Pool Session #2

[dotyj]

Hi all:

I promise this won't be as long as my previous stories.

I had my second pool session yesterday 10/12/2002. We set up the gear, I got the wetsuit, booties, and weight belt on. Things looked pretty good.

The day wouldn't start out well and though my skills session went well, I had real trouble with the bcd I was using (a different model then the weekend before), weight placement, and orientation under water.

We started out working with a backwards entry. Mind you I am seriously disabled. My walking days ended 29 years ago. My bcd with the tank was positioned in front of the pool. I backed up to it, got help putting my fins on and was strapped into the bcd. The bcd was too low so we layed the tank (An AL50?) on a couple of weight belts.

My instructor was telling me to watch my legs during entry. I figured that wouldn't be a problem. I can't sit on the floor with my legs out in front of me because of the years I've been in a wheelchair. but I can sit with my lets off to each side of me. Sort of like "reverse Indian" style, or like a "W" as my sister used to call it when we were kids.

I had just put my mask on while my instructor was gearing up. I then noticed things weren't going well. I then did two things at the same time. I told my instructor I was tipping over. The tank shifted and was sliding off the weight belts and taking me with it, and I was reaching around behind me with my right arm for the primary reg. I thought for sure I was gonna tip over sidways then roll off into the pool. No such luck. I tipped at a slight angle and into the pool I went.

I was disoreinted but had air in my bcd so rather than fumble for my reg I grabbed my snorkel, put it in my mouth and blew it out. Not too well though and I swallowed a bit of the pool when I inhaled. So I blew it out again and was fine.

Seemed like an "America's Take it in the Balls Home Videos" moment and it did scare me but I stayed calm and worked through the problem as best I could.

I figure that if nothing else, I'm learning a lot about how not to enter the water.

I really need work with weighting. My scrawny legs just floated in front of me no matter how hard I attempted to pull them down. I wonder if I could had put my reg in my mouth, floated on my back the rotated to my face and then drawn my legs in to right myself? I should try it.

Well, this time I had a four pound weight belt on and a pair of four pound weight bags in the bcd. That wasn't quite enough weight though. I couldn't sit on my knees at the bottom of the pool though I was just negatively buoyant enough to sink. Gotta work on the weights.

The skills tasks went very well. I need the LP hose connectors with the "Delta Wing" attachment though on my bcd. I just can't grasp a standard bezel well enough to remove it from the bcd. But I can attach the LP hose with little effort.

I did great snorkeling, I did great removing and replacing my mask, I did great breathing for 60 seconds without my mask, I did great with the OOA exercise where the instructor shuts off my air, I did great manually inflating my bcd, I did great switching back and forth between my reg and snorkel.

I'm only upset with two things.

1) My water entries to date seem to be a comedy of errors in which I end up either floating helplessly in the prone position or fall into the water ill-prepared.

I don't ever want to do another backwards entry. Face first worked best for me.

2) Weighting. I can't as of yet get it right.

Yesterday on more than one occasion I ended up floating on the bottom of the pool with my tank blow me. This is a weird sensation to say the least, and seems somewhat dangerous. Though I stayed calm. I had plenty of air and my instructor there.

After the dive I asked a few questions. One question was about my problems staying oriented underwater. We did try a differen't bcd yesterday that we won't use again. My friend Tim will be bringing his bcd over this week for me to try Saturday. Maybe it will work for me. If so I'lll know what to buy. On the up side the buttons on this bcd worked great for me.

I asked about the first and second stage. I noticed when laying on my back that I had a harder time breathing than I did when prone and asked if it was physcological or something to do with the equipment. Turns out it was the equipment. Why is that I wonder?

Any, I haven't given up. I'm sticking this out. If after finishing my pool sessions and my open water dives, I'm still not able to function properly, then I'll accept that and go away with the satisfaction that I've actually dived and had a great time. But at this point though I am disappointed with the problems I'm having, I feel I can do this and really learn to scuba dive. My instructor has already said that I'll be allowed as many sessions as needed to become proficient.

There's more I wanted to write about, but I did promise to keep this shorter than my previous messages and it's nearly 23:00 Sunday night. I have to be up at 06:00 to go to work.

Boy if nothing else I'm collecting some really good stories to tell my non diving friends and co-workers.

 

[art.chick]

Yeah, you give a lot of details, but I really like reading your posts. The entries do sound a little clumsy & the instructor may have to get creative on modifying them differently for you. I am not convinced that you are underweighted if you are sinking. OUr lungs fill up like big pontoons when we are nervous, and newer students can be REALLY nervous, more than they even realize. As your comfort level rises, you will breathe better & need LESS weight, not more.

The BCs vary a lot, & some will be more comfortable than others. The regulator breathes better in some positions than others because of where the diaphram inside is positioned. You are not really supposed to lie on your back on the bottom of the ocean, so they don't manufacture the reg to work for that position! (Although I love swimming on my back underwater to get an up view of students as they practice their kicks!)

It is normal to have "bad days" in the pool, especially early on, so don't start thinking about failing. You did some good quick thinking when the heat was on, & your ability to not panic when falling in the pool prematurely shows that you already have the stuff to think like a diver!

 

[dotyj]

Hi art.chick:

Thanks for the encouragement.

I feel good about how my skills went Saturday and really enjoyed swimming around the bottom of the pool. I'm quite comfortable with being horizontal and kicking along looking around and listening to the sounds my breathing makes. Very relaxing.

