Rototillers, Dredgers and Excavators... Oh My!

[lake_diver]

Okay, I'll admit it. Most likely I'm a rototiller. In my OW and AOW classes there was nothing about fin techniques. The only comment was that I have a bicycle kick. When I asked what they meant and what I should do different, I was told not to worry about it.

I've done about 40 dives in the 16 months I've been certified. Living in the midwest, I dive in lakes and quarries where the vis is not the best to start. I don't want to make it worse. Are there any books, videos, etc that show proper technique? Any advice?

thanks.

 

[Uncle Pug]

lake_diver once bubbled...
Are there any books, videos, etc that show proper technique? Any advice?

Download and watch the pertinent videos on this website:
http://www.fifthd.com/divestore/classes/tech.html

 

[Dee]

boydski once bubbled...
I've had poor luck using hand signals to point out the huge clouds of silt being kicked up, so what I have started doing with the divers in my group is to gently raise both of their fins up with my hands. I try to poisition the diver in a horizontal poistion, with their fins slightly above them, and then give them the hand signal to swim a that level.

This seems to work much better, and usually ( although not always ) results in immediate improvement.

Boydski

Most new divers don't know what horizontal feels like. Once you help them get in position, they realize just how far off plumb they were.

When I'm diving with new divers, it's usually part of our plan to spend a few minutes on a platform working on bouyancy and trim. It's done wonders for those newbies I dive with. Does wonders for the viz, too!

 

[scuba_junkie]

That was one of the things the instructors at my LDS pounded into our heads... Learning to always maintain neutral bouyancy and knowing where your equipment and fins are to the point that it becomes second nature. They stressed this for preservation of reefs and other underwater habitats, as well as preserving the visibility. On my first OW dive, one of the other students was doing a great rototiller impersonation almost trudging through the foot deep silt like she was walking to school in the snow. Of course I only say her doing this for a few seconds since I was behind her and then viz went to under 1 foot. I can understand a newbie doing it the first few dives, but c'mon, its not that hard of a skillset to learn.
just my .02

 

[Spectre]

Dee once bubbled...
Most new divers don't know what horizontal feels like. Once you help them get in position, they realize just how far off plumb they were.

Every so often look backwards [unless your buddy is behind you in which case you should be looking backwards quite a bit ].

When you look backwards, don't use a Crazy Ivan manuever, but rather look between your legs. You'll figure out pretty quickly if your horizontal, and if not, it'll get you to that position

 

[Diversauras]

Wish mine could be turned on and off so easily

pt40fathoms once bubbled...
:rant mode on:
When the heck will ALL certifying agencys get off their butts, and include finning techniques and the reasons for using them in the basic OW class. It should be a BASIC requirement of obtaining a c-card. It's not hard to teach, it takes VERY little time ( 10 - 15 min demonstration in the pool), and it can be practiced during the OW certification course. Far too many instructors are too lazy to take this up on their own, and are focused on the strict guide lines set out for them. The least amount of effort for the most reward. The few out there who do take the time are too few to make a difference. Arrgggg, this is so simple and basic it should not be a issue, but it is, and that's what is so frustrating.
:rant mode off:

I want this to become true also. I want all instructors to teach with their love of the environment and the sport displayed proudly on the sleeve of their wet suit.

But alas and alack it will never come to pass. Instructors are not paid enough to keep them in the game, the good ones get out quickly or move to some part of the business that will give them a nearly livable wage. As long as the crop of incoming divers expects to receive their C-card in 3 or 4 weeks, or whatever the duration of the class is, and pay some ridiculously small pittance for that class it can never be.

When the industry starts marketing differently it will change. IMHO it is the warm water, easy diving resorts and dive boats that are driving a lot of this. That market is supported by the travel industry and the value is in the billions. If the "almost can dive without a life threatening emergency" crop of divers is not being cranked out, then the resorts are going to be hurt.

I would venture a guess that almost no one on this board is involved in the cranking out of marginal students, those folks don't care enough to be here. I don't turn out marginal students, but I also don't make a profit on teaching either, there are a lot of us here that do it because that is who we are and we are not confusing it with what we do (to make the money we need to live).

The problem is expectations. When a student expects to be qualified to dive at the end of an OW class, and realizes that it will require more than a few pool sessions and 4 OW dives to get there, then you have a start. When he/she expects to pay what that course is worth, time & materials at market value, then and only then will you find the OW student that can understand what this thread is about, and demonstrate the skills to the point the he/she knows we aren't talking about him/her.

But that is only my opinion….

 

[MikeFerrara]

I have made this point before but I don't know if it was in this thread. Many instructors don't have that much dive training. Beyond AOW what classes address dive skill and technique. I think this is why I see so many instructors who don't look all that good in the water. They can't teach what they don't know. Unless they have had a DIRF, cave or tech training, they don't know what a modified frog is. An instructor candidate is not required to exibit good trim or finning technique. We introduce the frog, modified frog, modified flutter and reverse kicks in our OW class. We explain the advantage of these techniques. We fully explain and work on trim with the students. First we added a fourth night in the pool. now we are adding a fifth. Thats a total of 15 hours in the pool. Most classes around here are 6 hours. IMO, students need time to practice this stuff before going to OW. It makes a big difference but it costs alot of money. We may be pricing ourselves out of the market.

 

[large_diver]

Those videos are great, especially after taking DIRF...good reinforcement.

I've been watching the videos of my DIRF class that I downloaded a few days ago. Our skills obviously look a little "rougher" than the folks in the FifthD videos ;-)

 

[Divesherpa]

When I was doing my instructor class for PADI (I know what you're thinking), our course director had us dive 8 pounds overweight to "help"with situations. We were instructed to descend feet first, then always keep our hips below our head. Not only is this inappropriate, it's damn hard to do.
As for teaching, I have a waiver where I can teach all OW skills while neutrally buoyant. This helps demonstrate some semblance of understanding of buoyancy prior to certification. It's also a great confidence boost for someone who was afraid to take their mask off in a pool to swim up and hand you their mask while hovering.
Instructors are the reason for the failure in buoyancy control of their students. The OW training agencies are worthless in this regard.