I had trouble with the CESA

[supergaijin]

http://www.cmasamericas.com/Assets/CMAS%20Standards/CMAS%20FOUR%20STAR%20DIVER.pdf

Unfortunately this is no longer in the 4* diver course.

Jon

Unfortunately?!

When I was working in Djibouti we were doing a mixture of PADI and CMAS/FFESSM training which was pretty cool- I'm not a CMAS instructor.. I think I have a CMAS 3* cert somewhere- the CMAS specific training was done by a couple of French military guys who were extremely knowledgeable and pretty nice guys- one was a colonel in the French Foreign Legion. There was a group doing 4* there at that time and they still did the 40m inflated ascent. Unfortunately I was diving somewhere else at the time- I would have loved to have seen it.

From the way it was described to me, they went to 40m, inflated the BCD until it burped, while being held down by 2 other divers. Then released, they ascended past a diver at 10m, then they were allowed to dump and had to stop before 3m. My french skills weren't that sharp but I think this was how they described it.

 

[turnerjd]

O.K. Next time I will not forget to put a sarcasm smiley in!

But, I have seen divers with BCD inflators stuck open, going up like this not knowing what to do, and not being able to stop the ascent. I can imagine that it takes quite some skill (and luck) to only start dumping air at 10m and stop the ascent before 3m! Lunatic French (it really doesn't surprise me that it was the French teaching this!)

Jon

 

[supergaijin]

O.K. Next time I will not forget to put a sarcasm smiley in!

But, I have seen divers with BCD inflators stuck open, going up like this not knowing what to do, and not being able to stop the ascent. I can imagine that it takes quite some skill (and luck) to only start dumping air at 10m and stop the ascent before 3m! Lunatic French (it really doesn't surprise me that it was the French teaching this!)

Jon

Disconnecting the LP from the BCD and then deflating is another of the skills many divers seem to forget. It is taught in PADI CW...2 I think from memory.

The BCD is burping air on the CMAS 4* ascent so it doesn't get any more full on ascent- but for sure there aint much in it.

 

[silvana]

Today i finished my OWD 4 2 hours ago. This was the last dive of PADI OWD course.

My only problem was CESA. I surfaced too quick from 6 meters. As i know 6 meters is safe. But i am still scared.

 

[Quero]

Silvana, what is it that worries and scares you now? Didn't your instructor slow you down if you were ascending too fast?

 

[silvana]

Hi,

instructer didnt stop me, she just came later. she told me that i was too fast. so we went down and tried again. I found the correct speed at my third try. in the end she told me that my speed at the last try was ok.
During my second and third try i had to use some air because... well because i was out of air.
I wish i've seen this post before. It helped me a lot..
I will practice it more.

 

[Quero]

So what is it that's making you scared? Is it the possibility that you might need this skill and that you will surface too fast?

 

[Peter Guy]

I know the CESA is a skill that is required but I just wish we spent a lot more time teaching students how to NOT run out of air and how to stay close to a buddy so that the CESA became irrelevant!

 

[silvana]

Sorry about not replying on that question. I was scared because I didnt know that CESA mustnt be quicker then 18 meters per minute. Lack of information about the subject and ascending too fast made me scared. Instructer told me later that nothing will happen from 6 meters.

 

[Quero]

Amen, brother! I teach it, and I do so carefully, but I always stress that if a diver checks the tank pressure regularly and maintains good buddy contact, this is a skill that should never need to be used.