Mentoring a new diver the minimalist way

[Eric Sedletzky]

I have a good friend who recently got certified by SSI (I think).
He's been skin diving for a few years (free diving - but I like the old school term).
The skin diving is to get abalone and spear fishing.
He practices in a pool and he's getting some good leg power with those long fins.

He want's to dive with me and my group of minimalists. I told him we'd love to take him aboard. "One thing" I told him half joking, " You need to learn to dive minimalist with no BC if you want to dive with us". Without the slightest pause he said "Sure man, no problem, I'll do it, let's go."
I thought, wow, cool, finally someone who we get to start off and bypass all the traps of the industry fleecing machine.

I gave him a list of the basic gear he needs to get started. This stuff is the bare basic equipment which will yield the same end result as all the stuff that costs hundreds or thousands more. I had him go to the LDS that certified him. I told him that if he wanted to spend money spend it on the reg.

He already has a good wetsuit, fins, mask, and straight snorkel.
I'm going to set him up with one of my plates. I'll get him a wing but I won't let him use it just yet.
He's getting a basic Glass & brass SPG and a basic wrist compass. He wanted the latest and greatest computer but I told him if he wanted a computer to just get a half way decent wrist computer that you can use in guage mode and that has nitrox mode(he's going to learn tables for his own good).

I'm going to start him off doing some skin dives to get his breath hold times and stamina up and gradually get him into some bigger water for conditions training. Then I'm going to put the bare pack on him and start him off back packing from the get go. We're going to keep an eye on him and get his weighting right on. I want him to get a lot of backpack dives under his belt before he even thinks of putting that wing on. Once he gets to use the wing he probably won't even remember to puff air into it at first because he'll forget it's even there. This is when I'll know that he really knows how to dive.

I'm really looking foreward to getting this kid under our wings (or backpacks). Actually he's not a kid, he's 44 years old, but he has all the wonder and excitement of a kid, and he's skinny, so I forget he's not a kid. But we call him the kid.

 

[LiteHedded]

why no wing?

 

[captain]

why no wing?

Why not, sounds like he is being mentored to not rely on one which will vastly help his proficiency with buoyancy control. I believe all training should begin without a BC.

 

[Doc]

finally someone who we get to start off and bypass all the traps of the industry fleecing machine

The Luddite Scuba Assn (LSA) has been doing this for years. For his DM project, Ted Kaczynski made his own wood screws.

We dove for years without BC's, and it's a great thing to learn about buoyancy, but you can do that quite safely by purging all the air out of one. It's nice to have a way-out if that noob is gargling crappies.

Making your flippers out of pine boards never worked.

 

[rstofer]

ZKY,

Looking at your avatar, I am guessing you are using a wetsuit and a steel tank of some kind. How do you set your buoyancy at the surface with a full tank? Eyeball level? More positive? Less positive?

Or, at what depth are you neutral with a full tank or an empty tank?

I am considering the same approach except with a cotton harness and double hose regulator. For the first evolution, I will probably be using an Al 50 and not one of my HP 100s. My goal is to get my trudging weight (what I carry across the beach) to a minimum. My lower back has been trashed for the last 4 months and I really need to get the weight down.

Bottom time is not necessarily a goal and depth will be in the 30' range.

Richard

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

why no wing?

Because I want him to learn peak buoyancy without any aid from a device.
For the type of diving we're into, bugs, spear fishing, relatively shallow reef buzzing, we rely on lung control and body positioning to get us around. Backpack diving is designed for speed and agility. Constantly filling and dumping air in and out of a wing in the 30 to 50 foot range becomes counter productive.
If it was photography or looky loo diving we we're doing it would be different, but he want's to learn the type of diving we're into. I explained what backpacking involves and he's totally on board with it. If it becomes to much for him and he want's out then we'll kick him loose and he can go back to his puffy jacket.
But, I have a feeling this dude will stick with it.

