Indelible and Meaningful Training Skills

[BoltSnap]

Manufacturers stopped putting CO2 cartridges in BC's circa 1987.

 

[Kenny13]

While it's not really a skill, I think one of the most important things I've learned early on in my limited diving experience is to fully check out all your gear before even departing for the dive. In our OW class we were drilled to set up all our gear and perform full buddy checks before we left the dive shop, and we continue that practice when picking up rentals, etc. Any of my own gear gets checked out before I leave home first. Better to check all your gear then than to arrive at the dive site and find something isn't working properly.

BTW, we still check everything out pre-dive when we arrive on location. Never can be too sure.

 

[Teamcasa]

I'd like to know which particular confined water training skill (pool skill) or open water training skill you had to complete, you consider among the most indelible and meaningful to you. Please describe.

Simple. Don't hold your breath. Do everything, including ascending, at half the speed you think is already slow. Then go slower. Watch your air gauge carefully, it may be lying.

Please describe a confined water training skill (pool skill) or open water training skill you had to complete that you consider among the most indelible and meaningful to you....Ronald

Sudden out of air. The instructor would swim up behind us (without warning) and close the valve. (Remember this was in the late '60s) You learned PDQ how to solve problems and share your air.
In addition, we practiced the sudden loss of your weight drill. BTW, this is a thrill a minute!

 

[rx7diver]

This sounds like a great teaching aid. I know for me it was understanding that things are so much easier to catch and fix topside, but once underwater, fix it there (if you can). Obviously that skill set is very limited when you are first certified, but the philosophy continues to this day.

I have to ask, how old are these BC's? I haven't seen CO2 cartridges on many BC's since my first BC in 1972.

These were almost always newer Scubapro Stab Jackets, usually borrowed (rented) from others who had taken the course earlier, certified, and begun purchasing gear. They didn't actually have CO2 cartridges installed; instead, a (regulator) low-pressure port plug plugged the hole where the CO2 cartridge trigger would have been installed. It was this port plug that sometimes became (intentionally) loosened during the equipment checkout skill.

I replaced my original orange SSJ (purchased new in 1987) with a larger "double-black" classic model c. 1995 which I still dive regularly. This "new" SSJ has the CO2 cartridge port plug, also.

 

[merxlin]

Manufacturers stopped putting CO2 cartridges in BC's circa 1987.

...........I replaced my original orange SSJ (purchased new in 1987) with a larger "double-black" classic model c. 1995 which I still dive regularly. This "new" SSJ has the CO2 cartridge port plug, also.

Thanks. I took a long hiatus during which equipment changed a lot. Another lesson I learned when I got re-certified.

 

[TSandM]

In my Fundamentals class, we were taught a dive plan review mnemonic, and a head-to-toe gear check. No matter how short or simple the dive we did, both had to be done. To my delight, in every class I've taken of the same type, the same rigorous approach has been used. I love it, and all my dive buddies know that I'm a total PITA about going through this routine before diving. In fact, a year or so ago, my two buddies stood in the dark, waist-deep in 45 degree water, as we went through my ritual. Finally, the visiting diver said to my other friend, "Does she ALWAYS do this for a 20 foot reef dive?" And Bob sighed and said, "Yes, she does . . . "

I am very grateful to the teachers who pounded this into me. As my husband says, "No problem gets BETTER in the water."

 

[redacted]

In my Fundamentals class, we were taught a dive plan review mnemonic, and a head-to-toe gear check. No matter how short or simple the dive we did, both had to be done. To my delight, in every class I've taken of the same type, the same rigorous approach has been used. I love it, and all my dive buddies know that I'm a total PITA about going through this routine before diving. In fact, a year or so ago, my two buddies stood in the dark, waist-deep in 45 degree water, as we went through my ritual. Finally, the visiting diver said to my other friend, "Does she ALWAYS do this for a 20 foot reef dive?" And Bob sighed and said, "Yes, she does . . . "

I am very grateful to the teachers who pounded this into me. As my husband says, "No problem gets BETTER in the water."

I have mixed thoughts on the payoff of such a thorough, ritualistic pre-dive check. Just to put this concept in perspective, do you conduct a similar pre-use check before you drive your automobile? Or ride in someone else's car?

 

[TSandM]

No, but I don't think the analogy holds very well. For one thing, many of the working parts of my car are not available for me to look at or test (obviously, by the time I get out of the driveway, I know if the brakes are working). For another thing, except in the event of a catastrophic steering failure, the worst thing that's likely to happen to me if something in my car breaks is that I'll end up sitting at the side of the road shaking (has happened).

A good dive plan would avoid more than half of the issues people report as bad dives here. A good gear check (which takes about a minute and a half) would avoid quite a few of the rest.

 

[redacted]

No, but I don't think the analogy holds very well. For one thing, many of the working parts of my car are not available for me to look at or test (obviously, by the time I get out of the driveway, I know if the brakes are working). For another thing, except in the event of a catastrophic steering failure, the worst thing that's likely to happen to me if something in my car breaks is that I'll end up sitting at the side of the road shaking (has happened).

A good dive plan would avoid more than half of the issues people report as bad dives here. A good gear check (which takes about a minute and a half) would avoid quite a few of the rest.

I guess I see driving as more of a threat to your well being than recreational diving with a good buddy. With buddy diving, there should never be a single equipment failure that is a threat to your life.

With driving, that is not so. Steering failures, brake failures, tire failures, throttle control failures, even engine failures could put you and your passengers in immediate danger. Many other problems could stick you on the side of the road with some associated dangers that may come with that situation.

With recreational diving, as long as you are breathing, it just is not a terminal problem. So your tank is full (enough) and turned on, and regulator(s) are working - other problems may be inconvenient and even embarrassing, but usually not a danger. Some special situation which dictate special safety equipment may create the need for a few additional checks but that should not be common in recreational diving with a buddy.

 

[seaducer]

Buoyancy. Learning how to control your position in the water without thinking about it has been the most valuable skill I learned, and the basics were taught in OW.

I really feel this is the building block of all diving skills, can never be stressed enough nor mastered to satisfaction.