Giant Stride Weds evening

[k-valve]

We're just not going to go there.

Really sorry I couldn't make it. Can't wait to hear the doubles story...come on...give it up carrielsal!

 

[Lake Travis Scuba]

C'mon carrielsal and texas torpedo, inquiring minds want to know....

 

[carrielsal]

So this would go into Lessons Learned.

Dive 1 - Oasis wall. David (texas torpedo) and I had planned a sim deco dive to 110. Vis dropped to Zero at depth. We had problems communicating in the muck. Amazing, because if you know David he never stops talking I had stopped at 105' and was waiting to see if I could see my compass. David was trying to give me the OK signal, but I couldn't even see him. I could only feel him on my arm. The muck cleared enough for me to see David giving me the up signal. I thought something was wrong, so we ascended. What I didn't realize was that David had been trying to ask me if I was ok, since I wasn't moving. I couldn't see his light or hand. He thought that I had something wrong, so he had given the up signal. I thought something was wrong with David, since I had no idea why he was pointing up so I had a grip on him all the way to the surface. At some point when divers were boarding, the ladder was broken.

Dive 2 - Shaker. David and I decided to just swim around the timbers and practice bottle handling. Dive went well until near the end at 40'. I signaled David that I was going to shoot a bag when my buoyancy went to hell. When I reached for my inflator, the end was missing. Just a big hole and once again I was filling my wing like a water balloon. Sound familiar? I make the "something wrong" hand gesture and point to my inflator. I could tell David wasn't getting it, so I pointed my light on the end of my inflator and stick my finger down into the hole that shouldn't be there. David still doesn't get it and proceeds to shoot a bag. Oh well. Now my wing is filling with water, but I still have air trapped and = I'm hanging on to a horizontal piple doing acrobatics trying to move the air from the right side of my wing to the dump on the lower left. David finally gets his bag up about the time I have finally dumped all the air out, so I just swim to the surface. Now I have another problem. I cannot put air in my wing to float. We swam to the front of the boat. James and Robert ran a line down to my rig, and David held on to me to keep me from sinking. Once I was out, James was able to pull it into the boat. David had his mask around his head backwards. He was getting out of his gear when he lost his mask.

The Lessons I learned were:

1. Either Robert needs a better ladder or some of us need to lose weight.
2. I have got to find a way to communicate with my buddy when there is zero vis. Anyone have any suggestions?
3. David and I really need to work on communicating with each other under water.

Carrie

 

[ianr33]

1. Either Robert needs a better ladder or some of us need to lose weight.
2. I have got to find a way to communicate with my buddy when there is zero vis. Anyone have any suggestions?
3. David and I really need to work on communicating with each other under water.

Carrie

Communicating in zero viz is tricky to say the least.if following a line the standard signals are: A firm squeeze,normally on an arm or leg means STOP. A firm push forwards means go forwards (duh!) and a pull back is back.

I have sometimes seen the viz in Travis so bad that I could not read my gauges.When its like that you need to be prepared to dive solo,even if you are with a buddy.You can go to touch contact so as not to lose each but thats about it.

What type of light do you have? an HID makes a lot of difference.

The really bad viz is normally at the thermocline or near the surface.When its bad down deep and continues that way its pointless trying to dive it. IMHO just asking for trouble.

I remember coming back up from 130 or so once with some deco to do and hitting a milky white layer at the thermocline which made the viz genuinely zero. Figuring the bad viz would be a thin layer I just dumped gas and finger walked up the silt.After a few feet it cleared up. Having deco to do and not being able to read a depth gauge is not a good situation.

 

[ScubaGypsy]

Sure felt nice to feel warm fresh water again although the viz did remind me of home. I want to thank everyone for making a New Englander feel so welcome, I had a ball! Appreciations to Robert for his charter and interesting Lake Travis history discussions, to James for his accommodating DMing, to David for chasing me down on 620 to hand off my undergarmets that I had left behind and to Thomas and Carrie for the fine fellowship. It was an honor to be able to join in with the Texas Swamp Divers!

If any of you ever find yourself in Newport, RI, please give us a shout and join us for a fun dive with the Newport Diving Center.

 

[Lake Travis Scuba]

The Lessons I learned were:

1. Either Robert needs a better ladder or some of us need to lose weight.

Ladder has been repaired and strengthened to support you techie types...

 

[texdiveguy]

Carrie, sounds like you had an exciting but less than enjoyable time on both dives. I (we) have all made similar errors and mistakes.....anyone whom tells you they have not either is a fibber or just reads dive books and magz. a allot. The important thing is you admitted them and probably learned at the same time. You have some great mentors in your area no doubt, and that is a tool you should use, but if you wish you and I can iron out a few issues say in a dive park designed for learning and you might find it easier to grasp hold of a few of the things you pointed out. CSSP is a great place for this and if you ever find you can head this way, give me a shout/PM, and I will meet you one on one to work on a few important skills. This weekend I am working on cars-----grrrrrr. Plus you can bring some of our rain back home to Austin with you--lol!

So this would go into Lessons Learned.

Dive 1 - Oasis wall. David (texas torpedo) and I had planned a sim deco dive to 110. Vis dropped to Zero at depth. We had problems communicating in the muck. Amazing, because if you know David he never stops talking I had stopped at 105' and was waiting to see if I could see my compass. David was trying to give me the OK signal, but I couldn't even see him. I could only feel him on my arm. The muck cleared enough for me to see David giving me the up signal. I thought something was wrong, so we ascended. What I didn't realize was that David had been trying to ask me if I was ok, since I wasn't moving. I couldn't see his light or hand. He thought that I had something wrong, so he had given the up signal. I thought something was wrong with David, since I had no idea why he was pointing up so I had a grip on him all the way to the surface. At some point when divers were boarding, the ladder was broken.