 

[Web Monkey]

Will he have an alternate second stage for sharing air? If not, you'll be creating a death-trap for any new diver that goes to him for help.

Terry

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

ZKY,

Looking at your avatar, I am guessing you are using a wetsuit and a steel tank of some kind. How do you set your buoyancy at the surface with a full tank? Eyeball level? More positive? Less positive?

Or, at what depth are you neutral with a full tank or an empty tank?

I am considering the same approach except with a cotton harness and double hose regulator. For the first evolution, I will probably be using an Al 50 and not one of my HP 100s. My goal is to get my trudging weight (what I carry across the beach) to a minimum. My lower back has been trashed for the last 4 months and I really need to get the weight down.

Bottom time is not necessarily a goal and depth will be in the 30' range.

Richard

Yes, wetsuit and steel tank.
I'm wearing my 7 mil in that photo which is a custom built old school beaver tail and it's made out of a very dense commercial grade skin-in material that resists compression. I had M&B in Long Beach make 2 suits for me.

The tank is a steel 3442 120. I weight myself so that I'm light on the surface just about like I would be weighted for freediving. I have to fight my way down for the first 10 feet or so then I neutral out. As the air gets used up in my tank I get lighter and lighter. I end up being able to hold a stop at around 15 feet with just my breathing.
Some guys weight lighter and some heavier. I'm somewhere in the middle.

If you're in Stockton consider making it up to one of our club dives. Go the the website on my signature and check it out. We have a little sub group of minimalists in the club and it seems every month another one defects over to our side.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Will he have an alternate second stage for sharing air? If not, you'll be creating a death-trap for any new diver that goes to him for help.

Terry

Absolutely.
I wouldn't place a new guy in that situation without alternate air. We'll be strictly buddy diving so both of us will have octos. A group of us will be around him constantly so he'll be in good hands.

The single second is something I'm into only when I solo dive.

 

[PhilEllis]

I have a good friend who recently got certified by SSI (I think).
He's been skin diving for a few years (free diving - but I like the old school term).
The skin diving is to get abalone and spear fishing.
He practices in a pool and he's getting some good leg power with those long fins.

He want's to dive with me and my group of minimalists. I told him we'd love to take him aboard. "One thing" I told him half joking, " You need to learn to dive minimalist with no BC if you want to dive with us". Without the slightest pause he said "Sure man, no problem, I'll do it, let's go."
I thought, wow, cool, finally someone who we get to start off and bypass all the traps of the industry fleecing machine.

I gave him a list of the basic gear he needs to get started. This stuff is the bare basic equipment which will yield the same end result as all the stuff that costs hundreds or thousands more. I had him go to the LDS that certified him. I told him that if he wanted to spend money spend it on the reg.

He already has a good wetsuit, fins, mask, and straight snorkel.
I'm going to set him up with one of my plates. I'll get him a wing but I won't let him use it just yet.
He's getting a basic Glass & brass SPG and a basic wrist compass. He wanted the latest and greatest computer but I told him if he wanted a computer to just get a half way decent wrist computer that you can use in guage mode and that has nitrox mode(he's going to learn tables for his own good).

I'm going to start him off doing some skin dives to get his breath hold times and stamina up and gradually get him into some bigger water for conditions training. Then I'm going to put the bare pack on him and start him off back packing from the get go. We're going to keep an eye on him and get his weighting right on. I want him to get a lot of backpack dives under his belt before he even thinks of putting that wing on. Once he gets to use the wing he probably won't even remember to puff air into it at first because he'll forget it's even there. This is when I'll know that he really knows how to dive.

I'm really looking foreward to getting this kid under our wings (or backpacks). Actually he's not a kid, he's 44 years old, but he has all the wonder and excitement of a kid, and he's skinny, so I forget he's not a kid. But we call him the kid.

Sounds like you are acting in the capacity of an instructor. Of course, I am assuming that you are an instructor.

Phil Ellis
www.divesports.com