I recently had the opportunity to head down to Florida and do some training with Trace Malinowski (SB name TraceMalin) from PSAI. To start at the beginning, I need to go back a few months though.
I was lucky enough to be diving with a BP&W right from the start. My OW instructor saw my desires for future training from the beginning and told me it was the right setup for me. Shortly after starting to dive I met up with Jay Robbins from St. Lawrence Aquatics in Chaumont, NY who took me under his wing and kept me pointed in the right direction. Jay helped give me guidance in purchasing equipment, coached me on dives on improving my trim, and showed me what to look for in training. He never tried to sell me classes, and for that I am still incredibly grateful. Once I left NY for Virginia, I expressed my desire that it was time to get some more training. We looked at a few different classes through three different agencies (GUE, UTD, and PSAI). I discussed my training goals with Bob Sherwood but we couldnt get a class time set up. I discussed class options with Jonathon at Submerged Scuba but the travel and class timelines just didnt line up with what I needed. Finally, I decided to go with Trace. We talked about where I was at, he talked to Jay and got a second opinion of where I was at with my skills, and after discussing where I wanted to go with diving we decided to do what he calls his intro to tech course, consisting of PSAIs Twinset, Nitrox, and Advanced Buoyancy Control. This is a class he normally holds over 4 days, and since I only had 3 days to work with he was very upfront that I should not expect to get a card for ABC. I was glad he was upfront and honest about the card, and it encouraged me that I was paying for quality training, rather than a card. We set up a class over the Presidents day weekend in High Springs, he sent me materials, and I started to get excited.
Day 1:
We started off Friday morning meeting at Cave Country Dive shop in High Springs. They were kind enough to lend us their conference room for our morning classroom session. We started off with history behind PSAI, founder, etc, and PSAIs very long ABC powerpoint. VERY long powerpoint. Traces passion for diving shines through, and the slide deck was a rough guide. We went ahead and packed up and made plans to head to Ginnie Springs, when we realized that I couldnt bring my dogs with (I didnt have anyone in VA to watch them, and hadnt wanted to saddle my wife with the dogs since I had taken the truck). I ran the dogs back down to my hotel with my not-too-ecstatic wife and headed back up to Ginnie. We pulled out equipment and discussed why things were positioned the way they were and Trace gave me some pointers on my equipment. We agreed I needed to move the bands on my tanks up to the break but that it could wait. He advised me that diving steel doubles in a wetsuit was not advised (I bought them when I was planning to buy a drysuit that ended up not fitting ), but we agreed to train in them since they were what Id be diving when we were done with class. He particularly warned me to never do a boat dive on a bottomless location since if the wing failed I had no redundant buoyancy. We did a tour of the area and got two short dives in. Our first was a swimming tour around the spring, and our second was practicing propulsion. Trace was able to get some video of me looking terrible in the water. We called day one early since it was Valentines Day.
Day 2:
We met up again at Cave Country to go over video. He was kind enough to delete them. A phrase regarding monkeys and footballs was used. We headed out to Peacock Springs for the days diving. I started the day off with a fair amount of table top diving. I practiced kicks and body position while Trace discussed in greater detail techniques for optimizing the kicks, as well as our dive plan for the day. We started off in the water doing kicks without gear to build muscle memory before donning our gear and starting our dive. We did controlled descents (his was controlled, mine was well, not as controlled) and more kicks. Our second dive we introduced the fundamental 5, S-drill, and Valve drills. We had been joined on Day 2 by Claus Schmidt who was my partner for these drills, while Trace watched and corrected my trim and Jimmy recorded video. We did more propulsion before we had to leave the site.
Day 3:
Our final day we again started out at Cave Country and trace went in depth on Nitrox, and covered more dive math. He simplified math from the equations I had memorized, and I felt much more confident in the water not having to think through complex equations. We skipped videos for the morning and headed back out to Peacock. Trace began by going over procedures for deploying a dSMB and we headed down to the water. We went over our dive plan and Trace quizzed me on safety and planning before we began dropping. We again did our S-Drill, Valve drills, and Fundamental 5. Before allowing me to return his 7-foot hose after the S-Drill Trace had me deploy the dSMB. Task loaded, I failed to fully check above me but eventually got the dSMB to the surface. We did a controlled ascent and debriefed the dive. During our SI Trace covered use of a reel and we planned our final dive for the class. Gear issues kept Jimmy from doing the dive with us, so Trace and I did the final dive alone. We did another swim around the basin, I demonstrated propulsion, we did our S-drills, fundamental 5, and valve drills, and I deployed the dSMB successfully. We did a controlled ascent and exited the water.
