Practicing Skills

[Uncle Pug]

Part One ~ When to practice: "been there done that" or "yesterday, today and tomorrow"

Is practicing skills something you did initially to get certified ~or~ is skill acquisition, refinement and reinforcement an ongoing and integral part of your diving?

Many folks having only minimal practice with basic skills during initial certification proceed to dive in challenging open water settings. As time goes on the dives get progressively more demanding and the potential for catastrophe increases dramatically.

But there never was a development of skill and conditioned response to emergencies and there is no continuing practice to refresh, hone and enhance skills commensurate with the dives being done.

At the other end of the spectrum there is a relatively small number of divers who have made skill sessions a regular part of their diving experience... some even going so far as to incorporate at least some skill development into every dive.

It might seem to those in the first (and much larger) group that these *fanatics* are missing all of the fun... that they have taken training to be an end in and of itself rather than merely a means to an end! Maybe they have... but maybe they are having fun too.

Let's imagi-graph this:

There is a continuum of sorts between these two polar opposites. From my limited experience it appears to me that the line between these two points does not form a Bell Curve but a (decaying) Exponential Curve and that it is sparsely populated to the right.

Scattered along the line from those whose skill practice sessions are ancient history and those who do nothing but practice skills are those who have fun diving but also indulge to one degree or another in further (though not necessarily formal) training.

A reflective person might ask them self at this point , "Where do I fit on that line?" Further reflection might yield other gems such as, "Where do I fit on the line of dive difficulty plotted over requisite skill... am I even on the chart?!" Adding in a Y axis and plotting fun might yield: "Am I having fun? What could this fun end up costing me? " or "Am I having fun? Have I sacrificed fun for... hey! why am I doing this anyway?"

 

[The Horn]

Completed AOW recently with a number of younger lads quite eager to get out and dive.

I asked one of the guys for his # and told him that my buddy and I routinly hit the quarry at the beginning of dive season and when we get new gear or just to mess around practicing. If he was interested I would give him a call.

He wasn't interested and prefered to hone his skill on "more challenging" sites. I suppose that sums it up.

I have alway been a person to err on the side of caution or to make an "educated first attempt".

The same guy had a poor SAC rate, probably from lack of being relaxed underwater.

Dives that people think are "boring, been there, done that" can get quite a new experience by adding a bit of practice to the dive.

I think you are right with your assesment of the lack of practise and becomming proficient. Every dive I work on finning and bouyancy then add in all the rest of it like video, shooting a bag etc.

Even in the swimming pool playing with the kids I try and back kick, hold breath etc it all helps

 

[Rick Inman]

Nice post, UP!

I used to dive just to look at the fishies. The only time I trained was in a class. Then I dived with a couple of guys who showed me how much more fun it was to look at those fishies if I possessed better and safer skills (they did it by example, not by discussion).

So I started breaking up my dives - on this dive I just looked around, and on this one I trained. Before long I realized that I was mixing the two, practicing my kicks or trim or something while looking at the fishies. And I discovered that I actually like to practice my skills. And that one kind of dive does not negate the other.

Soon I discovered that there are other divers who like to incorporate skills practice into fun dives. Did you know that you can actually enjoy the fishies at the same time as you are sharing air? Wow! Diving became so much more fun as I got more comfortable with diving. Hey, let's shoot a bag! Look at that big fishie! Watch me shut off my valves. Ohh... is that a shark? My average depth is 60 feet! Let's see if I can hover 1 foot from the bottom as we ascend from 20 feet to the surface - oh, and there's a cool perch!

The two - skills and fun - are not mutually exclusive.

Sometimes I do enjoy just doing a skills dive. Run a line, shut off lights, share air, pass stages... But now I always enjoy a "just lookin' at the fishies" dive when there are some skills involved. I do them without even thinking about it. In fact, since I am not perfect at any skills, I am always practicing.

Hopefully my diving level will not be outside my training ability. And hopefully my betters (friends) will be honest enough and care enough to let me know if I do. Even if I don't want to hear it.

And in the mean time, it sure is fun to practice skills, train, become a better, safer diver, and look at the fishies while I'm doing it!

Thanks UP for point me in this direction several years ago!!!

 

[seadoggirl]

Dude, Lighten up and have fun. You'll practice the basic skills each and every dive. I've been in some scary stuff and each time I hear my instructor, (OOW,AOW,Stress&Rescue, etc same guy) talking in my head. I don't know how many dives you have, I actually checked your "Personal" but sounds like you may be overthinking it. As any of these 10000+ divers will tell ya. It doesn't matter how many dives you have as to where you fall on the X/Y experience/ability curves. A diver that continuously dives warm water/same location 100 times, may have less true experience than someone who has dove 50 times is vastly different locations/temp/depths/vis/wildlife/etc.

I get your theory and it is a good thought process. I just don't think that diving is a sport like golf that can be easily measured.

Just flip off the boat, remember to breathe and listen to that instructor in your head.

"Breathe in, breathe out, move on!" Jimmy Buffet

 

[SparticleBrane]

Dude, Lighten up and have fun.

You missed the point---he IS having fun by working on skills, as many of us do.

and listen to that instructor in your head

...I'd prefer not to. A good majority of today's instructor are, IMHO, useless or at the least they're very under qualified.

 

[neil]

I'm a musician: I practice for a living. Practicing skills in context is something I do every day. I can practice a b flat scale in isolation til I'm sick of it, or find a b flat scale in a Mozart symphony and practice it in context. The result is the same. In context is more fun, and being so, probably consumes less time for the same effect.

I think of diving the same way: practice skills as you do them. There are some emergency skills that need to be practiced in isolation, but for the most part, diving correctly IS the practice.

 

[seadoggirl]

I often do miss the point. I'm not very bright.

My instructor was great. Guess I'm just lucky.

 

[Uncle Pug]

sounds like you may be overthinking it

Nah, I'm just trying to get other folks to start thinking.

Most folks don't know what they don't know... in fact a lot of folks don't even know that much.
If I can get folks thinking about what they don't know then that is a good thing.

You know, plant a little seed of consideration that may (or may not) grow into a tree of discovery.

 

[jeckyll]

Good post.

Yesterday, right before making fools of ourselves with smb's we saw our second grunt sculpin in about 15 minutes at 20 fsw. It was very orange and a completely different shade than any I'd seen before. Very cool And then seeing the spool spin in my hand as I released the SMB, that was very cool too

I find that there are a few skills that after practicing make my dive better. Especially an air share at the beginning of the dive with a new buddy. By knowing both me and my buddy can do that well, I find that I'm more relaxed the rest of the dive.

Though I must admit that I'm not big on practicing replacing my mask. 44 degree water stings!

 

[tedtim]

At the other end of the spectrum there is a relatively small number of divers who have made skill sessions a regular part of their diving experience... some even going so far as to incorporate at least some skill development into every dive.

The pool, a great place to learn. The river, a great place to practice. I can't say that I specifically incorporate skill development into every dive, I just try to get better when I can.