Dive 2 - Shaker. David and I decided to just swim around the timbers and practice bottle handling. Dive went well until near the end at 40'. I signaled David that I was going to shoot a bag when my buoyancy went to hell. When I reached for my inflator, the end was missing. Just a big hole and once again I was filling my wing like a water balloon. Sound familiar? I make the "something wrong" hand gesture and point to my inflator. I could tell David wasn't getting it, so I pointed my light on the end of my inflator and stick my finger down into the hole that shouldn't be there. David still doesn't get it and proceeds to shoot a bag. Oh well. Now my wing is filling with water, but I still have air trapped and = I'm hanging on to a horizontal piple doing acrobatics trying to move the air from the right side of my wing to the dump on the lower left. David finally gets his bag up about the time I have finally dumped all the air out, so I just swim to the surface. Now I have another problem. I cannot put air in my wing to float. We swam to the front of the boat. James and Robert ran a line down to my rig, and David held on to me to keep me from sinking. Once I was out, James was able to pull it into the boat. David had his mask around his head backwards. He was getting out of his gear when he lost his mask.

The Lessons I learned were:

1. Either Robert needs a better ladder or some of us need to lose weight.
2. I have got to find a way to communicate with my buddy when there is zero vis. Anyone have any suggestions?
3. David and I really need to work on communicating with each other under water.

Carrie

 

[carrielsal]

Carrie, sounds like you had an exciting but less than enjoyable time on both dives. I (we) have all made similar errors and mistakes.....anyone whom tells you they have not either is a fibber or just reads dive books and magz. a allot. The important thing is you admitted them and probably learned at the same time. You have some great mentors in your area no doubt, and that is a tool you should use, but if you wish you and I can iron out a few issues say in a dive park designed for learning and you might find it easier to grasp hold of a few of the things you pointed out. CSSP is a great place for this and if you ever find you can head this way, give me a shout/PM, and I will meet you one on one to work on a few important skills. This weekend I am working on cars-----grrrrrr. Plus you can bring some of our rain back home to Austin with you--lol!

Might be time for a road trip!

The dives were good. My buddy and I made it back to the boat safely, I learned something, and I couldn't have asked for better company. Anything else is just gravy!

 

[chucksaul]

Carrie:

Did you give up on the DR Transpac? Am curious how you solved the butt too high problem? And did that take care of the air trapped in bad places in the wing? Cirque d Sole acrobats have nothing on me when I try and dump trapped air... It's amazing what a fat guy can do in an almost weightless environment...

I have a SS backplate for my Transpac and am thinking I might dump the wing weights and have K-Valve show me how he rigged his...

Any and all suggestions welcome...

Charlie

 

[k-valve]

Wow! Sounds like I did miss out on some excitement...but not the fun kind.

I'm sure you'll get plenty of feedback from your tech instructor, so no need for me to throw in my 2 cents. Here's a pretty good website that will help you with your uw communications. The examples are all shown in video:
Scuba Diving Communications, Underwater Hand Signals - Dayo Scuba, Orlando, Florida

We all make mistakes. God knows I've made my share. Brandon can tell you about one or two. All good divers learn from their mistakes, but as a tech diver learning from them might save your life one day.

Good luck!!

So this would go into Lessons Learned.

Dive 1 - Oasis wall. David (texas torpedo) and I had planned a sim deco dive to 110. Vis dropped to Zero at depth. We had problems communicating in the muck. Amazing, because if you know David he never stops talking I had stopped at 105' and was waiting to see if I could see my compass. David was trying to give me the OK signal, but I couldn't even see him. I could only feel him on my arm. The muck cleared enough for me to see David giving me the up signal. I thought something was wrong, so we ascended. What I didn't realize was that David had been trying to ask me if I was ok, since I wasn't moving. I couldn't see his light or hand. He thought that I had something wrong, so he had given the up signal. I thought something was wrong with David, since I had no idea why he was pointing up so I had a grip on him all the way to the surface. At some point when divers were boarding, the ladder was broken.

Dive 2 - Shaker. David and I decided to just swim around the timbers and practice bottle handling. Dive went well until near the end at 40'. I signaled David that I was going to shoot a bag when my buoyancy went to hell. When I reached for my inflator, the end was missing. Just a big hole and once again I was filling my wing like a water balloon. Sound familiar? I make the "something wrong" hand gesture and point to my inflator. I could tell David wasn't getting it, so I pointed my light on the end of my inflator and stick my finger down into the hole that shouldn't be there. David still doesn't get it and proceeds to shoot a bag. Oh well. Now my wing is filling with water, but I still have air trapped and = I'm hanging on to a horizontal piple doing acrobatics trying to move the air from the right side of my wing to the dump on the lower left. David finally gets his bag up about the time I have finally dumped all the air out, so I just swim to the surface. Now I have another problem. I cannot put air in my wing to float. We swam to the front of the boat. James and Robert ran a line down to my rig, and David held on to me to keep me from sinking. Once I was out, James was able to pull it into the boat. David had his mask around his head backwards. He was getting out of his gear when he lost his mask.

The Lessons I learned were:

1. Either Robert needs a better ladder or some of us need to lose weight.
2. I have got to find a way to communicate with my buddy when there is zero vis. Anyone have any suggestions?
3. David and I really need to work on communicating with each other under water.

Carrie