"Practice" dives

[scuba spark]

I made a post here a few weeks back about how to become a safer diver. I've been able to digest most of the information that was provided, and want to thank everyone that posted in it. As a follow up to that thread, I wanted to ask about specific skills to practice under water.

To give a little background, I'm a new diver. I was certified last spring and I'm sitting right around 30 dives right now. I usually dive with my girlfriend, who has about the same number of dives but has been certified a few years longer than I have, and her brother in law who has been diving religiously for around 10 years. We try to hit one of the local quarries a few times a month when it warms up (that will change once can I afford to get a dry suit) and plan a trip or two during the year.

I think we're all comfortable enough in the water and with eachother to start working on various skills. We're all still diving singles with the standard primary/octo setup, although two of us may be moving to doubles next year. Short of practicing air sharing, buddy breathing, finning techniques and bouyancy control, what are some other skills that we can work on? I keep seeing people mention s-drills but I can't figure out what they are. I guess making sure we're all using the same hand signals for the same message would be a good start. What do you guys do when you enter the water with your team with the purpose of the dive being to practice skills?

disclaimer: I'm not a DIR diver and I may never go down that road, but I know you guys put a good deal of stock in practicing your skills so I figured I'd pose the question in this forum. If you'd like to move it to a different forum, I understand. If you'd like me to repost it myself, I'll be happy to do so.

 

[TSandM]

S-drills are "Safety drills", or air-sharing drills.

What I do when I do a "skills dive" is practice air-sharing, valve drills (but I'm in doubles), ascents and descents with accurate, well-timed stops, and SMB deployment. We've also spent dives practicing hovering, or working on back kicking or any other kick technique that somebody wants feedback on. During the dives, I'll often look at my buddy and ask him what my trim looks like (we have a hand signal for this).

Another area of skills people sometimes forget is mask-off work. Practicing taking your mask off, reseating and clearing it is excellent preparation for the day when somebody swims over the top of you while you're diving a 600 foot wall, and kicks your mask off. Similarly practicing regulator recovery is a good exercise, for the same reason. Doing mask-off ascents is excellent practice for the day when one might be needed, and also good buoyancy work in general.

 

[WJL]

I'm not altogether sure what you're looking for.

First, just getting a written list of skills to practice is not going to be all that helpful for you - what you need is to learn in person how to do the skills and what their purpose is. You can buy videos of "DIR-style" skills being demonstrated (e.g., http://www.customflix.com/Store/ShowEStore.jsp?rtnPt=0&id=209712&isPreview=true), but without someone to help you through learning them, I don't know how effective that would be.

Second, the biggest part of DIR diving is being part of a unified team. Skills training is a team effort. When you say you are not interested in being a "DIR diver" that leads me to think you're not catching on to why DIR divers learn and practice in the first place.

 

[TSandM]

Well, that's why I moved this thread out of the DIR forum.

He doesn't want to be a DIR diver; he wants to know what he should practice to be a safer and better diver. Emergency procedures and good diving technique are not unique to DIR, although they may be performed differently depending on the equipment configuration you have elected to use. But they should be kept sharp, whichever route you're taking.

 

[scuba spark]

Ok, let me address a couple of points. I'm not looking for "DIR skills". I was just asking the DIR community what skills they practice when they do practice dives. I would like to start including skills dives in my diving, and I was wondering which skills would be helpful and practical to practice while diving. I should have been more specific in my wording I guess.

As for why I was asking the DIR people, in my limited experience on these boards, the DIR forums seem to have more posts dealing with specific diving techniques than the other forums. So I figured I'd ask the people that spend the most time talking about it.

I actually contacted GUE and asked them about taking the DIR-F class last year. Because of the equipment restrictions, and the lack of any classes that were close enough to fit into my schedule, I chose not to go that way. I understand the philosophy behind DIR, I've read some of their materials, and I've read plenty of posts from both ends of the DIR spectrum. The reasoning behind the equipment choices, the reason why you dive with a team, etc. I just haven't drank any of the fabled cool-aid yet.

I've met some people recently that are willing to provide some mentoring, but I won't be diving with them all the time. I figured it wouldn't hurt to see what other people practice.

 

[LIVES4SHARKS]

TSandM's information is great. I am given "homework" to do between dives by those who have observed things I need to work on or move into. Since I have learned what buoyancy and trim is, I work on that in the pool. The hard part now is to control that. So being able to hold yourself in the water, being able to breathe yourself down in a descent and back up in an ascent is what I have been working on also. Mask clearing and removal and then putting back on with a hood is practiced everytime I get into the pool and usually once during an OW dive. I also practice swimming without my mask to get used to the feeling of bubbles going up my nose from a reg. That is hard to get used to and if you do lose a mask and don't have a spare, it can save your butt! I try to list ahead of time, things I see on video, or from other divers, or even the boards to work on in the pool. The pool is a controlled environment, and if you do not have a buddy, I have no trouble working with the lifeguards at our aquatic center who watch over me. We have worked out a system to let them know I am in trouble. Basically, I just keep working on what I am most weak at. Control and breathing are the 2 hardest especially since I am a newbie diver.

Speaking of GUE, I am looking into going that route. But I already have seen these guys in action and just have a beginning knowledge of what is necessary to take this class. I am looking at doing that at least a year or more later in my diving. I have a LOT to learn. Finding a mentor has really helped me. But practicing is the only way to get better and better!

GOOD LUCK AND HAPPY DIVING!
CArolyn :sharks: