Most important skills for newbies to master?

[TSandM]

I'd say start with getting your weighting right, using the techniques you were taught. Then arrange the weights so that you can float in a horizontal position without having to scull much.

Then go diving. I can guarantee you that you will get to practice mask clearing often enough -- masks sometimes just leak! Practice taking your regulator out of your mouth and replacing it until you have no anxiety about being without it for a short time. If you are one of the students who had problems disconnecting that LP hose, do practice that -- those connections definitely CAN leak, and you want to be able to pop that hose off quickly if you need to.

Some skills are not much needed. I have, in ten years and 1500 or so dives, never had to remove my BC underwater, but I have taken it off innumerable times on the surface, as that is how some dive ops run things. Since almost all of us dive with two second stages, it's very unlikely you will have to breathe off a free-flowing reg, since you can just switch to the one that isn't doing it (or your buddy's gas). Oral inflation is a good skill to practice, because if you end up on the surface out of gas (which should NEVER happen) you will need to do it, and that's the time when your brain isn't going to be working real well, so it should be quite natural. I have a friend who orally inflates his BC at the end of every dive, just so it will be normal to him if he has to do it for real.

Do practice sharing gas. You can do that at your safety stop, and then complete your ascent to the surface sharing, which is good buoyancy and stability practice. (Always tell the dive guide you are going to do this, because they freak out otherwise. )

It's great that you are thinking about this already. Many people don't practice skills after their classes. We've had people come for Rescue classes who haven't shared air since open water

If you want some good reading material, take a look at the articles on buoyancy control by Gareth Burrows HERE. (The link is to page 1 of the resource section, the buoyancy articles are mostly on P.2.) Take a look around the rest of the articles, too -- they have a LOT of really good stuff on their site.

 

[NAM001]

Buoyancy and trim like many others have said. With out any one formally working on this with you, you can do things on your own. buoyancy comes first. Most of your dives will have a line you go up and down on. You cant always bet on the line being there or you cant always bet on you will be a the line. Good trim or not start by not depending on using the line to climb up and down on. when you master that many of your questions about how to keep from bumping in the bottom will fix them selves. You do this in preparation of being able to hold depth at a safety stop without having a line to hold on to to stay at 20 ft. This will allow you to HOVER at some trim angle. once that is done the rest is easy. When you get that done then trim is just relocating the placement of the weights you are carrying till you are laying flat in the water. Then comes the use of using the rear vent dumps instead of the filler hose to deflate the bladder. That in its self is a lot to put on your plate to start with. The other thing to always work on is being in buddy position with each other. That is side by side so each can view each other and detect problems while they are managable. That should keep you busy for some time.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

Seriously the most important skill you need as a new diver is the ability to say "NO" Expand you comfort level by all means but do it slowly by diving and having fun. If you feel pressured to do a dive say NO, if you feel you aren't ready for the dive say NO never let anyone assume control over you to the point you just blindly follow against your better judgement.

Diving should be fun. Please don't get so hung up on trying to perfect all the skills right away. Contrary to what some people will tell you every one of us took TIME.. bottom hours to master skills.

Macan touched on the next most important thing. Breathing... an involuntary and voluntary action that is necessary to maintain life. Funny how so few people really understand it or give it a second thought. Do a bit of research about the process, make note of how you breath normally, when watching tv, resting, exercising. Many new divers don't understand what is meant when they are told "never hold your breath". Normal breathing has a relaxed pause you don't have to be either breathing in or out at all times... just breath naturally and exhale or keep an open airway as you change depth.


I agree (as I often do with TSandM") get your weigh dialed in. IMHO you need to be comfortable with your breathing to do this. Often new divers are over weighted because they are holding too much air in their lungs all the time. You will find heaps on here about bouyancy some great stuff and some rubbish. Some people get so hung up on perfect trim More time and some awareness. The importance IMHO varies from vital in some environments to it's a good thing to be streamlined, (less resistance in the water = less work and less gas consumption). Some need to be in a slightly head up position due to neck pain.

I would change Never touch the bottom to maintain situational awareness and as much as possible avoid doing damage. I read about a new diver that got swept away in the current because it was so drummed into him Not to Touch anything. He wound up endangering himself when he could have held onto a wreck! By all means do all you can to avoid causing damage but seriously :doh: I personally just don't buy the attitude some have that the environment is so delicate that a carefully placed finger, reef hook or dive rod are going to cause irreparable harm. Avoid contact if you can but please no sackcloth and ashes if you touch once in a while!


You mention Navigation. There is a lot to see.. you don't need to go far. Practice navigation using landmarks and the compass and please take turns at it. One of you is likely to be better than the other but both need to learn it.