Finale:
I somehow managed to pass the requirements for all three classes. I managed to put together all the skills on the final dive, and I could feel stronger in the water. I still need more work. Trace is a stud in the water, and while I passed the minimum, I know by watching him I have lots of room to improve. I need more time in the water, and I cannot wait to get it. Trace is a great instructor, obviously enjoys teaching, and his attitude was great throughout the whole class. I will certainly go back and take more classes with him in the future.
My lessons learned:
I brought my wife and dogs with me to FL since it was Valentines Day. We stayed in Gainesville thinking she would be able to enjoy the area and things would be in walking distance. Things were in walking distance, but it was a long distance for walking. I would have had more time for diving, improved more and gotten more for my training dollars had I stayed in High Springs, and we just rented a car for her for three days. The gas money going into my pickup would have covered half the cost of the rental car anyways. On top of that, my wife would have had more time to enjoy the area and really appreciate what there is to see in FL.
I need a drysuit. I knew this before going down, but trying to control my buoyancy in LP104s at ten feet and less was more difficult than I expected. My 8/7 Henderson wetsuit was plenty warm, but the compression has drastically changing buoyancy characteristics at shallow depths and was at times difficult to fully control. I had tried on a 3XLT Whites Nexus 3 but it was too tight in the shoulders and I would not have been able to do valve drills. A custom suit will be a necessity, but its a big expenditure, and its hard to commit to that kind of expense without ever having been able to dive dry before. Eventually Im going to have to take the leap.
Bottom line:
I would recommend the course. I learned a ton. I logged my 30th dive with Trace and I am a far more competent diver now than I was before, and I am far more comfortable and in control in the water. I have seen many people saying that anything less than 100 dives is too few to benefit from technical training, and I could not disagree more. I had few bad habits to break, and I cant help but think that made the training a little easier than it would have been otherwise.
I owe special thanks to Claus Schmidt for being my patient dive buddy throughout the course (he successfully passed Full Cave with Trace the following week), to Jay Robbins with St. Lawrence Aquatics for helping me with my diving and linking me up with quality instructors, to Jimmy (I apologize I cant remember your last name) for filming my dives, to Trace for fitting this class into his schedule, and finally to my wife for tolerating me.
If you made it this far Im impressed.
I was lucky enough to be diving with a BP&W right from the start. My OW instructor saw my desires for future training from the beginning and told me it was the right setup for me. Shortly after starting to dive I met up with Jay Robbins from St. Lawrence Aquatics in Chaumont, NY who took me under his wing and kept me pointed in the right direction. Jay helped give me guidance in purchasing equipment, coached me on dives on improving my trim, and showed me what to look for in training. He never tried to sell me classes, and for that I am still incredibly grateful. Once I left NY for Virginia, I expressed my desire that it was time to get some more training. We looked at a few different classes through three different agencies (GUE, UTD, and PSAI). I discussed my training goals with Bob Sherwood but we couldnt get a class time set up. I discussed class options with Jonathon at Submerged Scuba but the travel and class timelines just didnt line up with what I needed. Finally, I decided to go with Trace. We talked about where I was at, he talked to Jay and got a second opinion of where I was at with my skills, and after discussing where I wanted to go with diving we decided to do what he calls his intro to tech course, consisting of PSAIs Twinset, Nitrox, and Advanced Buoyancy Control. This is a class he normally holds over 4 days, and since I only had 3 days to work with he was very upfront that I should not expect to get a card for ABC. I was glad he was upfront and honest about the card, and it encouraged me that I was paying for quality training, rather than a card. We set up a class over the Presidents day weekend in High Springs, he sent me materials, and I started to get excited.
Day 1:
We started off Friday morning meeting at Cave Country Dive shop in High Springs. They were kind enough to lend us their conference room for our morning classroom session. We started off with history behind PSAI, founder, etc, and PSAIs very long ABC powerpoint. VERY long powerpoint. Traces passion for diving shines through, and the slide deck was a rough guide. We went ahead and packed up and made plans to head to Ginnie Springs, when we realized that I couldnt bring my dogs with (I didnt have anyone in VA to watch them, and hadnt wanted to saddle my wife with the dogs since I had taken the truck). I ran the dogs back down to my hotel with my not-too-ecstatic wife and headed back up to Ginnie. We pulled out equipment and discussed why things were positioned the way they were and Trace gave me some pointers on my equipment. We agreed I needed to move the bands on my tanks up to the break but that it could wait. He advised me that diving steel doubles in a wetsuit was not advised (I bought them when I was planning to buy a drysuit that ended up not fitting ), but we agreed to train in them since they were what Id be diving when we were done with class. He particularly warned me to never do a boat dive on a bottomless location since if the wing failed I had no redundant buoyancy. We did a tour of the area and got two short dives in. Our first was a swimming tour around the spring, and our second was practicing propulsion. Trace was able to get some video of me looking terrible in the water. We called day one early since it was Valentines Day.
