skills developed in poor conditions

[t-mac]

A lovefest here. I also agree with all of this. As a (re)new diver I wonder if part of what's behind this is the notion that if you do your initial training in "bad" conditions, you are good everywhere. As said by others, the issue to me is stresses. Confronting and gradually working through those expands your experience base, minimizing or reducing stress points. I really like what you are suggesting, which is a gradual approach of going from less to more stressful conditions and, as said, it certainly can be done. One thing I philosophically have issues with is pushing your weekend cert classes to do OW in the quarry, rather than some place with fewer stressors on the philosophy that if you can do it here you can anywhere. While there is some truth to this, I think the motivation is not honest and forfeits the gradual approach to progressively reducing stress, which I feel compromises safety in the newly minted. Yes, the statistics are generally good, but there are periodic tragic examples that show up here where I believe a brand new OW diver was pushed too far too fast. Perhaps I am reading too much into your post, but in any event, yes, it is possible to do things gradually, and it is my preference to do so. Good luck.

 

[mantajohn]

This thread really shows SB at its best. There is lots of excellent advice here. as a UK diver myself, i would add/reinforce the following points:

a) you will probably choose to use a dry suit very soon after starting to dive in UK

b) most dives have a square-ish profile. There is no reef to ascend alongside. On most dives, once you leave the sea bed, you are ascending into the blue (well grey really, not blue). Being comfortable with open water ascents & using a dsmb on most dives is important.

c) most sea dives in UK are tidal. You will get used to skippers planning dives around slack water. you will probable encounter sea sickness. Often the skipper arrives a little before slack, turns the engine off to save diesel & you start turning green as the boat wallows.

d) UK dive boats are much smaller & simpler than you will be used to.

e) the most important skill is buddy diving. you dive as a 'self reliant' buddy pair. generally no dive guide showing you the way. mostly you & your buddy will explore the site (wreck) unsupervised. 'Same ocean' buddies are especially useless in cold water.

You might want to join a BSAC dive club or a club affiliated to a dive shop. Lots of UK diving is by clubs chartering boats. Its not that common to be able to book on a day boat on your own or even as a buddy pair. Also the dive club will have UK experienced buddies to help you acclimatise.

Cheers

John

 

[fdog]

I started diving as a boy in Florida. When my parents & I moved to Northern California (cold water) I took one look at all the thick wet suits, heavy load of lead, and the (to me) cold, murky water, and swore I'd never dive again.

It took a couple years to get into that cold water. I loved it.


It's not all roses for cold water divers that go to the tropics: In cold water, the low vis keeps you at a reasonable distance as a buddy team. When these divers encounter 100'+ vis, just like puppy dogs, they immediately seem to bounce out to the limits of sight...and far beyond what would allow them to manage an out-of-air situation.


All the best, James

 

[Storker]

The big difference in diving training based on geography is probably warm vs. cold and then clear vs. murky -- and these two often go hand-in-hand.

What is this "cold and murky" of which you speak?

[video=vimeo;55377132]http://vimeo.com/55377132[/video]

 

[LowDrag]

My OW class was in June of this year and the viz was 2' at the best of times. I can say that going thru my skills in this low viz situation was definitely a challenge but I did what other divers here say...Stop, Think, Breathe. Keeping that in my head helped me through the first three dives of my certification weekend. On the fourth dive the viz could have been considered even worse but it was probably the best dive I have done so far. It was challenging but not super stressful for me. That's not to say that I wasn't nervous but I just did not feel over loaded on this dive. Two months later, our LDS put on a lake dive at a local lake where we were to catch crawfish for a crawfish boil. The bottom of the lake silted out real easy as we were hunting crawfish making the viz zero at times. Having had the low viz experience during OW helped me feel more relaxed, I was still aware but did not feel over loaded in any way.
My point is this...don't let low viz get you down. Work with it, learn to move thru it and you should do just fine. Others with far more experience here will tell you that anywhere you dive will have it own things to look at. Allow yourself to relax and enjoy where you are.