Hitting the pool

[RJP]

We do a single clear with the reg out while holding neutral bouyancy to improve the bouynacy skills and we do clearing the mask 5 times on one breath generally while negatively buoyant to improve the mask clearing skills.

@cloudflint: So do you think your method is more effective at teaching buoyancy control and mask clearing skills than simply having students conduct remove/replace/clear mask drills while hovering?

I guess if the point is to determine the student's ability to cope with situations that would never, ever be faced in the real world and/or gauge their reaction to needless task loading.



Personally, I think doing a mask clear with the reg out is not just silly, but unnecessarily risky/dangerous. Especially with students or new divers. A flooded mask is a momentary nuisance. Loss of immediate access to breathing gas is a genuine problem. If faced with both at the same time in the real world you would ignore the momentary nuisance until you solved the genuine problem. Why on earth would you purposely compound a simple skill (mask clearing) with a potential problem (reg out) in order to determine the effect on a completely different skill (buoyancy.) If anything it's actually EASIER to maintain buoyancy with the reg out because there's no need to accommodate buoyancy changes due to inhaling exhaling.

 

[cloudflint]

@cloudflint: So do you think your method is more effective at teaching buoyancy control and mask clearing skills than simply having students conduct remove/replace/clear mask drills while hovering?

I'm not an instructor or anything, just curious. Thanks for answering my questions.

Dont worry im not an instructor either I take trainees in but under the supervision of an instructor and I take newer members of my club who are already qualified in order to keep them sharp and develop their skills. Im not formally qualified in any way to teach

I think clearing the mask while hovering is alot harder with the reg out since when you breathe out you start to sink and have no way of counteracting this. Generally I would get someone to clear their mask while hovering with the reg in since this in its self is a good way of teaching mask clears and buoyancy. Once they had that down i would try to get them to do the same only with the reg out of their mouth. This is where the exercises where you do 5 clears in one breath comes in. If you can manage 5 clears in one breath you will most likely have figured out how to clear your mask very quickly and with very little air.

Being able to do this means that you can clear your mask while hovering without making much of a buoyancy swing, this allows you to be much more stable when you do it in a real situation with your reg in. I have seen people clear their masks and they blow out alot and start to sink then they finish clearing their mask and get their vision back and realise they have sunk! Being able to clear your mask rapidly and with an absolute minimal amount of air makes it way easier to maintain position I have found.

EDIT:

I guess if the point is to determine the student's ability to cope with situations that would never, ever be faced in the real world and/or gauge their reaction to needless task loading.



Personally, I think doing a mask clear with the reg out is not just silly, but unnecessarily risky/dangerous. Especially with students or new divers. A flooded mask is a momentary nuisance. Loss of immediate access to breathing gas is a genuine problem. If faced with both at the same time in the real world you would ignore the momentary nuisance until you solved the genuine problem. Why on earth would you purposely compound a simple skill (mask clearing) with a potential problem (reg out) in order to determine the effect on a completely different skill (buoyancy.) If anything it's actually EASIER to maintain buoyancy with the reg out because there's no need to accommodate buoyancy changes due to inhaling exhaling.

In the real world with no air and a flooded mask i would go to the surface too. In the pool we like to see how well people have mastered the skills by seeing if they can do two things at once. Sure they can hover and they can clear their mask, but can they hover while clearing their mask? In the end most of the drills ive done I cant imagine ever encountering in the real world, but its a good way of building confidence in the skills. If someone can clear their mask with their reg out then doing it in real life with the reg in becomes a piece of cake I wouldn't do this drill with a new diver. Its something I do to polish skills once they have already been taught and mastered to a certain degree. Thats why i suggested it in response to someone who has qualified and has been diving and is going in the pool to practice and work on their skills.

EDIT2: would it clarify at all if i said that most people with us are trainees for 6 months to a year at least? This skill can be quite dangerous for a new trainee, but for a trainee with 40-50 dives under their belt its quite good for getting them up to scratch

 

[Bubbletrubble]

I think clearing the mask while hovering is alot harder with the reg out since when you breathe out you start to sink and have no way of counteracting this. Generally I would get someone to clear their mask while hovering with the reg in since this in its self is a good way of teaching mask clears and buoyancy. Once they had that down i would try to get them to do the same only with the reg out of their mouth. This is where the exercises where you do 5 clears in one breath comes in. If you can manage 5 clears in one breath you will most likely have figured out how to clear your mask very quickly and with very little air.

Being able to do this means that you can clear your mask while hovering without making much of a buoyancy swing, this allows you to be much more stable when you do it in a real situation with your reg in. I have seen people clear their masks and they blow out alot and start to sink then they finish clearing their mask and get their vision back and realise they have sunk! Being able to clear your mask rapidly and with an absolute minimal amount of air makes it way easier to maintain position I have found.

@cloudflint: I understand what you're saying, but I still don't agree that the 5 mask clears with one breath maneuver is a worthwhile exercise. Thanks for the explanation, though.

In the real world with no air and a flooded mask i would go to the surface too.

I'm assuming that you would ascend after trying to re-establish an air source underwater, right?
Have fun out there...

 

[TSandM]

Actually, I can see the value of clearing the mask multiple times with a single breath, although doing it without the reg in mouth seems a rather harsh way of ensuring the single breath part. First off, it would break the student of the habit of taking a huge, deep breath and then blasting it out through the mask (which messes with buoyancy, and isn't needed). It is actually also a skill, as I understand it, that rebreather divers need to master, as they need to minimize the loop volume lost to the water with mask clearing.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

Actually, I can see the value of clearing the mask multiple times with a single breath, although doing it without the reg in mouth seems a rather harsh way of ensuring the single breath part. First off, it would break the student of the habit of taking a huge, deep breath and then blasting it out through the mask (which messes with buoyancy, and isn't needed). It is actually also a skill, as I understand it, that rebreather divers need to master, as they need to minimize the loop volume lost to the water with mask clearing.

