Greetings MHK

[O-ring]

MHK once bubbled...
Thanks for having me.. How's it been going since the class?? You been practising??? THis board looks like it could be fun so I'm glad Roger mentioned it to me this weekend..

BTW, I ran into Scott at Dema a few weeks ago so you Raliegh guys are ganging up on me ;-)

Later

Good...managed to get wet (mostly training dives, but some fun stuff too) every weekend since the class except last weekend. Just let Sweetin taunt me about a backward kick again

Yeah, you will like the board...it is a little better than the backscatter over on Techdiver.

 

[MHK]

I have a call into Sweetin so I'll let him know when he calls me back ;-)

Ask Roger about his backward kick this weekend ;-)

I actually don't post to the Tech list anymore just to avoid the backscatter so this board looks like it will be a welcome change..

See you soon..

Later

 

[O-ring]

I have a call into Sweetin so I'll let him know when he calls me back ;-)

We were ordering DUIs and wanted his take on the new zipper (QuickZip). We went with the new zipper and it seems to be working out fine...I'll just hide it from George if I ever meet him

 

[dmdalton]

Hi Mike,

Good to see you here.

I was in the DIRF class you and AG did in April for VB Tech, and then helped set up the class you did for Nova Tech in the DC area (and drove you to the airport ;-).

Hope all is well.

Dave D

 

[roakey]

MHK once bubbled...
Ask Roger about his backward kick this weekend ;-)

What backward kick

I knew from the get-go that I was going to have a mental block on that one. I'm looking at a lot of pool time between now and Akumal in December to work on EVERYTHING with a wet suit and AL80s.

Roak

 

[wb416]

MHK once bubbled...
I was teaching a DIR-F class this weekend with Roger Oakey, and a few other's and he mentioned this board to me so I decided to stop by and say hello..
Thanks

Welcome Mike....
So... did you whip Roger into shape?

later,
wb

 

[roakey]

cwb once bubbled...
So... did you whip Roger into shape?

Heck no. But I know how to get there now.

Before I didn't know what I didn't know, and there's no way to find the knowledge that you're unaware of.

An aside about the backward kick. I'm sure mike thinks that I'm really hung up on it and in one way I am, but I don't know If I made myself clear as to why.

No, I don't want to learn it because I think it's cool, it's that I think it's a critical tool to be able to do so many of hte exercises without swimming around constantly like a bunch of drunken idiots. If you're sharing air face to face and keep running into each other because you can't back up, it's hard to maintain a controlled ascent, for example.

Roak

 

[O-ring]

No, I don't want to learn it because I think it's cool, it's that I think it's a critical tool to be able to do so many of hte exercises without swimming around constantly like a bunch of drunken idiots. If you're sharing air face to face and keep running into each other because you can't back up, it's hard to maintain a controlled ascent, for example.

MHK called us "world war II dogfighters" when we would try to do an S-drill. Since we couldn't back up, it was just a matter of time before you drifted together and the contortions started...

It is even worse if your buddy goes OOA 10' or so from you and you have to fin over there real quick and donate some air. Impossible not to smash into him/her without being able to arrest your forward momentum and then maintain distance throughout by utilizing the backward kick.

We found that it is exponentially better even if only one person in the buddy pair can backward kick...when we did s-drills with Sweetin or MHK it worked much better than with two of us together...they would just keep backing away from us as we finned forward trying to hold still.

 

[wb416]

roakey once bubbled...
If you're sharing air face to face and keep running into each other because you can't back up, it's hard to maintain a controlled ascent, for example.

Roak

I agree... or if you're buddy is shooting a bag, you don't want to be circling him like a shark... or if he's doing other skills and drills, you're not doing him much good if you're not in front of him to respond to a problem.

I am curious though... is it that you consider your backkick sloppy or non-existent? I would have that this would be a requirement for cave (not trying to "chuck you under the bus".. just curious)

wb

 

[MHK]

To those of you that have taken the class, and to those of you that have yet to appreciate what we do, our MOST important objective in our class isn't to simply teach the *HOW's* to do something, our MOST important objective is to teach the *WHY's*.. I say often that if someone can not tell you WHY you are doing something, then in my view, you have no business listening to that person..

We can talk all day long about backward kicking, but if we can't tell you WHY it's important then what the hell good is it???

In Roger's case, I think he did a better job trying it then he thinks he did, but at the end of the day it's one tool in a tool box and if a diver's foundation is off it's pretty immaterial if he can backward kick but he can't frog kick..

Hope that helps..

Later