Day 2:
We met up again at Cave Country to go over video. He was kind enough to delete them. A phrase regarding monkeys and footballs was used. We headed out to Peacock Springs for the days diving. I started the day off with a fair amount of table top diving. I practiced kicks and body position while Trace discussed in greater detail techniques for optimizing the kicks, as well as our dive plan for the day. We started off in the water doing kicks without gear to build muscle memory before donning our gear and starting our dive. We did controlled descents (his was controlled, mine was well, not as controlled) and more kicks. Our second dive we introduced the fundamental 5, S-drill, and Valve drills. We had been joined on Day 2 by Claus Schmidt who was my partner for these drills, while Trace watched and corrected my trim and Jimmy recorded video. We did more propulsion before we had to leave the site.
Day 3:
Our final day we again started out at Cave Country and trace went in depth on Nitrox, and covered more dive math. He simplified math from the equations I had memorized, and I felt much more confident in the water not having to think through complex equations. We skipped videos for the morning and headed back out to Peacock. Trace began by going over procedures for deploying a dSMB and we headed down to the water. We went over our dive plan and Trace quizzed me on safety and planning before we began dropping. We again did our S-Drill, Valve drills, and Fundamental 5. Before allowing me to return his 7-foot hose after the S-Drill Trace had me deploy the dSMB. Task loaded, I failed to fully check above me but eventually got the dSMB to the surface. We did a controlled ascent and debriefed the dive. During our SI Trace covered use of a reel and we planned our final dive for the class. Gear issues kept Jimmy from doing the dive with us, so Trace and I did the final dive alone. We did another swim around the basin, I demonstrated propulsion, we did our S-drills, fundamental 5, and valve drills, and I deployed the dSMB successfully. We did a controlled ascent and exited the water.
Finale:
I somehow managed to pass the requirements for all three classes. I managed to put together all the skills on the final dive, and I could feel stronger in the water. I still need more work. Trace is a stud in the water, and while I passed the minimum, I know by watching him I have lots of room to improve. I need more time in the water, and I cannot wait to get it. Trace is a great instructor, obviously enjoys teaching, and his attitude was great throughout the whole class. I will certainly go back and take more classes with him in the future.
My lessons learned:
I brought my wife and dogs with me to FL since it was Valentines Day. We stayed in Gainesville thinking she would be able to enjoy the area and things would be in walking distance. Things were in walking distance, but it was a long distance for walking. I would have had more time for diving, improved more and gotten more for my training dollars had I stayed in High Springs, and we just rented a car for her for three days. The gas money going into my pickup would have covered half the cost of the rental car anyways. On top of that, my wife would have had more time to enjoy the area and really appreciate what there is to see in FL.
I need a drysuit. I knew this before going down, but trying to control my buoyancy in LP104s at ten feet and less was more difficult than I expected. My 8/7 Henderson wetsuit was plenty warm, but the compression has drastically changing buoyancy characteristics at shallow depths and was at times difficult to fully control. I had tried on a 3XLT Whites Nexus 3 but it was too tight in the shoulders and I would not have been able to do valve drills. A custom suit will be a necessity, but its a big expenditure, and its hard to commit to that kind of expense without ever having been able to dive dry before. Eventually Im going to have to take the leap.
Bottom line:
I would recommend the course. I learned a ton. I logged my 30th dive with Trace and I am a far more competent diver now than I was before, and I am far more comfortable and in control in the water. I have seen many people saying that anything less than 100 dives is too few to benefit from technical training, and I could not disagree more. I had few bad habits to break, and I cant help but think that made the training a little easier than it would have been otherwise.
I owe special thanks to Claus Schmidt for being my patient dive buddy throughout the course (he successfully passed Full Cave with Trace the following week), to Jay Robbins with St. Lawrence Aquatics for helping me with my diving and linking me up with quality instructors, to Jimmy (I apologize I cant remember your last name) for filming my dives, to Trace for fitting this class into his schedule, and finally to my wife for tolerating me.
If you made it this far Im impressed.
