Intro to Cave Course

[SmokeAire]

Andy,
Fancy meeting you here.
Thanks for a great thread. Just picked up answers to thought about questions.

Now the ? is where to dive and practice.
Chuck

 

[in_cavediver]

In my untrained opinion, the whole doubles/intro thing seems like a mistake on the part of the training agencies. No one would argue that an H valve is safer than a pair of doubles. I understand that they are worried about going past 1/6th on doubles at the intro level but I don't understand the concern. If it's considered *safe* to go in 1/3rd of a single tank and no complex navigation, why is it unsafe to use 1/3rd of doubles with no complex navigation? Is it just that there's twice as much time for something to go wrong? What if I just promise to do half the number of dives to compensate

My best guess (I didn't write the standards) is that 1/3 of a single tank and 1/6 of doubles serves to limit your linear penetration distance. Case in point, in the one system, you can go on continuos gold line around 1600-1800 feet without any complex navigation (jumps/gaps). I can easily make it on double 104's. On my single 120 with and H, I cannot. (40cf versus 90cf for thirds).

Simply do shorter dives and then finish full cave. There's plenty of really good cavern/intro dives to do.

Have fun and enjoy your class

Mike

 

[GDI]

When considering doubles to a single and the 1/6 to 1/3 rules. You need to not just look at the penetration distance. (some people can go pretty far on a single for 1/3 in a shallow system) You need to also consider the deco issue. It is still possible to hit deco limits but we further reduce the chance of this by imposing 1/3 for single and 1/6 for doubles. Also the single allows you build awareness of the environment without the task loading of doubles. Permits for doubles gives you the chance to adjust the load characteristics of having doubled up cylinders. The system does work.

 

[H2Andy]

hey smokeaire... lol

looking forward to the dreaded Peacock/Blue Spring combo

 

[H2Andy]

OK, everybody, thanks for the answers thus far.... now a bit of a different
issue. I am signed up for Intro. to Cave class on May 8 and 9, with Johnny
Richards (at Ginnie). i ditched the H-valve idea and will rent until i get my
double set up, btw.

questions:

1. What should i do to prepare?

2. What do you wish you had done before taking intro. to cave that you didn't?

(sort of the same thign).

as always, thank you in advance for your replies.

 

[fgray1]

OK, everybody, thanks for the answers thus far.... now a bit of a different
issue. I am signed up for Intro. to Cave class on May 8 and 9, with Johnny
Richards (at Ginnie). i ditched the H-valve idea and will rent until i get my
double set up, btw.

questions:

1. What should i do to prepare?

2. What do you wish you had done before taking intro. to cave that you didn't?

(sort of the same thign).

as always, thank you in advance for your replies.

They always help :toilet_cl This is what you feel like the first time. HEHEHE
Fred

 

[in_cavediver]

OK, everybody, thanks for the answers thus far.... now a bit of a different
issue. I am signed up for Intro. to Cave class on May 8 and 9, with Johnny
Richards (at Ginnie). i ditched the H-valve idea and will rent until i get my
double set up, btw.

questions:

1. What should i do to prepare?

2. What do you wish you had done before taking intro. to cave that you didn't?

(sort of the same thign).

as always, thank you in advance for your replies.

Here's my biased opinion about it. First, dive, dive some more and then dive even more. Concentrate on the basic's. Make sure you can do something while maintaining neutral bouyancy. Ideally, you would use the same gear you are going (planning) to use in your class, even if you look really funny walking into a 20ft deep quarry in full cave gear. This can be really important for large canister lights as the addtitional wieght will affect your trim. If you can, work on weighting, body position and your trim. Figure out what changes you can make to produce different effects with your gear. It ought to be pretty straightforward and you can find some details in the archives about what to do. Just do it so you can expierence it and have a frame of reference for when you need it. The more of these basic's you can have down before your class, the more you can concentrate on the class itself. Open water is the place to work on this stuff.

As for my intro class, I combined cavern and intro in the same week. Just prior to that, I finished my deep and advanced nitrox certs so I was pretty comfortable with my basic gear. I did take several months between my intro and full cave to the basics down pat in doubles. (I got a fair number of funny looks going diving in cave gear in 20ft quarries though) The time I spent diving did more to help my cave class than anything else. I thoroughly enjoyed the cave class.

Take home message, get the fundementals down pat before you class. The last thing you want to do is work on the mechanics of diving when you could be learning the skills of cave diving and enjoying the dives.

Mike

 

[GDI]

What ever time you spend working with a new setup before going into overhead is never wasted. Work in a pool or a quarry or some shallow lake whatever., just work it to get use to it

 

[MikeFerrara]

OK, everybody, thanks for the answers thus far.... now a bit of a different
issue. I am signed up for Intro. to Cave class on May 8 and 9, with Johnny
Richards (at Ginnie). i ditched the H-valve idea and will rent until i get my
double set up, btw.

questions:

1. What should i do to prepare?

2. What do you wish you had done before taking intro. to cave that you didn't?

(sort of the same thign).

as always, thank you in advance for your replies.

Concentrate on the basics...buoyancy control, trim and finning technique.

Some excersizes...

Practice hovering in a horizontal position with your chest about six inches above a platform or other hard flat area. If you don't touch any where you're pretty horizontal.

Swim over the area...make a fist with your thumb sticking out the top and your pinky sticking out the bottom and use it for a space between your chenst and the platform. Try to maintain a constant distance without bumping the platform.

 

[Mako Mark]

definately, confined water or limited open water practice with a set of doubles will benefit you a whole heap before you go.

If you have a LDS that has a bouyancy control obstacle course set up in a quarry or deep pool, practice, practice, practice. horizontal body position, changing depths, feet up, streamlining hoses reels, reversing up without using hands.

A few hours practice will really pay off and give you a great advantage. There is no substitute for real experience