Priority of skills to master for new divers

[TMHeimer]

That's not equalizing, that's creating positive pressure. Since the pressure will drop back to ambient as soon as you open your airway, you'll need to maintain the positive pressure including pinching your nose as your head goes under water.

I'm not saying this is a bad idea, just that it's more involved than doing a quick Valsalva before descending.

I'm in the camp of doing the first equalization at 1 or 2 feet (half meter) and then every couple of feet through the first half atmosphere. I increase the distance as I continue to descend.

However you do it, I agree that it's vital to stay ahead. If it hurts at all or won't clear, then ascend a few feet and try again. Repeat until it's successful and then do it more often as you restart your descent.

Right. More than one way to skin a cat. I wait until I feel the urge, then equalize internally-- or If I really shoot down fast, I may swallow to kick start it faster. Whatever works and prevents any pain at all.

 

[lowwall]

Right. More than one way to skin a cat. I wait until I feel the urge, then equalize internally-- or If I really shoot down fast, I may swallow to kick start it faster. Whatever works and prevents any pain at all.

Since you were replying to my post, I should note that the response to my first paragraph about equalizing at the surface by @johndiver999 at Priority of skills to master for new divers is correct. His point made sense to me at the time and I was later able to verify it for myself.

 

[Outbound]

Lots of great advice here, especially concerning things like buoyancy, equalizing properly and regularly, and mastering critical skills like mask removal and replace and regulator replace. To this list I would add a very critical "skill" that, for some people, can be difficult to learn let alone master:

Learning to be okay with thumbing a dive. Now, I don't mean go around and thumb a dive for no reason. But if you are getting too cold, having trouble equalizing and it just won't clear no matter what, or whatever, be okay signaling your buddy that it's time to thumb the dive. In part, this means being in tune with your body and understanding when things just aren't right. Too often folks continue the dive even though they are feeling quite miserable. Two cases in point:

I've gone diving with folks who will be near hypothermia at the end of a dive because they didn't want to disappoint the group or their buddy and thumb the dive.

Earlier this season we were joined by a guy who had taken many years off from diving. He did his refresher in the pool and then joined us for a local lake dive. Apparently he had difficulty equalizing but didn't let anyone know and just kept following. It turns out he suffered fairly severe sinus barotrauma that required surgery. He always signaled "okay" when asked. I think the okay signal has become too automatic for a lot of folks.

 

[CycleCat]

I think the okay signal has become too automatic for a lot of folks.

I absolutely agree with this. I flash that sign at my dive buddy wife and she responds with the same. She does it to me and I flash back. If I'm not imminently dying, then I am OK. Maybe my mask is leaking, my trim is FUBARed all to hell, my ear hurts from my mask strap folding it in half, but... yeah... I'm OK.

 

[formernuke]

You were right first time; buoyancy control is No1, and is much more important than air consumption, which is way down the list.

The good news is that improved buoyancy control is a key factor in better air consumption. That and trim, streamlining and finning technique. Apart from that, don't stress, it will improve over time.

This part of it also being proper weighting.

With your bouyancy will come better comfort and better air consumption.

 

[Blackcrusader]

This part of it also being proper weighting.

With your bouyancy will come better comfort and better air consumption.

People who have good buoyancy and trim control are often more relaxed, are not moving around a lot on dive, don't chase the marine life and have better diving habits which allow good air consumption. I weigh 130kg and people are shocked at my air consumption because they assume I will use a lot of air.

 

[mcohen1021]

I've been thinking about what skills are the most important to master.

Not going to read through 10 pages of replies, but I would think not to be annoying on the boat or underwater would be in the top 5.

 

[wildbill9]

I also did not read thru 10 pages. IMHO just go dive. It’s supposed to be fun. It’s not a competition over badges. Go diving. Get time under the waves. Learn to slow down and smell the coral. Experience is the ultimate teacher, go for the school of hard knocks. When you are old like me it’s the dives you will remember not the badges. B

 

[MaxTorque]

My (belated) advice, don't ignore time in the pool!

In the pool you are free to work on your skills and your skills only, and it's safe enough that if you mess things up, you'll be unlikely to inconvience anyone (including yourself). And ime, if you can do all you skills at neutral buoyancy, in trim and in just 2m of water, your real dive skills will be effectively jedi level next time you dive "for real"

 

[60plus]

My feeling is that priority is inappropriate, you have to be adequately capable of several different skills if you are not to spoil dives for yourselves or others. Mask clearing - if you can't do it then you should not dive. I would put buoyancy and air consumption roughly equal when wetsuit diving, in a drysuit buoyancy should probably be given more emphasis. Buddy skill - ie keeping in close contact with your buddy is often overlooked, but failure to keep with a buddy or group is one of the most frequent contributory factors to diving incidents and death.