I've well over 800 bottom hours and have never come close to my reg knocked out or mask knocked off. Never had a major freeflow or had to remove my BCD underwater. I do manually inflate every time on the surface and often under water. Leaky masks, fogging masks and having to stretch leg cramps on the other hand :doh:

Dive within your skill set and it will come together.. oh and did I mention... Have fun?

Keep safe and keep blowing bubbles

 

[Macan]

You've received some very good advice. Many have mentioned Buoyancy, Trim and they're right.

But you cannot establish good Buoyancy and Trim unless you first sharpen your BREATH CONTROL skills. It's not complicated, in fact, you're already doing breath control on land without even realizing it. When you sing, speak in public, when you workout, run or lift weights, you are controlling your breathing for maximum performance.

The same holds true in Diving. Your BCD will only give you coarse buoyancy control. Use it only for that purpose. Breath Control, the timing of your breathing, will take you to the next level of comfort, safety and environmental responsibility.

It takes a bit of practice and an understanding of Boyles law, making it work for you. Before you know it, you are instinctively doing breath control when you dive. .

 

[Nasser]

Also practice mask clearing while maintaining good trim and buoyancy and relaxed breathing. It's surprising to see new divers not practice this after getting certified and then panic if they're mask starts to fog up underwater or someone kicks it off by accident.

 

[vincent54]

Learn about your computer and it's functions, know your BC and dive. I've seen divers grab a rental computer and have no idea what the functions were, they also depend on the DM to guide them around to safety. When you(and buddy) dive, you are on your own. Don't depend on a stranger to know what you are doing. And especially don't get pressured into a dive you are not comfortable with. Have fun. Cheers

 

[Doc]

Right now we figure the most important skills to practice besides "don't die" ... are:

1. Replacing mask that gets knocked off and clearing
2. Sharing air
3. Randomly asking each other how much air we have (and hopefully knowing without looking)

The most important skill might be eliminating that word "besides" and substituting the word, "included in".

1, 2 & 3 are well within the preceding stages of situations that evolve into the "don't die" category.

Not as much skill mastery as it is overarching concept and total mindset mastery.

We concentrate on the physical, which also includes equipment, because it is easier than training the mind.

Many divers become good manipulators of equipment, precious few evolve to zen-like calm, perceptive mastery.

Feed your head.

 

[elmo]

The questions you're asking demonstrate you have a very good attitude to diving. I can't disagree with what anyone has said (except maybe the bit about dive rods - walking sticks have no place in diving).

Just about everybody is harping on about buoyancy, trim, weighting and breath control. And there's a very good reason to harp on about them. Those skills depend on each other, and improving them makes the rest of diving easier. It doesn't taken scores of dives to get buoyancy perfect. Accept that with hundreds or even thousands of dives you'll never get buoyancy perfect. But that's ok, you'll get really good.

The concept of trim (staying roughly horizontal) sounds simple, but good trim takes practice - people naturally like to have their head high and feet low. Why is trim important? It isn't to show off to others on the dive boat on make you look like an experienced diver. If your feet are low, when you kick forwards, you're actually kicking forwards and up. To counter this, many people will unwittingly compensate by being too negative (over-weighted) in the water. It is common to see divers bopping up with every kick, then sinking when they relax. Kick, sink, kick, sink. To hold a stop, they will continually kick without even realizing it. This makes it very difficult to hold still, which means they miss seeing some of the best stuff, photos don't look very good, staying in a group is difficult, and energy (and air) is wasted.

It's ok not to be perfectly horizontal all the time. Often it's easier to look around if you're not, or perform some task or skill. That's alright, but try to be aware of your position in the water. And when you are head up for whatever reason, try not to fin. If you need to, it probably means you're carrying too much lead. If you can't hold a horizontal position in the water without moving, try shifting weight. If your feet sink, move some of the weight from your belt/pockets up to the tank band or pockets high on your bc. If your legs are very floaty, move the weight as low as you can, and if that isn't enough consider heavier fins or ankle weights.

 

[BDSC]

I can easily see a mask getting kicked off, a reg ripped out of the mouth by an OOA diver and having to grab ahold of them,

While both of those situations are certainly possible, I've been diving since 91 and have never had my mask kicked off or a reg ripped out of my mouth by another diver. As a matter of fact, in all the years I have never encountered an OOA diver. Just make sure you are not that OOA diver!

 

[FinnMom]

Learn to frog kick and make it something you can do for an entire dive. Visit a silty quarry and practice moving along 12-18" off the bottom w/o leaving any disturbance behind you.

A lot of new divers need to keep being reminded to keep their hands still. Don't wave you arms and hands around and don't adjust your position with your hands. Be aware too of what your legs and fins are doing and don't move your fins without genuine need - a lot of new divers scull constantly with their feet and don't even realize it.