Some things that I haven't learned yet

[Soakedlontra]

One thing no one has mentioned...forget the camera! If you are still having issues with other things leave the camera at home until you get those sorted out. It will make your life much easier.

I understand what you mean when you suggest leave the camera at home if you have other issues to deal with and resolve. I guess I am guilty of not following this rule by the book. I use the camera despite my unresolved problems but only when I feel I can handle it. I never take it on a dive with a new buddy or during a dive in a new site. At night I sometimes take it with my regular buddy with whom I have been developing a, let's say, 'cooperation plan'. We stick together like two inmates when they are transferred to a different jail and we do not go deeper than a certain depth. I take it only on sites where we have been diving on a regular basis and I usually use my small back up light which dangles straight down and carry with me the main light switched off.

Light. Don't let go of it! I have a Light Cannon/pistol grip. It has a lanyard that I attach with a double ended bolt snap to my right check D-ring. But...I never let go of the light. It's attached at a comfortable point regarding length of lanyard. In an emergency I will let go of course but otherwise don't let go or turn it off.

So I guess if you have to make adjustments with your right hand you manage it without letting go the light or you use your left hand? Or you do not need to make adjustments in the first place?

Lunch time!

Buon appetito!

 

[TSandM]

BTW, the suggestion to wait until the water warms up was for your sake, because as you know, I dive dry and don't care what the water temperature is. If you want to make a date in the near future, just send me a note!

 

[meierdierck]

i lay the gear out head to toe as well, and a pile on the side for dive specific items, i also make the kids lay their gear out so i can see it, its really the only way i can be sure i get it all
relaxing as much as possible before the dive will do wonders, i find when i am rushed, and hurried and something goes wrong and so and so is waiting, and we gotta hurry sets the wrong tone for what i got into diving to do, relax, relax relax, breath in breath out
i tell my students to "breath", it sounds silly but take a minute or 2 or 5 if you need to, just before descent, and even at the bottom if need be, and be calm, quiet , and just breath, it will do wonders for your air consumption, and your bouancy,
once you are calm and breathing, set your bouyancy and slowly start your swim.
it really can set the tone for the entire dive, and you will more than get the minute back it bottom time and enjoyment

 

[Soakedlontra]

BTW, the suggestion to wait until the water warms up was for your sake, because as you know, I dive dry and don't care what the water temperature is. If you want to make a date in the near future, just send me a note!

I appreciate your thoughtfulness. So far diving in this water has been OK. I want to do some research to find out if I can get better gloves/mitts, perhaps? and boots/neoprene socks, though.

My major concern right now is to get rid of this weird cold, not sure whether I will be able to dive this weekend or not.

Cheers

 

[Soakedlontra]

Well, now I am an Advanced Open Water diver...

There is still some confusion about dive planning and gas management. I have understood the basic general principles but what I find hard is to apply those principle to my dive planning and stitch together all the various pieces of information that are floating in my head. If this learning 'leap' is difficult with my regular buddy it becomes even more confusing and complicated when I have to deal with new buddies.

Recently during a day of boat diving my instant buddy asked me when I wanted to turn back and I looked at him with a dumb expression in my face and I felt like a fool because I did not know what to say. I thought to suggest the 'rule of thirds' (something that I am familiar with) but then I thought that it was a bit too conservative for the type of dive that we were going to do (max depth 60 ft, contingency depth 70ft). Finally he broke the silence and suggested a turning pressure of 1,500PSI.

We followed that air plan and it turned out to be a bit conservative so we adjusted the plan and stayed a bit longer (we were at about 30 ft of water). This was our first dive together. After 'experimenting' with our air consumption (so it seemed) we had a better idea on when to turn around during our second and third dives but it was not because we made calculations in our heads but I guess it was just guess work guided by instinct (from my part anyway). Everything turned out to be OK, except during one of the other two dives my buddy pointed to his pony bottle when I told him it was time to go back. Now I may have misunderstood his signal but there was no way that I was going to stay down there longer and get low on air just because there was air from a pony bottle available!

 

[W8less]

Seems like you are thinking about things and that is the first step. Debrief your dive and figure out in descending order of seriousness what didn't work and needs to be fixed. Fix the serious ones while they are fresh. Don't wait until the next dive prep. Lists - don't remember anything, you will find that you will change gear configurations and lists and notes are indispensable. You don't want to waste valuable dive time revisiting the same errors. Don't use air consumption to keep score, just relax, it will come. Right up front let your buddy know that you are heavy on air, that will keep him informed and keep the performance anxiety on your part down. Usually someone at cove 1 or 2 on wed. and thurs. nights if you find yourself in the big city.

