Just finished my DM today

[thevalkyry]

tread water no gear

I am so positively buoyant that I just float in water. That's what makes those endurance swims to easy. I just dont sink. I wear 16 pounds to dive and marvel at people who wear less than 10.

but I am going to add swimming to my program. Its great all around cardio.

My recommendation for a swim work-out would be this: If you are negatively bouyant concentrate on sprint drills so you dont have to work so hard to stay on the surface. If you are like me and float with no effort then you can do the long hauls. I tend to open with a 10 lap warm-up. I also recommend Terry Laughlin's 'Total Immersion'. Great book on lap swimming. Any of his books, really: Amazon.com: Total Immersion

 

[Hawkeye Mark]

Glad you got it done. It took me about 3 years as there were some issues with the other student when I started. I dont use it but its great to have on vacation. My wife doesnt dive so when we go someplace where I am on my own, I merely show the card and no further questions are asked. The recognition factor was worth the work, although I enjoyed the course.

Considering that in 2000 before I did open water I was scared to get in the deep end of a pool, I think I have come quite a ways.

 

[jupitermermaid]

Wow....you HAVE come a long way! Congrats!

 

[richerso]

For the 800, get a snorkel that is the biggest open unobstructed airway you can find. I made the mistake of using a dry snorkle and I couldn't breathe through it well at all for the entire 800 yards. Thought I was going to die about halfway through the swim.

Thank you for this awesome piece of advice! I hadn't really thought much about the airway obstruction factor in dry snorkels. That's odd too. Being a mechanical engineer, you'd think that I would ponder such things.

Jupitermeremaid, I enjoyed working and helping with the students during the pool and openwater dives the most. Thevalkyry, the swims for PADI are diver tow in full gear,tread water no gear,400 yard swim no gear,800 yard mask snorkel fins swim. All are timed. If you have been swimming that much you will have no problem. I cycle for exercise, but I am going to add swimming to my program. Its great all around cardio.

Thank you for the swimming run down. The swimming requirements are the ones that scare me the most. I just don't know if I can swim 400 yards without dying (sp?) first.

I am so positively buoyant that I just float in water. . . . . . If you are negatively bouyant concentrate on sprint drills so you dont have to work so hard to stay on the surface.

I am so negatively bouyant it's unreal. If I attempt to float on my back and remain perfectly motionless, this is what happens: First, my feet start to slowly sink. After about 60 seconds I am vertical in the water with my neck bent backwards. Just enough of my head sticks out of the water that I can breathe through my nose IF there are no waves. If there are waves, my nose gets swamped. Oh! And to make this happen, I have to maintain at least 50% air volume in my lungs at all times. If I exhale deeper than that, I sink.

 

[jupitermermaid]

The physics scares me the most. Give me a formula or theory and my mind goes on vacation. The swimming I'm not worried about. I can just about float sitting up in the water....lol. Men are more muscular and have more tendency to sink fairly easily.

 

[willgr1]

Congrat of finishing Rich! Hopefully I'll finish up in a few weeks. Travis has certainly made the course fun!

-Bill

 

[k-valve]

That is the reason I am going for my DM next year, chicks really dig it ... lol

No, no! It's 'cause we love to show people how to clear their masks over and over and over and over and...well you get the picture.

Whoa! What a minute! That's why I continued on and got a Tech DM certification...so I wouldn't have to chase divers who overinflated their BCs at depth, can't clear their masks, lose their masks and fins, etc. It's much more entertaining to see an experienced diver step off an underwater platform in steel doubles or inflate a lift bag for the first time.

Seriously, congrats Bladesmith. While not all that profitable there are some great perks you'll discover over time.

 

[thevalkyry]

Is the 800 a surface swim? If so I am going to be a lot more efficient sans snorkel. If I have to have it could I just sort of tie it to my leg or something? I can scuba fine, but I end up with a mouth full of water when I snorkel. And how do they do it? In a pool - do you just go back and forth for 16 laps? (Assuming your pool is 25m)

 

[TwoBitTxn]

Is the 800 a surface swim? If so I am going to be a lot more efficient sans snorkel. If I have to have it could I just sort of tie it to my leg or something? I can scuba fine, but I end up with a mouth full of water when I snorkel. And how do they do it? In a pool - do you just go back and forth for 16 laps? (Assuming your pool is 25m)

The 800 is a snorkel swim. Mask, fins, snorkel.

It's much easier to do out at the lake, if you can snorkel in a straight line.

 

[thevalkyry]

It's much easier to do out at the lake, if you can snorkel in a straight line.

Straight line??

You can ask Yellowfin - so a skill I havent mastered - even with a compass in my hand.