My advice to OW divers before taking cave instruction

[CoyKoi]

Thanks. No one skill was particularly difficult. The no-mask swim while OK'ing the line is my least favorite because I wear contact lenses and have to remember to keep my eyes closed. But putting them all together in a setting outside my comfort zone, with unfamiliar gear -- that was the difficult part.

 

[TSandM]

Okay, I'm going to sound like a car salesman, but this is one of the things DIR-F is perfect for -- It's a class that makes sure that your buoyancy skills, emergency procedures, task-loading tolerance, and team skills are up to snuff BEFORE you pony up for a cave class.

I'm not as brave as you are, so I've done Fundies, and 5thD-X's Rec 2, and will be doing Rec Triox, and have done a wreck workshop to learn basic line skills, and I've been in doubles for several months . . . and Cave is scheduled for NEXT year!

 

[rjack321]

Ummm, yes that sounds like a used car saleswoman :cwmddd:

Seriously though, it sounds to me like CoyKoi had many of the preliminaries learned but not wired. So having the team practice the cavern skills (together) more, in the gear used, would have been an asset. They didn't need another class to teach them stuff they already had in cavern.

I'm glad you managed to pass and learned something about yourselves and caves.

 

[Dive-aholic]

2. Practiced the skills I learned in the Cavern Course I took from Johnny Richards a year ago A LOT more and with my Cave Course team.

...and most importantly, a powerful committment to continue to build on what we learned this weekend and practice, practice, practice -- not just at Ginnie, but at our local lake, on land...anywhere!

You've hit it on the head there. You need to practice every chance you get, even after you complete your full cave course. I'm diving my cave gear on at least a monthly basis out here in AZ, that way when I get to Florida I don't need to get used to my gear again. And I'm in Florida 3-4 times a year!

 

[do it easy]

I'd like to point out that the reason for all the practice is not too look slick, but to make sure failures and problems are surviveable. It's one thing to do the air sharing exit in class, but if it's necessary outside of class, there will be no instructor to point out the things that went wrong- that will be obvious.

 

[Eileentk]

I just took my Intro to Cave class this last weekend instead of Basic Cave. My choice since I didn't feel that I've done enough double tank dives and didn't want to combine getting used to new equipment while concentrating on all the other skills. We each used a steel 120 with an H-valve set-up and our instructor was in doubles, of course. It was a very interesting and humbling experience. We all 'died' at least once during the weekend but we did get through everything and even had time for a fun cave dive after finishing up the skills. I see a lot more practice in the local quarries in my near future and hopefully time for more trips to the Florida springs.

 

[Mark Vlahos]

Dan is a great guy, I did a few dives with him several weeks ago. I chose to do some dives with an instructor because it had been some time since I had been in a cave, it was also going to be the first time I dove dry in a cave. I did my cave class in a wet suit.

I had several dives in the ocean in doubles and the dry suit, and I thought I would be fine. I was wrong. The combination of fresh water, the high flow, and the fact that the cave dictates depth all made me feel a bit out of control at times.

Practice, practice, practice. You will get good benefits by working drills in your local lake or quarry, but high flow is somthing not easily duplicated, and it can really throw you off your game.

Congratulations on the Basic Cave. Keep diving, and progress slowly.

Mark Vlahos

 

[CoyKoi]

...You will get good benefits by working drills in your local lake or quarry, but high flow is somthing not easily duplicated, and it can really throw you off your game...

Thanks, Mark. Come on down to our area for some simulated high flow cave diving. In the winter when Lake Jocasse is too cold, we dive the discharge from the Duke Power nuclear reactor on Lake Keowee. When you turn into the flow its just like the high flow at Devil's Ear -- mask wiggle and all.

It only takes a few days before we quit glowing in the dark.:sunny

 

[Meng_Tze]

Okay, I'm going to sound like a car salesman, but this is one of the things DIR-F is perfect for -- It's a class that makes sure that your buoyancy skills, emergency procedures, task-loading tolerance, and team skills are up to snuff BEFORE you pony up for a cave class.

I agree with this car sales woman. I did fundies in single tank, moved on to doubles and practiced. Then I went to Cavern/intro, and the practiced some more, then I did full cave.

It was a nice path to walk. Could it have been done without doing Fundies first? Probably yes, but did fundies get me squared away with basics finning techniques, buoyancy and all the skills and drills? Absolutely. I spent my time focussed during the cavern/cave classes on the actual cave aspects, far less on the basics of buoyancy, finning etc.....

My fundies cert is about to expire....... will I loose my skills?

 

[rjack321]

Yes all your skills will be gone, gone, gone

Seriously though, if you had taken cavern already, should one practice what's learned there or do fundies instead?

My vote is for practicing over classes, assuming that you know where your weaknesses are and know what to aim for... (not an easy thing to visualize)