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Thanks all. An excellent thread which I should print and save for students - and myself !!
SOLO Diving Practice Skills
- Thread starter SCUBA482
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Been diving solo since my ow cert. mainly out of necessity, and like the challenge.. I too practiced at 15 to 20 feet just as previously stated, probably the hardest and most challenging thing is aspirating water accidentally!!! Overcoming panic in that situation is tough!! That happened to me while doing lost mask drills. You have to make yourself breathe lightly and cough through your reg. (I had to grab a tree stump to hold myself down until I calmed down) Practice low vis or no vis when you get a chance it will make you a better diver.
brophy22
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My dive instructor Thilo and my dive buddy otis, are solo divers and from day one I was trained as a solo diver.
You have to dive your way not SSI or padi's way
I have had so many people come up to me at the quarry and say " Your hose's are wrong." I kindly say "I dive my way, You dive your way."
my BC is a zeagle ranger I took the zeagle wing off and put a dive rite back plate and dive rite wreak wings, and I think my tank holders are custom made, They have no brand name or stamping on them. I bought them from aqua ventures in MD, They allow my to change tanks independently. And the back plate keeps the tanks from rolling around on your back.
I have independent doubles, Two tanks, Two first stages and Two second stages.
All the devices from the left tank come down on my left side and all the devices from the right tank come down my right side.
Two lift bags one on each side of my back plate with two small 125' finger spools.
You also will need to have a weight belt with enough weight to keep you neg with only your wet suit or dry suit. The rest put in your BC.
A dive table in case your CPU craps out.
And You need to train. Me and T would just go to the quarry and have way through any dive T would tell me to give him my mask and a fin. Then tell me to a free accent with deco stops with out shooting a bag.
In a closing note: You cant rely on any but you. Nobody is going to be there to stuff a reg in your mouth when a high press hose blows.
You have to dive your way not SSI or padi's way
I have had so many people come up to me at the quarry and say " Your hose's are wrong." I kindly say "I dive my way, You dive your way."
my BC is a zeagle ranger I took the zeagle wing off and put a dive rite back plate and dive rite wreak wings, and I think my tank holders are custom made, They have no brand name or stamping on them. I bought them from aqua ventures in MD, They allow my to change tanks independently. And the back plate keeps the tanks from rolling around on your back.
I have independent doubles, Two tanks, Two first stages and Two second stages.
All the devices from the left tank come down on my left side and all the devices from the right tank come down my right side.
Two lift bags one on each side of my back plate with two small 125' finger spools.
You also will need to have a weight belt with enough weight to keep you neg with only your wet suit or dry suit. The rest put in your BC.
A dive table in case your CPU craps out.
And You need to train. Me and T would just go to the quarry and have way through any dive T would tell me to give him my mask and a fin. Then tell me to a free accent with deco stops with out shooting a bag.
In a closing note: You cant rely on any but you. Nobody is going to be there to stuff a reg in your mouth when a high press hose blows.
I haven't done a solo OW dive since I moved to North Florida. I have similar procedures with a few twists to them.
I chose an AL80 just because that's what I had available. My first solo cave dive was in manifolded backmounted doubles. I carried my buddy bottle and even went to CVS and bought a compact mirror to do my own bubble check. I only did a few solo backmount dives before I started diving sidemount. At that point I started diving 1/4s instead of 1/3s and didn't bring the buddy bottle since I already had two completely independent air sources with me. When I solo scooter, I still bring AL along for added air supply. I have also done a swim test breathing from AL from 2500 feet back in the deepest system around while pushing my scooter in front of me. In a real scooter failure with air loss, I'd leave the scooter behind to get out faster, but a double failure like that isn't likely. My RMV has also gotten a lot better since that test, but I still use that point in my dive planning. Lately I've been doing double stage dives but only breathing from one of the bottles and keeping the other one as an emergency air source. I'm getting ready to drop a safety bottle in this system so I can start breathing off both.
I always dive with my primary light and a mask light turned on, especially when scootering. I carry an additional 3 back up lights with me on all cave dives.
I carry a spare mask during all cave dives.
This is where we are completely different. I will only go into really tight spaces when I'm solo. I feel that really small passages are no place for 2 divers. In fact, they are safer when you are alone because you only need to concern yourself with yourself. Having a buddy that you will likely not be able to see because there is no question that it will silt out only increases the risk. I also don't want to have my buddy get stuck between me and the exit!!
