Monastery questions

[ktkt]

Exits: We always wore fixie-palms so we did not loose our fins and we'd surf in, either on our mat or in snorkeling mode. When we hit the sand we'd crawl up out of the water as quickly as possible.

What are fixie-palms? Google only wants to tell me about bikes.

 

[dannobee]

We used to teach open water classes at Monastery. It also included "reading the ocean." The greatest part of that was being able to say to the students, "Today, it's 'too big to dive,' we'll go somewhere else." The lesson there was that it's ok to NOT dive a particular site.

We taught a few ways to enter and exit; all geared up, all on but the fins (which included entering negative with fins on your wrists) and getting in water deep enough to sit down on the bottom and put on your fins. For exits it was the "Monastery Crawl" or walking backwards up the berm fully geared up, then taking off your fins once on the DRY part of the beach.

One thing that was constantly stressed was to NEVER take the reg out of your mouth when in the surf zone. EVER. And try to keep your eyes on the wavesets at all times.

 

[fdog]

What are fixie-palms? Google only wants to tell me about bikes.

Try searching for "Fin Keepers":






All the best, James

 

[bsteg]

[video=vimeo;27133296]http://vimeo.com/27133296[/video]


You can take off your fins and wait for the next wave to provide "lift" as you walk right up the steep surf zone and onto the beach as demonstrated at the end of this video...

 

[Thalassamania]

We used to teach open water classes at Monastery. It also included "reading the ocean." The greatest part of that was being able to say to the students, "Today, it's 'too big to dive,' we'll go somewhere else." The lesson there was that it's ok to NOT dive a particular.

I have no problem with the concept, my problem is with the wave height at which the dive is often abandoned.

We taught a few ways to enter and exit; all geared up, all on but the fins (which included entering negative with fins on your wrists) and getting in water deep enough to sit down on the bottom and put on your fins. For exits it was the "Monastery Crawl" or walking backwards up the berm fully geared up, then taking off your fins once on the DRY part of the beach.

One thing that was constantly stressed was to NEVER take the reg out of your mouth when in the surf zone. EVER. And try to keep your eyes on the wavesets at all times.

Entering without your fins on is, I feel, rather foolish, entering with your regulator in your mouth has caused the death of several people. Why would you put your regulator in your mouth? The only reason is to be able to breathe if tumbled. I submit that if you can not hold your breath for the thirty seconds that it takes for the wave to spit you out, or you can't stand up in your gear, you should not be diving there without better skills resultant from more/better training. Half measures can't save you. Watching the sets is, of course, critical.

Read my sig lines.

 

[reefvagabond]

entering with your regulator in your mouth has caused the death of several people. Why would you put your regulator in your mouth?

How have people died because of entering with a regulator in their mouth? Isn't pretty much everyone taught to enter monastery quickly and with their reg in?

 

[Thalassamania]

Embolisms.

Yes, entering with a regulator in the mouth is what is taught by the majority of instructors today ... but that does not make it the best way to do it, that just makes it the fastest way to get the course done, with (of course) the caveat that you will lack the skill to enter under under anything worse than almost perfect circumstances. It is real hard for instructors to teach that which they do not know how to do themselves.

 

[reefvagabond]

Thalassamania, how does one get an embolism from entering the water with the regulator in their mouth? My understanding was that an embolism happens when one ascends too quickly while not breathing / holding their breath. How would that happen on an entry?

I should also say, that I was only taught to enter Monastery with my reg in. All other sites I was taught to enter with a snorkel, and my air OFF. My buddy would turn my air on when we were ready to descent and I would turn his or hers on. Of course we'd check our air and then turn it off before entering. However, nobody else I dive with was taught this way and thus I have abandoned the practice. I think, as you were saying, everyone else teaches to enter the water with the reg in for all sites.

 

[Thalassamania]

As a wave passes over there is a rapid pressure change, you are tumbled and in the excitement of the moment are holding your breath ...

I enter with my air on, I may want to blow my BC up if I were to be tumbled, that speeds being spat out.

 

[dannobee]

I have no problem with the concept, my problem is with the wave height at which the dive is often abandoned.

That, presumably, would be covered by the instructor pointing at the ocean and saying, "Look at the waves. This is too big to dive."

Entering without your fins on is, I feel, rather foolish, entering with your regulator in your mouth has caused the death of several people. Why would you put your regulator in your mouth?...

Since these were open water classes, the "don't ever hold your breath" lesson is still fresh in their minds. While I haven't personally heard of any deaths at Monastery due to embolisms going through the surf, I have heard of a few deaths, and near drownings, by not having immediate access to a breathable gas. This method obviates the need for doing a "reg sweep" if the diver gets rolled in the surf.

Fins on and fins off. We taught methods for both techniques. I'll venture to say that tripping and falling in the surf zone with fins ON is more likely.

At least we're discussing some techniques for entry/exit. It seems that the vast majority of people who have had incidents at Monastery have no formal training in rough water entry/exits.