PADI DM 400M freestyle and 15M tread

[donburde]

Here is the answer directly from padi:
Hello Don,

Roger is out of the office until Monday, but I am happy to assist you with your questions.

For the 400m swim you are allowed to use swim goggles, but not mask and snorkel.

On the 15 minute tread water, you need to have the entirety of both hands out of the water for the last two minutes to get that 5 score.



The scuba earth recreational dive log should be transferred over to our new My PADI Club, once that launches.

So you can continue to log your dives.



I hope this helps to clarify your questions.

Please let us know if there is anything else we can assist you with.



Thank you!





Jennetta

















Jennetta Adams

Regional Training Consultant

 

[TMHeimer]

This is what I recall from the equipment exchange--
Upon advice from this sub forum, we started out wearing each other's equipment, which apparently was perfectly legal. So we were donning our own.
The exact procedure escapes me, but I THINK we switched fins last. What's left to do--masks and BCD. Can't recall which order for those 2, or whether we both took off our masks at the same time. Either way, it was a piece of cake. The BC switch was probably hardest as you'd have to be buddy breathing and coordinating the reg switch with the BCD switch?
I do recall that since there was always air somewhere, one guy did a fair bit before signalling for air.
We were, however approximately the same size.
Later I was asked to do it with a new DMC who was much smaller than me. Not as smooth and took longer, but same procedure, nothing to worry about.

 

[JackD342]

Here is the answer directly from padi:
Hello Don,

Roger is out of the office until Monday, but I am happy to assist you with your questions.

For the 400m swim you are allowed to use swim goggles, but not mask and snorkel.

On the 15 minute tread water, you need to have the entirety of both hands out of the water for the last two minutes to get that 5 score.



The scuba earth recreational dive log should be transferred over to our new My PADI Club, once that launches.

So you can continue to log your dives.



I hope this helps to clarify your questions.

Please let us know if there is anything else we can assist you with.



Thank you!





Jennetta

















Jennetta Adams

Regional Training Consultant

Well, there ya go. Clarification from the owners of the standard. Probably hard to ask them a question that hasn't come up before, although I did it once and started a SB worthy "discussion" in Rancho Santa Margarita.

 

[donburde]

So, I just wanted to update my progress here. I always under and over estimate myself. I have been concentrating (and worrying) on the 400m for the past month or so. With a couple of decent tips from instructors at the pool I have been able to cut my 400m FS from mid 12's to 8:35. Thats only really training for a month, I feel pretty confident that I'll do fine with the 400m when the time comes. This was with only goggles. Actually, the part that I thought was going to be a breeze (the 800m fin kick), boy did I underestimate that one. After swimming around with my fins(force fins), I was thinking, ohhhhhh this is so easy, I'll do this no problem. LOL... apparently I do rely on my upper body strength a lot more than I realized. I think whats really hurting me is keeping my legs down while only using a fin kick. My fins seem to keep hitting breaking surface while im kicking and my kicks are worthless essentially. I even tried 1.5 lb XS ankle weights to keep my legs down. Ended up burning out my legs though before completion. Im much faster on my back. I have a swim float and Im going to start practicing with that to get the correct form. In the words of Tony Little "TECHNIQUE! TECHNIQUE!" LOL

 

[TMHeimer]

I was only able to swim laps once weekly due to our distance from the pool (50 mls.). I did that for several months. First I had to accomplish FINISHING the 400 (after getting my technique back to where it was 40 years ago at the time on the HS swim team...). Then I started working on time and managed to get it to the 12-13 minute range and was able to score a "3".

 

[Scuba Scott]

I understand wanting to hold back info on the "equipment exchange", as it is supposed to be a problem solving exercise, and preparing for it dilutes the value. But it doesn't take much for someone else to explain it to you, and if you fail on the first attempt there are no surprises on the second attempt, so there is no point in guarding it like the formula for Coca Cola.

I knew what to expect because I had a copy of the instructor manual and read about it ahead of time. The only surprises involved is who your partner would be and the fact that I was the only one in the class who knew what to expect because nobody else apparently read that part of the manual we all had.

 

[northernone]

So, I just wanted to update my progress here. I always under and over estimate myself. I have been concentrating (and worrying) on the 400m for the past month or so. With a couple of decent tips from instructors at the pool I have been able to cut my 400m FS from mid 12's to 8:35. Thats only really training for a month, I feel pretty confident that I'll do fine with the 400m when the time comes. This was with only goggles. Actually, the part that I thought was going to be a breeze (the 800m fin kick), boy did I underestimate that one. After swimming around with my fins(force fins), I was thinking, ohhhhhh this is so easy, I'll do this no problem. LOL... apparently I do rely on my upper body strength a lot more than I realized. I think whats really hurting me is keeping my legs down while only using a fin kick. My fins seem to keep hitting breaking surface while im kicking and my kicks are worthless essentially. I even tried 1.5 lb XS ankle weights to keep my legs down. Ended up burning out my legs though before completion. Im much faster on my back. I have a swim float and Im going to start practicing with that to get the correct form. In the words of Tony Little "TECHNIQUE! TECHNIQUE!" LOL

Here's a little unsought advice:

Of the various fins I've used on the surface the least efficient are force fins. They are great underwater, but as you described they are hard to use on the surface. To get the propulsion from their design I needed to turn sideways and fin with kicks parallel to the water surface. That tip might help, or if possible try a fin that is more suitable for surface finning, most paddle fins work ok. Adding ankle weights is added resistance and energy as every stroke you are needing to lift them over and over.

Nicely done on your swim times, dedicated practice certainly makes a difference.

Cameron

 

[donburde]

Here's a little unsought advice:

Of the various fins I've used on the surface the least efficient are force fins. They are great underwater, but as you described they are hard to use on the surface. To get the propulsion from their design I needed to turn sideways and fin with kicks parallel to the water surface. That tip might help, or if possible try a fin that is more suitable for surface finning, most paddle fins work ok. Adding ankle weights is added resistance and energy as every stroke you are needing to lift them over and over.

Nicely done on your swim times, dedicated practice certainly makes a difference.

Cameron

Fortunately, I was able to resell the Force Fins for what I paid for them, locally. I'm looking into other options.

 

[saxman242]

Fortunately, I was able to resell the Force Fins for what I paid for them, locally. I'm looking into other options.

If you're looking for fins to help you with the long swim and not for diving, I would look not in the scuba world but in the competitive swimming world. Something meant for use in swimming at the surface and keeping a proper kick cadence, like so:

https://www.swimoutlet.com/p/tyr-flex-swim-fins-3471/
https://www.swimoutlet.com/p/sporti-floating-swim-fins-color-23059/

 

[donburde]

If you're looking for fins to help you with the long swim and not for diving, I would look not in the scuba world but in the competitive swimming world. Something meant for use in swimming at the surface and keeping a proper kick cadence, like so:

https://www.swimoutlet.com/p/tyr-flex-swim-fins-3471/
https://www.swimoutlet.com/p/sporti-floating-swim-fins-color-23059/

I did consider both of those but I'm worried that the short length is not going to give me enough forward thrust. Swimmers normally use their arms as well. The next ones Im going to try are:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079MXP47...olid=2QF835QJ88RVC&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

If worse comes to worse, I have a cheapo backup pair that I can lend out of someone forgets theirs...