After completing my open water this past weekend and trying to educate myself more on diving in general, safety, how to mitigate risk, and learning about all the gear... I've been thinking about what skills are the most important to master. . . .
The things I think I need to focus on, and know I need to get better at:
- initiating my descent from the surface while on breath hold with empty lungs. . . .
- equalizing often, . . .
- breathing control, slow and steady to maximize time under water
- buoyancy control
Happy to read any tips / comments
I would not disagree with the 4 items you have listed, with the possible exception of the third item - but only with regard to the purpose. I tell OW students that they need to learn (only) three things in order to become scuba divers: 1) How to
breathe underwater, 2) how to
swim underwater, and 3) how to plan, execute, and document (i.e. 'log') an underwater excursion (aka a DIVE). Yes, that simplifies training a bit, but each of those three aspects relates to one or more of the specific skills learned in OW training.
During OW training, I particularly emphasize (1) buoyancy AND TRIM management (part of how to
swim underwater), 2) 'no mask' breathing (how to
breathe underwater), and 3) BCD oral inflation (again, how to
swim underwater, but also related to how to
breathe underwater). Yes, my students complete ALL performance requirements, so I am not taking away anything from the course requirements. But, if there is an opportunity (say, on Dive 5 in CW, or Dive 4 in OW) to require the students to swim without their mask, to swim without a fin, to have to disconnect their BCD LPI hose and maintain buoyancy with oral inflation, I take full advantage of that.
My reasoning is this: an OW diver certification is, at best, a license to learn how to dive. In "today's" OW course environment, we simply cannot do everything necessary to produce a good diver, at least what I would consider to be a 'good' diver. FWIW, I had a good OW course years ago, but I was far from a 'good' diver at the time of my certification. What I was then - and what I want my students to be now - was / is a reasonably SAFE diver, while subsequently learning to dive. So, I am concerned with ensuring that the factors that may bring them to grief are addressed.
How does this answer your question? Well, the particular skills that I would suggest you focus on would be:
1) no mask diving - get used to it, get comfortable with it, practice it every chance you get. That way, when the unexpected happens - another diver's fin knocks your mask off - you won't be thrust immediately into a panic situation, where you snort water up your nose, where you bolt to the surface, etc. Now, it also very directly relates to what others may consider to be methods to control your breathing. For me, controlling breathing has nothing to do with how much gas you use, as a new diver. DON'T WORRY ABOUT HOW MUCH GAS YOU USE! Your gas consumption will generally come down over time, with more experience. The control that it has to do with involves changing from a nose breathing, land-based mammal to a mouth breathing underwater mammal. The
control you need to have involves being able to breathe in and out ONLY through your mouth, and to change that process when needed. As land-based mammals, we are taught from an early age to breathe through our nose. To this day, I remember my mother saying to me, when I was walking around breathing through my mouth - 'CLOSE YOUR MOUTH. YOU LOOK STUPID!' One might suggest she could have used different language and tone, but her point was 'spot on'. There are valid physiologic reasons for nose breathing, AND people do look stupid walking around with their mouth hanging open. (Feel free to take offense if you wish, the point is valid.) But, the point is, learn to 'control' your breathing in terms of the orifices involved. After that you will find that gas consumption takes care of itself over time. But, in addition, you will find equalizing to be easier, you will find clearing a foggy mask to be easier, you will find that diving will be easier.
2) BCD oral inflation - sounds like an easy issue, right? But, to do it competently involves management of breathing - you inhale, you take your regulator out of your mouth, you add air to your BCD - AND YOU ARE COMFORTABLE DOING IT. It reinforces multi-tasking.
3) hovering, using oral inflation - most new divers are poor 'hoverers'. Sure, when they are not distracted by anything else, and can concentrate ONLY on their hovering, they maintain good buoyancy control - so, they 'master' the specific 'hover' skill during training. But, let something happen that requires they divide their attention - e.g. doing the underwater compass navigation swim in their OW dives - they lose sense of their depth (their buoyancy control goes to HIAHB), their trim moves from commendably horizontal to annoying 'head up', etc. If you want to learn good buoyancy, you need to hover while multi-tasking - and using (only) oral inflation is one way to pursue that.
Looking at your items:
Yes, initiating your descent with empty lungs has some merit - frankly, if you are properly weighted, you shouldn't need to do that - with a full cylinder you are probably ~4 lbs negative at the start of a dive - since proper weight is what you need at the END of a dive, with 800 PSI in your cylinder, to hold your safety stop.
Yes, you should equalize 'early and often'. Start as soon as you drop below the water, rather than waiting until your ears begin to bother you.
Yes, your breathing should be slow, steady, and deep. This not a matter of maximizing underwater time (though it may help), it is a matter of optimal ventilation - on-gassing and off-gassing.
And, yes, you should continually - eternally - work on your buoyancy control. But, that control must become second nature / subliminal, which means that you can do it while distracted with other tasks.
(BTW, the fact that you posted as you did to start the thread is a high compliment to you. You want to get better, and are therefore likely to do what it takes to accomplish that.)
