Inspiration Class report with B&B Scuba

[Daiika]

You guys have such a long bottom time and in surf shorts, it is Dec. you guys are not cold? What was the water temp?

 

[kidspot]

77* and I was still warm - the warm air you are breathing helps a lot with that.

Of course I am well insulated too

 

[ScubaAndDreams]

As Mark said turn in your DIR decoder ring, and you're gonna die....get your arse over here already so we can do some long ass dives together; ...

 

[kidspot]

January 26 is my move date ... and the Apoc should arrive a few weeks later so we can do some looong dives - I can't wait to use helium on an 80 fsw dive ... and not worry about how much it costs!

Cya soon,
Tim

 

[kidspot]

Yesterday was our second of four class days. Due to weather conditions we did our shallow dive first, about 40 fsw, and second dive at 60fsw. Both were hour long dives (NICE) but there was a bit more task loading on both dives and I must say that I was not happy with my responses at this point (called learning for a reason, right?)

Task loading issue, dive #1: as my instructor was dealing with OW students, I hung around while he ran them thru their paces while I worked on running the unit manually and worked on my bouyancy. At the same time I also "worked" as an assistant, keeping an eye on the group. It is MUCH easier to keep an eye on students in my usual OC rig, plus every time I rolled over to the left I could hear the air rushing out the over pressure valve... had to remember to only roll right, not left :S

Task loading issue, dive #2: we did a wreck dive directly beneath the boat, no students around this time, but at the end of the dive I had the job of untying us from the wreck (boat ties off using a single bowline to the bow of the wreck). Untying the knot went smoothly, but as I tried managing the coiling of the line, switching setpoints on the CCR and maintaining my bouyancy ... well let's just say I had my first "fast" ascent - felt like such a newbie, as even in my OW class I never had an uncontrolled ascent... took 2 minutes to surface from 60 fsw. I know it's within the 30ft/min rule, but I totally missed my safety stop, not even realizing the issue till I was at 7fsw, it was the loss of control that really spooked me. Too much going on, too fast. I keep reminding myself of the priorities I teach my students 1) breathable gas (PO2, etc. in this case) 2) neutral bouyancy 3) deal with issues.

A couple of successful learning experiences along the way:

1) One very nice thing was that my weighting was perfect - I dropped a pound from the previous day, and did not need to use the BC once the entire day, except while hanging at the surface to "relax." Now it's a matter of fine tuning things and watching my bouyancy more closely.

2) Manually maintaining setpoint - I spent about 15 minutes running the unit manually, and while I had to add O2 frequently (about once each minute) it was fascinating to see the rate at which the oxygen was depleted and seeing the PO2 change.

3) This machine takes a LOT more monitoring than my open circuit rig.

4) I have LOTS to learn before I am anywhere near comfortable diving this thing ... but it sure is an adventure learning it all.

Overall, it was a day of learning, partly due to good experiences and partly to mistakes and errors ... but it was a good day.

Aloha, Tim

P.S. Next class is scheduled for Saturday January 4th ... God willing that is

 

[kidspot]

Just resurrecting this thread to say "I FINISHED!" Tuesday was the last day and what a nice day to finish on - water was 75* and felt MUCH warmer than the 67* air I climbed out in after the dive (brrrr) The last 4 dives I spent a lot of time flying the units manually (since I'm planning on purchasing an mCCR and not an eCCR it made sense to focus on manual)

The first dive of the day also afforded my first pseudo rescue while on CCR - near the end of our dive I spotted another diver (on Open Circuit) struggling with bouyancy and begin a rather rapid ascent - so I came over to assist ... gotta say that my OC reactions didn't do much good. I went to empty my BC only to realize I'd never needed to add any air to it this dive, so I exhaled hard ... oops, just goes to the counterlung ... exhaling quickly thru the nose isn't so "quick" after all ... about all I ended up doing was flaring, kicking down and redirecting the other divers fin kicks down instead of up (the source of the quick ascent ... their BC was empty as well - lol) got everything sorted out and we continued our dive - but what an interesting wakeup call on my part (btw - we wound up going from 60 to 30 fsw before getting things sorted out and everyone was ok - nothing drastic, just interesting)

There was also some really amazing sights - 2 Great Barracuda (largest was 3.5-4 ft long) and a HUGE school of bait fish extending from the bottom (70fsw) to the surface in a living tornado of color. The barracuda and several Jacks were hanging around enjoying the free meal

Overall a VERY good day diving, and lots of good learning times.

MANY thanks to Brad at B&B for the opportunity and great experience.

Aloha, Tim

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

Thanks for the updates Tim. Which unit are you going to get?

 

[ScubaAndDreams]

APOC...he already bought it.

Would like to compare notes on Inspiration vs Meg when you get here, and of course see your APOC (when you get it), maybe my skepticism about that unit will dissapear then...

By the way, which part of Oahu ar eyou going to live in? Aiea?

 

[kidspot]

Hopefully in March I'll be able to show you the Apoc Sherm - they made a bunch of changes to several components (especially the BOV) which pushed production back another month ... ahh well ... not a bad delay, but an expected part of being an early adopter. The nice part is that they are not sending out units with issues they have identified, but are fixing the issues first.

I'll be living in Mililani - so not too far from the North Shore for summer time diving ... when I'm so busy I don't have time to dive lol

Aloha, Tim