Practicing Skills on Land

[mick allein III]

As the winter months approach my diving will become more limited. I'm curious if other divers have skills they practice on land. I'm interested in anything reels, cutting, navigation. What can a diver do on land to stay up to date in their skills.


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[TMHeimer]

I review the basic OW skills once a week, as I must demonstrate them to OW classes. After all this time it is unlikely I'd "forget" how to do them, but reviewing keeps them on the tip of my tongue. You have an imaginary buddy for those skills such as OOA, etc. I do this year round. I don't do anything with compass use, cutting or reels (I haven't yet used a reel for wreck penetration or otherwise). I also alternate daily doing an Air table profile and a Nitrox one (I kept them all from the courses). I also daily skim over a page of the EFR book and one from the manuals from the courses I've taken and rotate them. All this stuff takes about 2 minutes. (except the weekly OW skills review, which takes about 5 minutes).

The only time I go dry (for about 5 weeks) begins in April after 3 months in the South U.S. I dive wet and stop driving to places for my 2 dives in a day at the end of Oct. I do one dive in Nov. and one in Dec. from our house so I'm not completely dry another 2 months.

 

[Mscdex]

Gear up with my nitrox tank and jump in the bathtub

 

[industrious95]

Not a lot of diving activity for me once the water hits the mid 40's. Usually, I waste a lot of time blowing through eBay and Amazon, buying stuff I'll never need or use. With luck, I'll get in one winter vacation to somewhere I can dive.

Good opportunity to bring in the regs for their annual, and tanks for VIPs and hydros.

I try to spend a little more time on the treadmill for the ticker, and a few more sit-ups and do some light dumb-bell workouts, just to keep in shape.

 

[CptTightPants21]

Go running, stay in shape, and keep the SAC rate low.

Also, save up cash for next season.

 

[icechip]

During the winter, I make use of a MapTech chartbook to figure out possible new dive sites from Casco Bay to Mount Desert Island for the upcoming season and, weather permitting, will do a drive-by/visit to them. That, and hang out on Ebay and Scubaboard and work through some of the books on my "to-read" stack.

 

[geoff w]

.. What can a diver do on land to stay up to date in their skills...

Go somewhere warm and dive

 

[bradells]

Go somewhere warm and dive

Haha, exactly. I head to the coast where it usually is 1-2 degrees warmer on the surface layers (freshwater slush vs ice).

I find I dive more in the winter/spring honestly. But that's because of my work schedule more than anything.

In my downtime. I practice kicks, have maintenance done on my gear, clean up, exchange some toys, etc.

BRad

 

[Michael Guerrero]

We dive in the winter here with drysuits and thick undergarments/hoods/gloves. But finding a pool to do trim, buoyancy, and finning is good. You can keep it touch with it and practice your s-drills too.

For on land you can practice tie offs for cave diving, and visualization and research never hurt.

Can you not dive the lakes if you cut a hole? You could do Bonne Terre Mine too if you just had to get wet.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I'm in the water now every week. Opening up a local shop that I work with and contract with for fills, pool time, and rental gear. A couple instructors who teach there do this on a volunteer basis. Benefits are free use of the pool, free air fills, and the chance to offer workshops and classes through the winter.