I didn't feel "disconnected" like I did on my first pool session. This could be because I've now had a few hours of in pool instruction and I'm getting used to the feeling, or maybe not? I haven't been at this long enough to know.

My friend's bcd may work well for me. I'll find out Saturday. I'll keep at it, but I really need an entry method that works for me.

I'm thinking that I should gear up with everything except the weight belt and scuba unit next to the pool. Hop in the water, put the scuba unit on, then roll into my weight belt. I did practice removing and replacing my weight belt Saturday and it went pretty well for my first attempt. I got the belt off without any help this time. I wore the buckle just a bit to the right and that really helped. I need to practice putting the belt on in the water though. I didn't do as well with that as I could have.

I think that unless a person physically able to lift all the gear at once, then the heavy stuff should be put on at the surface. Might make a difference for me. Afterall, it's very unlikely that I'll be doing more than boat dives. Though I can take a manual wheelchair, gear up in it and push it off a boat ramp.

 

[art.chick]

James,
Ha Ha! I got quite a giggle at the thought of you whizzing into the water in a wheelchair! It reminds me of a weekend when my husband sat out the instructor course tryout because his gout was acting up. He stood on the shore leaning on his cane & watched the other candidates wade thru the surf. A wave washed in a crusty diver who was leaning on a cane he took in with him! My husband was so ashamed not to be in the water if that guy could do it!

So you are thinking of donning some of the gear in the water?
I like the idea! See how it feels. There are lots of things that feel weird to new divers. I remember feeling very awkward when I began. I thought I could not handle a weight belt at all so I got an integrated BC. Then I thought I could not handle an integrated BC! My instructor kept telling me that as my comfort in the water increased, everything would change. I had no idea what he meant, but now I do. All of these clumsy moments are stepping stones to the moment of breathless wonder, when you swim with the fish for the first time! You are doing great!

 

[Goeduck]

with art.chick, I had to chuckle a bit at the picture in my mind of someone in a wheelchair wheeling down the dock with full scuba gear to enter the water.

But hey, it sounds like you are getting the hang of it, awkward entries and all. The way I figure, anyway you can get in the water can't be all that wrong.

Keep it up and keep us posted.

 

[dotyj]

What's funny is back in the early '80s a friend of mine and I made a road trip from Spokane, WA to Soap Lake, WA to meet with a friend.

Well we get there and his friend wasn't home so rather than drive straight home we detour to the local lake. Now I know why it's called Soap Lake.

Anyway, it was really hot so we decided to go for a swim. With a lot of body english on my friend's part we got my manual chair to the lake and I just wheeled right in until I floated off the seat.

My friend wouldn't go out past his mid chest. I swam out to the buoyes a few times. While out there I heard a girl who was playing in the shallow area totally freaking out "Oh my God, there's a wheelchair in the lake!" She starts frantically searching around for the occupant.

I was laughing so hard I couldn't tell her it was me. My friend was so embarrassed he wouldn't tell her it was me.

After I came out of the lake and we made our way back to my van, I found out my friend wouldn't go any further out in the lake because he couldn't swim and was embarrassed by it. My friend embarrassed way to easily.

There's recreational facility with a pool here in Vancouver called Marshal Center. Their pool has a portable wheelchair ramp. They also have a water powered patient lift. This is where I took Aqua Exercise while going to Clark College.

 

[DiverBuoy]

You'll become a buoyancy specialist. Remember that weights come in may forms, rings, strips, clip-ons, pouches, belts so look around and experiment. I tell my students - as do all other instructors - it takes many dives to get mastery over buoyancy. However, in my experience - those with disabilities in the legs get it down 2 times faster than everyone else.

 

[dotyj]

I think it's because we don't like laying on our tanks at the bottom of a pool.

I figure I've got plenty more pool sessions to work on my entry technique and weighting before I go on my open water dives.

Even with the problems I'm having, I really am enjoying myself.

It's really weird talking to my TAB (Temporarily Ambulatory Body) co-workers about learning scuba diving. Many are interested in my progress, a few are either scuba divers currently or former scuba divers, or the been there done that type, and a few are completely dumbfounded why anyone would willingly submerse themselves in even six feet of water and rely on air from a tank to survive. I've had some interesting conversations.

"I freak out if I get water in my nose while showing."
"I wouldn't go down there, there's things that can eat you!"

Scuba diving is such a cool sport that I can just kick myself for not getting involved years ago.

DiverBuoy once bubbled...
in my experience - those with disabilities in the legs get it down 2 times faster than everyone else.

 

[detroit diver]

Jim,

Does your LDS have any back inflate BC's that you can use? It would seem to me that this might help your position in the water. Don't over-inflate it on the surface as it might push your face too far forward.

 

[dotyj]

Hi Detroit Diver:

I believe that's the style I used my first pool session. Once I got my balance figured out it worked pretty well. It will dump your face in the water though if over inflated

We'll likely go back to that style this Saturday.

I need a back inflate BCD with easy to use buttons.

My friend Tim has offered me the use of his. I'll find out what style it is before I borrow it.

Thanks for your advise.

detroit diver once bubbled...
Jim,

Does your LDS have any back inflate BC's that you can use? It would seem to me that this might help your position in the water. Don't over-inflate it on the surface as it might push your face too far forward.