Question about CESA

[bookymad]

Hi all,

I'm currently enrolled in an open water PADI course right now. It's my first course ever, and it's pretty cool. My instructor is seriously awesome. I adore him. Anyway, you know the stuff that you do in this course, basics and so on.

The one that I'm having most trouble with is CESA method. I cannot do it for the life of me. Tonight is pretty much the last pool session (fourth one), and no matter what I do, I always pretty much end up breathing from my regulator. Agh!! It's really annoying.

I've tried practicing at home holding my breath and so on, and the max I can do is 30 seconds and this is sitting at my desk! Not doing anything else. I've tried hyperventilating, and even that doesn't work. The weird thing is that at home when I hyperventilate it shortens it by five seconds on average.

I really want to nail this darn thing so I can go out to do the ocean dive. Will my instructor refuse to let me join the beach trip if I can't do the CESA in the pool tonight? I've tried everything, but my exhalation is so fast that I can't control it. Believe me, by the time I get to 30 seconds, it's all I can do not to displace all the air in the room. Ok, a hyperbole, but you get the point.

Any ideas? Suggestions? Anything at all?

Thanks in advance.

Bookymad

 

[masksaver]

Hi Bookymad.....try to make a high pitched sound rather than a low pitched sound when exhaling. High pitched sounds release far less air than low pitched onces. Besides, if you can exhale for 30 seconds when you swim horizontally you shouldn't have any problem at all doing it for longer when swimming to the surface coming from 6 - 9 meters in the ocean. Remember, the breath you take down there consists of denser air which will expand as the surrounding pressure decreases, giving you even more air to put into the high pitched noise on the way up. Whatever you do " don't " hold your breath.

cheers.

Beef

 

[Dive-aholic]

masksaver is right. Make a high pitched "E" sound. This will cause your vocal chords to get closer, limited the amount of air that escapes from your lungs. And make sure the sound you make is very soft too. The softer the sound, the less air comes out. Finally, swim slowly. The faster you swim, the more energy you exert and the more air you need. If you're swimming too fast, your instructor is probably creating more drag to slow you down. This will only make you need a breath sooner.

You're probably doing this skill in the pool from the shallow end to the deep end. This also makes a difference. Air is not expanding when you swim across the pool. In open water you will be ascending from 30'. The pressure decreases by almost half from 30' to the surface, which means the air in your lungs will expand as you ascend.

Good luck!

 

[Rick Murchison]

masksaver is right. Make a high pitched "E" sound.

I prefer a "ZZzzzz" pitched high, but most any sound will do. Breath holding is NOT part of a CESA or any other part of SCUBA - don't even practice it with SCUBA on your mind...
*** DO NOT HOLD YOUR BREATH ***
Rick

 

[andydiver06]

Another thing is to calm down and relax. Trying walking slowly 10 m while exhaling after taking a normal breath. Maybe have some happy thoughts to bring down your pulse rate to say 80 or less. Most people new to diving feel panicky to do CESA. All divers hope they never have to use it in real life but we practice just for the safety. Best of luck and you will surely pass the test.

 

[parrothead600]

I also had a hard time with this one in the pool. We went from the deep end (10') to the shallow end. My instructor said that it was OK because we could not get the full effect of the air expanding. I had absolutely no problem with it in the Open Water.

 

[Thalassamania]

Andy hit it right, it's a relaxation thing. Rather then hyperventilating "hard and fast" and rasing your tension level try to take five very long, very slow breaths. Concentrate on emptying your lungs, blow out till there's nothing left, not hard, just continuous till there's none left. Then fill up gently, don't worry about stuffing air in to the tippy-top, that make's no difference. Think slow and easy.

 

[Rick Murchison]

... Think slow and easy.

Indeed. And rest assured that you will be amazed at how easy the CESA is when you're headed straight up from 30'/9M or so. Promise!
Rick

 

[Dive-aholic]

I also had a hard time with this one in the pool. We went from the deep end (10') to the shallow end. My instructor said that it was OK because we could not get the full effect of the air expanding. I had absolutely no problem with it in the Open Water.

[hijack]

How did you do your oral inflation if you went from the deep end to the shallow end?

[/hijack]

 

[bookymad]

Thanks all for your replies.

Sorry, made a mistake in my original posting in terms of holding my breath. Didn't mean to say that, I meant exhalation of it in 30 seconds.

Will try making high-pitched sound. I am relaxed in the pool! So I think anyway. And I do make it soft, but I don't know. Nothing seems to work. Will also try to think happy/distracting thoughts. But, eh, if I can't do it at my desk, how the heck will I do it in the pool????

It's an ascent from the deep end to the shallow end in a diagonal line. Not the full length of the pool, just from one side from the deep end to the side where it becomes shallow.

I don't think I was even able to hold it for 30 seconds in the previous pool sessions. I only meant that in practice outside of the pool.

Anyway, hopefully I'll be able to do it tonight, since my instructor says that I have to be able to accomplish it before I can do the ocean dives.

Do you think it also makes a difference that I don't necessarily swim well? I mean, I kick from my knees all the time. My instructor is forever telling me to kick from my hips, which I sort of have gotten better with it, but not that much, so I am slow in going up.

Anyway, cheers.

Bookymad.