Horizontal ascent

[RTodd]

I'm curious about this too. I can understand the surface area aspect and the slowness, but it was impressed on me in training that one should know what is above you. My instructor told a story about a guy who nearly died ascending into the tendrils of a Portugese Man 'O War. Needless to say I'm quite careful about what is above me since then. How does DIR reconcile the need to know what is above with the horizontal ascent?

By looking up.

 

[Kim]

By looking up.

By twisting your body completely around?

 

[dbulmer]

Kim,
If you are horizontal, all you do is raise your head just slightly and focus your eyes upward. Your buddy is in front of you so you are watching the 180 degrees in front of you and above and below you. Your buddy is doing the same so all 360 degrees is covered. If you have a third team member it's like a triangle on the ascent.

The DIR blokes keep in close contact so you have a few pairs of eyes keeping an eye out for nasties and in close contact the buddy is/should be able to communicate if anything is wrong.

 

[Kim]

Kim,
If you are horizontal, all you do is raise your head just slightly and focus your eyes upward. Your buddy is in front of you so you are watching the 180 degrees in front of you and above and below you. Your buddy is doing the same so all 360 degrees is covered. If you have a third team member it's like a triangle on the ascent.

The DIR blokes keep in close contact so you have a few pairs of eyes keeping an eye out for nasties and in close contact the buddy is/should be able to communicate if anything is wrong.

OK great...I understand that, thanks. You don't watch what is above you, you watch what is above your buddy.

 

[dbulmer]

Kim, Sorry for the double post.

Yes- BTW I'm not DIR but I do dive with DIR blokes. It's the team concept. The idea is that if anyone is in trouble the other guys can get to you quickly and provide gas and/other assistance if you are unable to sort out a problem. In the UK at least, one person is nominated to put up a DSMB and the other team members will be watching their buddy. If someone messes up their buoyancy (ie me ) the other guys will continue to do their ascent (coz they can ) - this will have been agreed before the dive I hasten to add - and you rejoin on the surface. The ascent will be very slow (again for those that have the skills) and each team member has to remain alert at all times - this does not mean that you don't look up ie before breaking the surface or putting up a DSMB but that that you have other team members as additional eyes/ears brains etc.

The DIR approach stresses individual excellence as part of a functioning team - you are not blindly trusting your buddy - what you are doing is augmenting your own skill with those of the team which increases safety.

 

[MonkSeal]

By twisting your body completely around?

No. Beeing horizontal doesn't mean that you can't see what's above. Head up, eyes up. You can find video clips showing this at http://www.deepsouthdivers.org/training.html

 

[Ben_ca]

No. Beeing horizontal doesn't mean that you can't see what's above. Head up, eyes up. You can find video clips showing this at http://www.deepsouthdivers.org/training.html

Often times when people don't pin their head back they get into sloppy trim positions

 

[pennypue]

I recently had a fun relaxing slow ascent to the surface recently where my buddy and I turned face up to the surface while still horizontal and slowly came up from our 10' stop. We got where we were each trying to get closer than the other to the surface without actually contacting it. Being face-up made the experience a bit different.

It was fun at the time, but in reading what I just wrote I guess you had to be there.

I started doing horizontal ascents well before I took Dir-F.

And I'm thrilled to hear that someone else enjoys an occasional face up ascent.
I get a lot of grief for this from a certain SO DIR-F DB of mine. But I find it be be incredibly relaxing. Rad, I'd like to play that game with you and your DB too!!!!

 

[piikki]

This has been a very educational thread for someone who was taugh to ascent vertical and rotating one arm raised but who has been doing shore dives, and basically horizontal ascents all season wondering about doing it wrong. I wish we had thought of establishing better basic positioning, and watching over buddy's head rather than trying to twist around keeping eye everywhere.
Now I'd be curious - what hand signs do you use for warning the team that something hovers over their heads and it's time to duck? Just 'danger' and 'down' or point the direction where to go? What array of hand signs would you suggest using next time one sees some weird shadow appearing? Thx

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Now I'd be curious - what hand signs do you use for warning the team that something hovers over their heads and it's time to duck? Just 'danger' and 'down' or point the direction where to go? What array of hand signs would you suggest using next time one sees some weird shadow appearing? Thx

Well, last night when TS&M was coming up just below a large jellyfish, I signaled "stop" (closed fist), "look" (two fingers pointing at my eyes), and "up" (pointing upward with my index finger).

She understood perfectly ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)