If the main objective of training is to practice skills to the point that they become "second nature," then I would think there is a price for mastering the 5-mask-clears-on-one-breath exercise. It encourages a diver not to focus on the priority of his needs.
Situation: No air and flooded mask
Response encouraged by exercise: Clear mask with remaining breath as efficiently as possible
Proper response: Re-establish air supply first and deal with mask later

I'm basing my comments on the kind of diving I've had exposure to -- open water recreational diving.

 

[cloudflint]

@cloudflint: I understand what you're saying, but I still don't agree that the 5 mask clears with one breath maneuver is a worthwhile exercise. Thanks for the explanation, though.

I'm assuming that you would ascend after trying to re-establish an air source underwater, right?
Have fun out there...

Yeah aye sorry mised that bit out. Id get the air source before anything else since its the most important thing. If your still breathing its not an emergency as they say!

If the main objective of training is to practice skills to the point that they become "second nature," then I would think there is a price for mastering the 5-mask-clears-on-one-breath exercise. It encourages a diver not to focus on the priority of his needs.
Situation: No air and flooded mask
Response encouraged by exercise: Clear mask with as efficiently as possible
Proper response: Re-establish air supply first and deal with mask later

I'm basing my comments on the kind of diving I've had exposure to -- open water recreational diving.

Yeah myself and the people i train with are all recreational divers too, max depth 30 meters and no stops e.t.c. You actually raise a good point about something which i hadnt hugely considered. We tell people that getting the reg in their mouth is the most important thing and that so long as they have their reg in and are getting air they will be able to sort out any outher problems they have. I suppose if this wasnt clarified enough it could lead someone to think that they should clear their mask THEN get their reg, though we have never had someone make that mistake.

 

[Peter Guy]

Back to the OP's post/question:

In my opinion, you should work on buoyancy control, first and last because IF you can control yourself in the water column, you should have the comfort you need to do "all the tricks."

IF you are normally diving in a drysuit, practice in the drysuit, if in a wetsuit, in the wetsuit -- and with gloves, hood, etc. IF that is what you'll be using.

IF you can, dive with a buddy and a video camera (even a point-n-shoot with video capability is good enough) so that you can actually watch/review what you do (even during the session -- practice something and then go watch the clip -- you may be amazed at how different reality looks). And if you don't have a buddy (but you do have a camera), you can just set it on the bottom, go practice something, and then come back and grab the camera for review.

I wouldn't waste time doing any sort of weight check UNLESS you are going to be diving in the same gear in fresh water -- and that includes the same tank. But if you do a weight check like the one suggested, don't forget that IF you do it with a full tank, you will be underweighted by at least 5 pounds due to the amount of air in the tank. For practice purposes in a pool, I'd suggest overweighting so that you'll be required to put air into your BC (more air than you should have) which means the buoyancy changes will be greater than normal so you'll need to be more aware of your breathing control.

In addition, again if you have a buddy to help, try putting weights at different places to see where the weight needs to be to enable you to be horizontal. Too many people just put weight on their hips/waist and, as a result, can't be horizontally stable in the water. For this exercise, just let yourself float in the water column and then DO NOTHING. Let nature (and gravity) take her course and see if you tip head down, feet down or remain flat. The trick is to put weight up/down so that you remain flat.

That's what I would suggest you do if I was your buddy this weekend.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

IF you can, dive with a buddy and a video camera (even a point-n-shoot with video capability is good enough) so that you can actually watch/review what you do (even during the session -- practice something and then go watch the clip -- you may be amazed at how different reality looks). And if you don't have a buddy (but you do have a camera), you can just set it on the bottom, go practice something, and then come back and grab the camera for review.

@SoccerJeni: Peter Guy's video camera recommendation is an excellent one. Point-and-shoots are quite affordable nowadays. Video review is a great tool for fixing skill or equipment issues. Whenever my dive buddy and I take a beginner diver for a tour of our local dive site, I make sure to take a video clip of my regular buddy and the beginner. The beginner is thrilled to have a video of himself/herself, and it's helpful for the novice to reference a "model" of good buoyancy control and horizontal trim (my dive buddy). Invariably, watching the video clips post-dive leads to a discussion about how he/she can improve (be more horizontal, stop flailing arms around, do more efficient kicks, pay attention to stuff going on with the dive team, etc.).

On another note, the frogkick is a great propulsion technique with a built-in method for checking buoyancy control. Kick then glide. Hold the glide longer than necessary until you're hovering for a few seconds. Do you move up/down in the water column?

 

[SoccerJeni]

Thanks Bubbletrubble! I can imagine the videotaping would be a great help! I only wish I had access to an underwater camera. I don't own one myself. Maybe one of these days I will! Seems like a really good way to evaluate what you're doing.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

Thanks Bubbletrubble! I can imagine the videotaping would be a great help! I only wish I had access to an underwater camera. I don't own one myself. Maybe one of these days I will! Seems like a really good way to evaluate what you're doing.

@SoccerJeni: Join one or more local dive clubs! As you grow your circle of dive buddies, you'll be exposed to all kinds of divers and dive gear. You're bound to meet and dive with people who carry a small camera during the dive. Ask nicely if the photographers would be willing to take a short video of you underwater. Another benefit of joining a club is that most plan dive trips to warm places. This will give you more of an incentive to work on your dive skills in the pool.