Solo Skills

[SmileMon]

Sorry, I visualized my own rig and babbled what I wanted to do.

The primary has two regulators, one on the 7' and the one used to be octo (which is a complete piece of crap).
The Pony only has one regulator. the pony is strapped to the main tank straps on my back.

So far I've been diving with the octo bungied on my neck and the 7' wrapped around my head in the traditional form and the alt-air clipped to my BC lower D-ring with a snorkel holder.

From now on, the octo will be where the alt-air regulator used to be (clipped on the BC), the alt-air reg will be bungied on my neck and the 7' in the traditional form.

This way if the primary fails, the first thing I do is get air, after that I can try to figure out what went wrong.

 

[Rich Courtney]

Sorry, I visualized my own rig and babbled what I wanted to do.

The primary has two regulators, one on the 7' and the one used to be octo (which is a complete piece of crap).
The Pony only has one regulator. the pony is strapped to the main tank straps on my back.

So far I've been diving with the octo bungied on my neck and the 7' wrapped around my head in the traditional form and the alt-air clipped to my BC lower D-ring with a snorkel holder.

From now on, the octo will be where the alt-air regulator used to be (clipped on the BC), the alt-air reg will be bungied on my neck and the 7' in the traditional form.

This way if the primary fails, the first thing I do is get air, after that I can try to figure out what went wrong.

If I may make a suggestion......keep your rig like you had it in cavern class eg 7' primary run down right side, up across chest and around the neck with excess tucked into belt (or around light canister), secondary reg (octo) bungeed around neck.

Take the pony and sling it from your left side, top attached to chest d ring, bottom attached to d ring on belt, with the reg attached stage style.....a couple of reasons I suggest this rather than running the 40 through your straps, is you can take the 40 anywhere with you and get if filled without having to take it off the straps etc plus it will get you used to the concept of slinging bottles which may come in useful later in your diving career.

Just some thoughts for you, hope they help

Safe diving,

Rich

 

[SmileMon]

Thanks Rich, I ordered the stage straps last week just for that purpose, also this way I can keep it pressurized and closed valve, the only problem I have with it is that it will bang on the reef when I'm very close and flat (like modified flatter), but I'll learn to keep my distance.

 

[Diver Dennis]

Sorry but looking at your profile and number of dives I didn't know you have taken advanced training.

 

[SmileMon]

Its ok.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

SmileMon,

First, it seems like those who would talk you out of solo diving are not being too successful Second, you do seem to lack a bit in the experience area. Third, you are going the DIR route with equipment, which has its good points and some not-so-good points for the inexperienced. Having three completely redundant systems may seem like a great idea, but if you are diving in less than 30 feet of water, without overhead hazards, the redundency can cause problems as well as solve them. Each piece of equipment needs attention, and it is the attention to the detail of your equipment before and during a dive that determines whether you will have a successful dive. Remember, "A man in armour is his armour's slave." (Glen H. Egstrom, Ph.D. Effect of Equipment on Diving Performance, Human Performance and SCUBA Diving Proceedings of the Symposium on Underwater Physiology, April 10-11, 1970.

I have solo dived since the 1960s, and was in fact taught how to do it in the USAF when I was a Pararescueman. When we jumped parascuba, we were in fact solo diving. We could not depend upon anyone else to help us out. So our equipment, while simple, was also vital. We needed a functioning, reliable regulator. On many of my current dives, I dive solo with a single regulator, either a trusted double hose (Mistral, for instance, the old one), or a single hose regulator. When I dive with a single hose regulator, I've been known to vintage dive (when a single hose reg is just a single hose reg), but I also have two sets of doubles which can accept two independent regulators. So my feeling is that the equipment can be somewhat variable, depending upon the circumstances. In very difficult environments, I will opt of redundancy. In shallow water, especially in rivers with current, I take a minimalist approach. Both have their places.

The main thing for solo diving is to be independent, and to be very, very comfortable in the water. If you have a water background (and being in Florida, it would be easy to come by), have been in the water a lot, snorkel a lot, swim a lot, then diving can actually be safer than snorkeling or swimming solo. That's because of the obvious, you have an air supply.

There are two things no one has mentioned. The first is the book Solo Diving, The Art of Underwater Self-Sufficiency[/I] by Robert Von Maier. This is an excellent text for the beginning solo diver. The second is that I have not heard anyone mention the necessity of carrying a good, sharp knife. You talked above about having an "instructor" wrap you up in rope or something to see how you would react. First, it's not a good idea. Second, if you carry a good, sharp knife with both a sharp regular blade and a serrated edge, you can get out of almost anything.

Entanglement is a fear for most divers. In our LA County scuba class in 1963, one of the last skill tests was for an instructor to drop a fishing net over a buddy pair, and watch them get out of it. They had to help each other out. I went through the US Naval School for Underwater Swimmers, and their last pool session was to do anything to get us to surface. This included turning off our air supply, taking off our masks, etc. My buddy and I, when they approached the first time, handed them our masks, and did the rest of the exercise without a mask (they couldn't take something off that was already off). We then basically guarded each others regulator and manifold, and they never forced us to surface (we were using DA Aquamaster double hose regulators for this exercise). The point was not to get entangled, but to reinforce the buddy system. But because of the amount of monofilement line in the water, it is important to have a good, functioning, sharp cutting tool close at hand.

In solo diving, there is no buddy system, so no need to reinforce it. Here are some of the exercises I do:

--I swim and dive a lot.
--I test all my gear in a pool before taking it into open water.
--Because I still dive the vintage way, I do a lot of doff-and-don exercises in the pool. Some of this is for my own skill-building, and some is to test concepts (such as the myth of not being able to breath off a flooded double hose regulator). I sometimes post these exercises an the website: http://www.vintagescubasupply.com
--flood my mask and clear it underwater.
--snorkel dive and breathhold dive in a pool, especially when the weather in too yucky for diving.

Hope this helps.

SeaRat

 

[Diver Dennis]

Just out of curiosity, what exactly is your certification level? the reason I ask is that here you said you were cavern trained and yet recently you were just going for your AOW. This was posted in May.

SmileMon
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Advanced Open Water
Hi,

I'm scheduled for AOW dives/course soon, my Instructor likes to keep me in the dark but the curious person in me is asking for more information.

So far I've got hints about fish identification, basic navigation, night diving and getting narc'ed.

Anyone has any further information about the actual dives? What should I expect?

Knowing my instructor I know everything is going to be fun but I can't help it, I would like to come mentally prepared..

Instructors who train several agencies, I'll appreciate your pov on the differences between NAUI and other agencies regarding AOW (mainly checkout dives), just keep the bashing off this thread.

At least I got my bouyancy and other skills under control, I feel almost like a fish..

Thanks!!

 

[John C. Ratliff]

Diver Dennis,

It simply depends upon what the instructor wants to do. Each dive is unique, which is why I like diving so much. There will be the usual exercises (which have changed a bit since I taught), but beyond that, simply look for an enjoyable, weightless and envigorating experience. Learn each time you dive, as each time is different.

SeaRat

 

[Diver Dennis]

I solo most of the time John and agree with you but I was just curious about his experience level. AOW comes before Cavern?

 

[SmileMon]

Cavern has nothing to do with anything else, actually my instructor recommended to do the Cavern right after the OW to get rid of the bad habits of OW diving.

I really don't remember which one I finished first as my AOW was spread over several weeks.

I promise you all, I'm a newbie.. but I feel that diving was in the back of my head for many years and only now I allowed it to start exploring..

Denis, I'll PM you all the info..