Practicing Skills

[ArcticDiver]

This, and Lamont's remark about communicating are both good ones. Bringing this thread back to it's main point: a skill to practice on every dive is communicating. Difficult, and I think effective communication happens before the dive, and is refined in the post-dive brief.

Question: Besides talking on the surface before and after, how do we get better at communicating underwater? Practice deploying the wetnotes?

Good point.

Team Failure/Success isn't just the province of the diver with the problem. It is also the responsibility of the rest of the group to actively come to the diver's assistance.

In the future I'm going to include an Emergency Signal in the pre-dive briefing. It will goe something like this: "If I know I have a problem and have time and enough hands to do so I will signal by doing this.... and give the hand signal. If you see something strange or a problem come to me and tap me on the shoulder and ask the question".

 

[jeckyll]

JeffG & UP: You're probably right. I'll try to relax a bit more on the handoff and make sure I don't take a larger breath.

Thanks for the pointer.

Bjorn

 

[dsteding]

Good point.

Team Failure/Success isn't just the province of the diver with the problem. It is also the responsibility of the rest of the group to actively come to the diver's assistance.

A fine line-I think one of the purposes of practice is to know when you are beyond something you can handle yourself. Most of my dive buddies assume I'll signal when I need help--and part of practice is understanding when you do need help. So, circling back yet again to UP's original point, practicing skills give you a sense of the boundaries of your skills. A clear head (really tough when the crap hits the fan) can help you identify when it is time to ask for help.

 

[Uncle Pug]

JeffG & UP: You're probably right.

We are. Guess how we know.

 

[Uncle Pug]

For instance, I like trying to fix my own issues, but will ask for help when I feel it's necessary


To me the 'when do I intervene' instinct the type of thing that you develop with people over time.

This is really an important point.

When you have a team mentality you realize that any problem you have is a problem that *belongs* to the whole team. Your issue effects everyone else.

You should definitely take steps to fix your own issue but you owe it to me to let me know that you have an issue if we are a part of the same team.

Lose a mask? While you are fishing in your left thigh pocket for your spare please signal me with your light (waving it blindly works) so that I know what's going on and can make fun of you.

In other words, communicate. Don't just expect others to notice that you are having a problem.

That said, we also owe it to the team to recognize when someone is having a problem and step in when they need help solving it. We often spot and correct minor problems for one another before the diver having the problem is even aware of it. A back-up light turned on or an unclipped SPG for instance.

At other times we might actually unclip the SPG.

 

[JeffG]

We are. Guess how we know.

Been there...done that, got the pizza stained t-shirts.

Plus I've had experience passing freeflowing regs to divers and a whole bunch of other nonsense stuff

 

[dsteding]

Now, on the other hand, I was down with another non-novice diver the other night, and he was in a new undergarment and underestimated the needed change in weight. At the end of the dive, he was picking up rocks. I kept watching him, and to me, it appeared he was bouncing off the bottom, which is not like him; but I kept an eye on him and he didn't seem distressed at all, so I saw no need to intervene. When I found out on the surface what the issue had been, I realized I could have given him one of my weights if I had known, because I was diving the top half of my doubles and was effectively fairly overweighted.

Gee, I feel like I was there the for that.

BTW, rocks aren't that negatively buoyant . . . I was glad for my large drysuit pockets

Seriously, another good value of effective communication, I dive with Lynne all the time, when I was picking up rocks I'd hold them out and show them to her and Marc and then put them in my pockets. Figured that would get the point across. But, with the seals, the vis wasn't that good . . . things were lost in translation. If I had stopped, and told her I was light, problem would have been solved (it wasn't that big of a deal, I'm a geologist, I like rocks . . .)

Okay, hijack over. UP, great thread.

 

[jeckyll]

We are. Guess how we know.

I believe you said it earlier "To be here we had to be there"

 

[JeffG]

BTW, rocks aren't that negatively buoyant . . . I was glad for my large drysuit pockets

I once had a buddy pile rocks on the backs of my doubles....Man, I wish I had video tape of that.....

 

[ArcticDiver]

A fine line-I think one of the purposes of practice is to know when you are beyond something you can handle yourself. Most of my dive buddies assume I'll signal when I need help--and part of practice is understanding when you do need help. So, circling back yet again to UP's original point, practicing skills give you a sense of the boundaries of your skills. A clear head (really tough when the crap hits the fan) can help you identify when it is time to ask for help.

You give more meaning to the point of my post when you say: "...Most of my dive buddies assume I'll signal when I need help..." They know that because you are regular buddies. But, when you throw a stranger into the equation, even one who subscribes to the same dive orientation, that easy communication that comes from frequent contact just isn't there.

Plus, my experience is that in most emergencies one doesn't know at the beginning whether they are going to be able to solve the problem or not. Emergencies have a way of growing exponentially. So, knowing there is another active resource at hand helps immensely.