This is very true. One of the nice things about diving independents, whether they are sidemounted or backmounted is you have to do 3-4 reg switches during every dive. I can do reg switches while scootering without ever letting up on the trigger. When I was backmount, I reached back to my valves a few times during every dive just to keep that muscle memory intact. I still do it occasionally in sidemount, but the position of the valves makes it much easier than in backmount. I also use 2 dive computers when I solo. I run tables for new caves (if I know what to expect), but a lot of the diving I do is either in passage new to me or new to anyone so depths aren't always known. This requires a little bit of reliance on the dive computers. I can come up with a deco profile for most dives on the fly, but I like having the computers as a brain check. I especially like having the 2 in case one craps out during the dive. Opponents of solo diving argue the lack of 2 brains, and while that's true, there are things we can do to lessen that risk. Carrying 2 computers is one of those thing.
I appreciate the need to master emergency skills when diving, and especially when diving by yourself, but my main goal is always to avoid emergency situations in the first place. Every emergency situation I've seen firsthand has been totally preventable. With very few exceptions, if you are in an emergency situation, you did something wrong. It might have been improper maintenance, unfamiliarity with gear, poor judgement, poor buoyancy, or poor situational awareness; but there was some warning-some red flag- that you ignored.
To set a personal example, last weekend, I was diving down in Florida. I had recently switched my mask strap from the standard silicone one to a velcro slap strap--Unfamiliar Gear. I also have a beard and mustache. I usually trim the mustache so the mask can seal better, but in the travel down there, I forgot--Improper Maintenance My mask was leaking the first two dives, and I planned to shave that night, but forgot--Poor Judgement. The second day, I had massive flooding every time I looked up. On the exit, it was so bad that I had to get out my backup mask. It turned out that the Isolator was pushing the mask strap up whenever I leaned my head back to look up, and I didn't realize it. My Silicone strap was stickier and didn't do this--Poor Situational Awareness. I could have easily solved the problem by putting the mask strap back in place instead of having it escalate into this little mini-emergency, or by shaving like I normally do so I would have realized the flooding was coming from something else, but I didn't have the particular experience to realize what was happening.
My point is that most emergencies don't just sneak up on you, they give you advanced warning about exactly what is going to happen. Divers with enough experience to recognize those signs can cut them off at the pass. Whenever you are talking diving, this is always the best solution. The best way to gain all of this experience is just to dive. The best training you can have is just to dive. That's why so many people get told that they should wait to solo, or wait to start their tech training. It isn't a matter of how comfortable you are in the water, or how well you can respond to emergencies, you just need that experience to be able to recognize all those little signs that are precursors to the emergencies. Diving is a foreign activity to every person, and every underwater experience is novel. Some are normal, but some are the red flags that something bad is about to happen. I've found that training and skill can help me deal with bad things happening, but Experience is the only thing that can get you to recognize those red flags when they happen.
Tom
To set a personal example, last weekend, I was diving down in Florida. I had recently switched my mask strap from the standard silicone one to a velcro slap strap--Unfamiliar Gear. I also have a beard and mustache. I usually trim the mustache so the mask can seal better, but in the travel down there, I forgot--Improper Maintenance My mask was leaking the first two dives, and I planned to shave that night, but forgot--Poor Judgement. The second day, I had massive flooding every time I looked up. On the exit, it was so bad that I had to get out my backup mask. It turned out that the Isolator was pushing the mask strap up whenever I leaned my head back to look up, and I didn't realize it. My Silicone strap was stickier and didn't do this--Poor Situational Awareness. I could have easily solved the problem by putting the mask strap back in place instead of having it escalate into this little mini-emergency, or by shaving like I normally do so I would have realized the flooding was coming from something else, but I didn't have the particular experience to realize what was happening.
My point is that most emergencies don't just sneak up on you, they give you advanced warning about exactly what is going to happen. Divers with enough experience to recognize those signs can cut them off at the pass. Whenever you are talking diving, this is always the best solution. The best way to gain all of this experience is just to dive. The best training you can have is just to dive. That's why so many people get told that they should wait to solo, or wait to start their tech training. It isn't a matter of how comfortable you are in the water, or how well you can respond to emergencies, you just need that experience to be able to recognize all those little signs that are precursors to the emergencies. Diving is a foreign activity to every person, and every underwater experience is novel. Some are normal, but some are the red flags that something bad is about to happen. I've found that training and skill can help me deal with bad things happening, but Experience is the only thing that can get you to recognize those red flags when they happen.
