Practicing CESA & ditch and don?

[Thalassamania]

What is a strenght move? What breath hold sequences do you practice SCUBA diving?

For example, free diving doff and don:

• Strength: Surface dive to bottom against the buoyancy of a full wetsuit, rolling into 20+ lb weightbelt followed by:
• Fine motor skills: buckle belt (wire buckle or seaquest buckle really helps here), recover mask, don mask and clear.

With a scuba doff and don (see earlier description) it's a bit easier since once the belt is in place you can go to your regulator.

 

[scarefaceDM]

Of course I did..Really... I did not want to offend by saying your an old fart and you should know better..

The skills are done during a regular dive. Prior to decending I would do a mask clear, reg switch to test my octo, then the old trim factor as I swim, then reach my valves to get a stretch. Not to turn them off but more to get the feel for it.

As the dive goes on and a buddy is aware then I will do an OOA drill for a minute..and visversa as we hover or swim around...This to say not every dive.

Cesa is not practiced because I do not need to. Doing a controlled acent is a form of Cesa. Making the saftey stop. Holding the stop without a line etc...But never going directly to the surface from any depth.

If I assist in teaching..NOW that is another can of worms...My ears get a beating when we do these drills with students. Especially a CESA. That is the only time I would do one.

Scareface and Soggy, thanks for the lists. I've reviewed them, compared them to mine, related to the kind of diving I do, and still have time to practice an occasional CESA and ditchNdon.



Emphasis mine



Scareface, I betting I'm older than you, and according to your profile I've been diving longer. But I'm sure you didn't mean to be condescending.

 

[caseybird]

For example, free diving doff and don:

• Strength: Surface dive to bottom against the buoyancy of a full wetsuit, rolling into 20+ lb weightbelt followed by:
• Fine motor skills: buckle belt (wire buckle or seaquest buckle really helps here), recover mask, don mask and clear.

With a scuba doff and don (see earlier description) it's a bit easier since once the belt is in place you can go to your regulator.

Yeah, this makes a lot of sense in a free diving context. I didn't understand how it apllied to scuba. I would be very reluctant (read: I would never) roll into a 20# weightbelt without a safety diver around.
Sounds like a cool class, love the sense of "kata" you use. A series of related skills. Interesting.

 

[sambolino44]

"When the number of posts exceed the number of dives by a factor of 10, it's time to go diving."

How about a factor of two? I swear, I have been trying to go diving as much as I can, but with work, few buddies, family commitments, getting a cold, sub-zero temps, etc. it's not that easy just to get in the water. Oh, poor me! Waaaah!

Anyway, every time I go, I PLAN to spend some time working on skills, but it rarely works out like I plan. I mean, I always end up spending a few minutes doing something useful, but I think what I really need is three or four dives where I spend the whole time working on skills. So far I haven't found a local buddy who feels the same way. When you can't go as often as you'd like, dive time is precious, and you don't want to spend it doing stuff (like skills practice) that's more like work, rather than stuff (like taking pictures and exploring) that's more like play.

A couple of months ago I practiced sharing air with a buddy, and it was the first time he had worked on ANY skills since certification. Unfortunately, I think his situation is more common among most divers than what I've read on this thread. You guys are, I think, more dedicated than the average diver. As far as which skills to practice, it seems to me that Doff and Don, and CESA should certainly be on the list.

Let's just see what I have to say after my next dive.

 

[Thalassamania]

Yeah, this makes a lot of sense in a free diving context. I didn't understand how it apllied to scuba.

You start off on scuba and finish on scuba.

I would be very reluctant (read: I would never) roll into a 20# weightbelt without a safety diver around.

Why is that? What's the problem with rolling into a belt that gets you back to neutral? BTW: Your buddy is always right there.

Sounds like a cool class, love the sense of "kata" you use. A series of related skills. Interesting.

The point of kata is mutifold, develop mastery in the class and for testing ... sure, but more important is to provide a focus for practice and rapid preparation after not diving for a while, remember this system was designed for scientists who have a very active diving year, or so, and then may not get wet for quite a while.

 

[O2BBubbleFree]

With style and grace, never loosing hold of any piece of gear:
Start out in full gear, which means 7 mm suit and 3 finger gloves but no hood.

I'm really curious, Thalassmania, why you specify no hood? I'm a really big fan of training in the gear you're going to be using, as I'm sure you are, so this one jumped out at me.

On a seperate-but-reated hijack, it's really bothered me the times I've seen a SB member suggest that someone 'borrow' different gear for training. The one that comes to mind was a suggestion that the trainee borrow paddle fins for his Rescue class, because it would be too difficult to do some of the skills in splits. My attitude is that if you can't do the rescue skills in your 'normal' fins, change fins. I've also seen one where someone suggested a trainee in a hog rig borrow a different rig for rescue, as it made the gear removal easier...

Surface dive down against the buoyancy of your suit.

You really get full-time-scientist-part-time-divers to swim down a 7mm with no weight? Wow.

I use a 7mm john and jacket in cold water, and can barely get my head below (swimming down head first), without lead. 'Course that's about twice as much neoprene as a 7mm one-piece, but still...

 

[Soggy]

wax on, wax off....

 

[Thalassamania]

I'm really curious, Thalassmania, why you specify no hood? I'm a really big fan of training in the gear you're going to be using, as I'm sure you are, so this one jumped out at me.

We used to be hard core and insist on hoods and all ... but after a few folks almost passed out from head exhaustion we backed off.

You really get full-time-scientist-part-time-divers to swim down a 7mm with no weight? Wow.

It's perhaps the most difficult skill, but it's all in teaching a surface dive that gets the fins in the water, after that a dolphin kick down and the suit compression at 13 feet makes it easy enough. As a first step we teach a jacknife to a vertical hold (head down), once they get that the rest is easy. We got interested in just how much buoyancy one could "drag down." Most of the staff instructors could make it too the bottom with a fully inflated Fenzy, which I think is a bit more than 25 kilos buoyant.

I use a 7mm john and jacket in cold water, and can barely get my head below (swimming down head first), without lead. 'Course that's about twice as much neoprene as a 7mm one-piece, but still...

That's exaclty the suit we use.

wax on, wax off....

With all due respect, you do not have to perform at the level that these folks do, the system works and on sheer physicality I'd stack our weakest wegghead up against the wrastiest wrecker any day (and when it comes to level of knowledge ...), and our strongest ... well that's a whole 'nother story, he was a Division One Football player and an Olympic Trials level swimmer, he'd wax your tail and then some, wax on ... wax off Grasshopper!

 

[Soggy]

With all due respect, you do not have to perform at the level that these folks do, the system works and on sheer physicality I'd stack our weakest wegghead up against the wrastiest wrecker any day (and when it comes to level of knowledge ...), and our strongest ... well that's a whole 'nother story, he was a Division One Football player and an Olympic Trials level swimmer, he'd wax your tail and then some, wax on ... wax off Grasshopper!

What is so trying about the type of diving you are training these people for?

 

[Thalassamania]

Whatever underwater science they need to perform. Ranges from fishwatching in Long Island Sound to servicing physical oceanography instruments in the South Atlantic to collecting jellies alive in the Arctic Ocean to collecting core samples off Krakatoa.