice after each 700 yards or so of hard snorkel breathing). Anyway, I stuck my head up and waited for my time... which came in at 15:59.
(I'd say that's acceptable for a cold-turkey swim after a long night in the pool, especially since I wasn't trying for speed.)
So, another night done, and another skill scratched off the list. I still have the tows, of course, but they're more like "power sprints" than true endurance, at least the way I see them. I look forward to polishing them all off.
Next week's class was moved as well. We're finishing up with chapter 18, "The Business of Diving", on Monday evening. That'll wrap up the classroom portion of the course, except for the final exam, which we'll talk about Monday. We've still got however much pool work we end up doing, of course, and working at least two checkout dive trips. My first of those will be not this weekend but the next. I've already worked two basic classes (and more), but I'll sign on for the April one as well (hopefully my little brother will get in that one, since he's now wanting to get in on diving). The second checkout trip this year will be at the end of April, so that might be the final cog in the machine for me. It certainly looks like we're heading in to the final stretch.
So, at lunch yesterday, I dropped by the shop and presented him with his very own bottle of VOSS. He was thoroughly enthused, and it's now on his desk in the shop. Of course, nothing is ever so simple as dropping off a bottle of water, eh? While I was there, he noted that the currently-running Rescue course had moved their pool session up to this week (it had been scheduled for next week). He called the other DM candidate on the spot, and we moved our class to last night (Wednesday instead of the usual Thursday).
The pool was fun, although I'm *really* looking forward to being able to use my new mask. My almost-as-high-volume-as-a-HydroOptix mask has become too annoying. Of course, since it's a prescription mask, there is that little problem. To deal with that, as of last Saturday, I now have (disposable single-day) contacts on order. I'm a glasses person by nature, but I've worn contacts before, and being able to see topside and below *and* have a very nice frameless low-volume mask will be very pleasant, indeed. (And using single-day disposables means I don't have to worry about losing them. Que sera.)
Anyway, we did a bunch of things in the pool (practicing all the skills, both as "student" and "teacher"). My compadre may be a bit rustier than I (especially since he hasn't assisted with any classes yet -- I learn lots of wrong ways to do things by watching students


Oh, by the way, my back kick has actually started to work *much* more consistently! I was just puttering around while the other guy did the unconscious diver on the bottom drill several times (so, he's a little out of practice), and I finally seem to have discovered how to do a back kick *properly*. I have to keep it up, of course, but I was actually going consistently in the right direction, and I seem to have finally found the "feel" of a properly done back kick. (Once you find the feel, you can build muscle memory, or at least that's how I seem to work.)
After everything was over, we made our way out and geared down (hehe, that sounds funny, but it's *got* to be the opposite of gearing up, eh? :biggrin

It was then I jumped.
I asked him when I'd get a chance to do more of the watermanship skills, specifically the 900-yard snorkel in 18 minutes or less (which is the longest-time, most endurance-based skill I have left). He asked me when I wanted to do it, and I said I'm game whenever. He asked if I wanted to do it tonight; was I ready? I said I couldn't really tell whether I was ready or not until I tried. Good enough.
So, he shut off the van and got his iPhone (which has a stopwatch, of course), and I grabbed my split fins (purchased off eBay *specifically* for just this one skill, although I can use them for other things if I want

I've done my share of 20+ mile day hikes, and the most important thing to do is to settle into your natural pace and then just keep going. As long as you keep a pace, you can go quite a bit farther than you *feel* you can go. This was quite a bit shorter, of course, but the same general idea. By about the second lap or so, I'd settled into my pace, and from there on, it was just a robotic march to the finish. (I look straight down, except at the turns, as looking ahead makes you aware of how far you have to go each length.)
I kept count on my right hand, one to five fingers, then a fist for six, repeated three times. Trying to count in your head doesn't work too well, at least for me. (I lose count and end up going quite a bit extra, as I always round down if unsure.) As I made the turn to the second half of the second-to-last lap (counting a lap as two lengths), I signaled out of the water above my back, "Time, Question, 1." My usual buddy would have easily understood ("What's my time going into the last lap?"), but nobody on the surface seemed to have a clue (or so they said later). I figured there was no point to sprint a full lap (two lengths) without knowing I needed to, so I kept my set pace going until the final turn. Then I went all in on a final sprint to the wall (no point in leaving anything in the tank, eh?).
I hadn't practiced the snorkel swim itself, so I didn't really know what to expect, time-wise. I figured it would at least give me an evaluation of where I was, if I was over the limit. I didn't try to push myself to go faster, choosing instead to simply take my natural pace and go with it, since I can keep that pace up almost indefinitely (although having a drink would be nice after each 700 yards or so of hard snorkel breathing). Anyway, I stuck my head up and waited for my time... which came in at 15:59.

So, another night done, and another skill scratched off the list. I still have the tows, of course, but they're more like "power sprints" than true endurance, at least the way I see them. I look forward to polishing them all off.
Next week's class was moved as well. We're finishing up with chapter 18, "The Business of Diving", on Monday evening. That'll wrap up the classroom portion of the course, except for the final exam, which we'll talk about Monday. We've still got however much pool work we end up doing, of course, and working at least two checkout dive trips. My first of those will be not this weekend but the next. I've already worked two basic classes (and more), but I'll sign on for the April one as well (hopefully my little brother will get in that one, since he's now wanting to get in on diving). The second checkout trip this year will be at the end of April, so that might be the final cog in the machine for me. It certainly looks like we're heading in to the final stretch.