Tom
An addendum:
I'm a big fan of team diving. I think the biggest benefit of diving in a TEAM (not just diving with somebody, but a TEAMMATE) is that you have two people watching out for all those red flags I mentioned in my last post. You also have eyes and ears looking in places you can't look when you are alone. A loose inflator elbow that is trailing a stream of bubbles is a HUGE RED FLAG, but since you don't have eyes in the back of your head, you will most likely miss it. Having an extra set of eyes just gives literally another perspective so spot the red flags from. To me, this is really the only major drawback to solo diving. There really are some warning signs that you will just miss, that a teammate could have caught for you.
Tom
I'm a big fan of team diving. I think the biggest benefit of diving in a TEAM (not just diving with somebody, but a TEAMMATE) is that you have two people watching out for all those red flags I mentioned in my last post. You also have eyes and ears looking in places you can't look when you are alone. A loose inflator elbow that is trailing a stream of bubbles is a HUGE RED FLAG, but since you don't have eyes in the back of your head, you will most likely miss it. Having an extra set of eyes just gives literally another perspective so spot the red flags from. To me, this is really the only major drawback to solo diving. There really are some warning signs that you will just miss, that a teammate could have caught for you.
Tom
I'm a fairly conservative solo diver. That being said, I start out every single solo dive *with two dive plans and a skill review session. I descend to 25 feet and I run through all of my drills at least once. These drills include:
-regulator remove and replace
-dropped regulator drills (sweeps, touching the neck, etc)
-regulator switching
-valve drills, including stages
-stage/gas switching
-mask remove & replace
-mask-off/eyes-closed hovering
-SMB deployment
-Dry suit runaway inflation
-Kicks of all types
-Backup light deployment
-then run through all the above drills with mask off
etc.
If my drills went well, and my buoyancy control with multi-tasking is perfect, then I usually proceed on more aggressive solo dives, deep 100+ feet, darkness, use of stages, etc.
If my drills are shakey then I drill some more and then proceed on an alternate, more casual dive.
Like I said, I'm pretty conservative. I practice a lot.
I also take two of everything, except a second brain. Two masks, two cylinders, two full sets of regs, two buoyancy devices (BCD and drysuit), two cutting devices, to compasses, two bottom timers, two lights, two spools, two signalling devices.
* Except when I'm solo diving off a cattle boat, then I just jump in and go.
-regulator remove and replace
-dropped regulator drills (sweeps, touching the neck, etc)
-regulator switching
-valve drills, including stages
-stage/gas switching
-mask remove & replace
-mask-off/eyes-closed hovering
-SMB deployment
-Dry suit runaway inflation
-Kicks of all types
-Backup light deployment
-then run through all the above drills with mask off
etc.
If my drills went well, and my buoyancy control with multi-tasking is perfect, then I usually proceed on more aggressive solo dives, deep 100+ feet, darkness, use of stages, etc.
If my drills are shakey then I drill some more and then proceed on an alternate, more casual dive.
Like I said, I'm pretty conservative. I practice a lot.
I also take two of everything, except a second brain. Two masks, two cylinders, two full sets of regs, two buoyancy devices (BCD and drysuit), two cutting devices, to compasses, two bottom timers, two lights, two spools, two signalling devices.
* Except when I'm solo diving off a cattle boat, then I just jump in and go.
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A good reason for going sidemount... You don't need eyes in the back of your head...
...no manifold in the back of the head either!
Putting some very important gear somewhere highly visible is a definite plus. It doesn't give you a complete 360 view of your rig, but its better than BM. I'm still not sure how it helps you see stuff like your corrugated hose, or your dump valves, or wings though. If you wear your LP Inflator like Edd does, the wing attachment is even more hidden than when you're diving backmount.
Tom
The wing is used for buoyancy control. I can use my dry suit for the same thing. What I really want to see is my breathing air source. The corrugated hose is protected by the left cylinder and the dump valve, well, if it goes, like I said, I have my dry suit.
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