Navigation skills

[Nico Caltabiano]

Hello

A new member to ScubaBoard here, and relatively inexperienced diver (although PADI OW certified more than 10 years ago). A question for PADI instructors here:

When I got my OW certification in 1997, there was nothing about use of compass and navigation. My wife and son have just got their OW certification and for my surprise, part of the training was the use of compass. Because I haven't dived for some time, I took the ReActivate and found very useful to cover very basic skills that I have forgotten and/or not used for a long time. But it does not cover basic navigation (perhaps it should be included in the ReActivate programme?).

I would like to take more dives and move towards AOW, and I understand that one of the mandatory courses is the Navigation Dive. My concern is that the course will not cover the very basic, since it will probably assume that it has been covered in the OW.

Any advice? Thoughts?

Many thanks

Nico

 

[Russoft]

I took OW in 1998 and I definitely remember compass navigation in a murky quarry.

Just recently, I taught my wife underwater navigation since she was rusty on it. Take a bearing and follow it. There are plenty of useful pointers which I'm sure will be covered in AOW (I'm self educated on it, not sure what AOW covers).

A few salient points:

Navigating without visual aids is unwise. You can expect a fairly large margin of error if following a heading blindly.
If conditions allow, pick a point of reference along your heading and swim to it before checking your compass.
Watch your depth carefully. Better to share responsibility with a buddy to maintain depth while navigating.
Hold the compass straight out in front of you. Wrist mount can cause a misalignment error so better to hold the compass in your outstretched hand.

If you have trouble with the basics of navigating using a compass, practice on dry land.

Of course, compass navigation is only one aspect of underwater navigation. The rest involves following physical features underwater and interpreting your environment to figure out which direction shore is, etc.

I look forward to hearing from others with more practical experience.

 

[Got2Go]

You'll be fine in AOW regarding nav.
The instructor will go through the basics with you.

 

[Macan]

I teach AOW and always start with the basics of using the compass on the surface and underwater before progressing to more advance skills. Students first practice on land. I'm sure your AOW instructor will do the same. Underwater navigation in AOW goes beyond compass use. You will also learn Natural Navigation Techniques among other things.

Some suggestions:

1. Get a good wrist analog mechanical compass. Even if your computer is equipped with digital compass, it's easier to have a directional guide (your mechanical compass) that you can glance at quickly without fiddling with buttons or having the computer turn it off at a bad time, to save battery.

2. NEVER dive without one. No matter how familiar you are with a dive site, visibility, weather, currents, may throw you off course. A compass is a life saving device that will help you get back to shore or the boat.

3. ALWAYS take a heading (back to shore, or boat) before descending. I do this and teach students to do this is the "Orient" portion of the 5 points descent. It takes just a few seconds to get a heading. Doing this will save time, and lives, when viz turns bad and/or you get disoriented.

As for a compass choice, I personally prefer a direct reading compass. I use a Suunto SK-6 that I wear on my left wrist. Computer on the right wrist.

In a direct reading compass, the magnetic north needle will always point to your direction of travel without having to turn the bezel. Very useful. In an indirect reading compass, you have to turn the bezel and "cage" the magnetic north needle between the 2 index marks before you can read off your direction of travel. Both works well but just a matter of preference.

 

[TSandM]

The compass instruction in OW is pretty minimal, and many people don't use a compass after that, so instructors are quite used to having to go back and start from scratch with the navigation dive for AOW.

 

[Pinecube]

Like others have said, the compass skills in OW are pretty basic. The only real trick I learned was to gently tilt the compass from side to side as you swim along. This way you can see the point where the compass moves freely and you know it's not stuck.

 

[fisheater]

I HIGHLY suggest that you learn and then practice how to use a compass on land. Then, doing it underwater will be a piece of cake.

 

[Nico Caltabiano]

Many thanks all for all these very useful comments and pointers!

 

[Land Fish]

3. ALWAYS take a heading (back to shore, or boat) before descending. I do this and teach students to do this is the "Orient" portion of the 5 points descent. It takes just a few seconds to get a heading. Doing this will save time, and lives, when viz turns bad and/or you get disoriented.

I'm new to nav and I have a rookie question. Wouldn't the heading of land or boat be in relevant to where you are at the time? For example, if diver A went right while diver B went left after leaving the same boat, wouldn't their heading for coming back to the boat be different? Thanks!

 

[fisheater]

Absolutely!