 

[TSandM]

I know you have Bob's handout, which is worth going through carefully again, if you are still confused.

But gas management at the simple recreational dive level basically breaks down into three steps.

First, determine your "rock bottom" or minimum gas. That's the reserve you need to carry to get you and your buddy to the surface from the deepest part of the dive. A reasonable rule of thumb is 20 cu ft for 60 fsw, and 40 from 100fsw. Knowing the volume, you can figure what proportion of your tank it is -- for example, 40 cu ft is half of an Al80 which is normally filled to 3000 psi, so it's 1500 psi. If you know the tank factor for your tank, you can figure it that way.

So -- you take out the rock bottom, and figure out how much gas you have left. That's your "usable" gas.

Now you have to decide how you are going to portion out that gas. If you are diving off a charter boat that will come and get you wherever you end up, you can use it all! Your rock bottom is plenty to get you to the surface, even if you have to share with a buddy. So you head up when you hit rock bottom.

If you are shore diving, most of the time, you would prefer to get back to where you started underwater, rather than do a long surface swim. But you CAN do the long surface swim if you have to. So you divide your usable gas in half. Whatever number you come up with, you add that to your rock bottom, and that's your turn pressure (you turned when you had enough gas to get back to the shore, and to ascend if you needed to).

If you are in a position where you MUST get back to your starting point, then you have to consider that you might have to bring your buddy back there on your gas, AND do the ascent on your gas, so you have to divide that usable gas into thirds. There aren't many situations where open water divers are faced with these constraints, but diving wrecks in high current off an anchored boat is one of them.

Don't make it too complicated in your head. It's really simple. Put away a safety reserve that you won't use. Then decide whether the dive is one way, two way, or "absolutely have to get back to the upline". That tells you how to divide the rest.

Quick examples:

Diving off a Bandito charter at Sunrise. Max expected depth is 60 fsw. You're diving an LP95, with a tank factor of 3.5 (rounded off for easy math). You need a safety reserve of 20 cu ft, which is roughly 600 psi (6 x 3.5 = 21). So you put 600 psi away. The boat will come and get you wherever you surface, so you can use your tank down to 600 psi, so you have 2000 psi usable (assuming you got the 2640 fill the tank is rated to). You have no turn pressure. You ascend at 600 psi, or when you get cold, whichever comes first.

Diving at Edmonds. Max expected depth is probably 33 fsw, and rock bottom is never less than 500 psi, so that's what it will be for this dive. This is a halves dive, because you'd really LIKE to swim back to the shore, although if you have to surface, you can. So you take that 2640 you have, remove the 500 psi reserve, and that gives you 2140 -- rounding down to 2000, you have 1000 to use going out, and 1000 to use coming back. So add the 1000 you need to come back to the 500 you aren't going to touch outside of an emergency, and you have a turn pressure of 1500 psi.

Diving off the Dash on the Possession Point ferry. Max depth is 80 fsw, and the boat is anchored, and surface currents can be fierce. So if you have a problem at depth, you would like to share gas to the upline and ascend there if you possibly can. So, using the 100 fsw value of 40 cu ft, you need to set aside 1100 psi for rock bottom. That leaves you with 1500 psi usable. Now you want to divide that into thirds -- our outbound leg is 500 psi, and we turn at 2100.

The math is easy, once you decide how you are going to apportion the gas.

 

[offthewall1]

Among the besillions of things that I haven't learned yet I have picked up the few that are a cause of constant frustration and struggle:

1) During a night dive the main light is always a bummer! I hold it with a lanyard around my wrist and when I let it go it begins to rotate, the light beam swirls like a disco light and ends up blinding the unfortunate buddy. My last new buddy suggested me to use a device (I don't remember its name) with a clip and attach it to my harness. I am going to try it and hopefully it will make easier to carry the light.

Use a wrist mount light. It keeps the light where you want it but leaves your hands free... try the Nocturnal Lights SLX800 Tech

2) My trim and buoyancy is a mix of good and bad. I still haven't grasped the final magic trick that will allow me to settle it down consistently.

Buoyancy is actually mastered at the surface... not underwater. A good Instructor can have you properly weighted long before your class is over. Seek assistance from a good Instructor


3) My air consumption is still as high as Mt. Everest. I liked to think that it had began to improve a little bit but lately after comparing my air consumption with guys that use 1/3(or less) of their air supply in the same amount of time that I use a whole tank...all my hopes were crushed to a pulp.

Deep Breathing is the key. Most new divers make the mistake of breathing normally on Scuba... NO NO NO. Control your breathing by taking exaggerated deep breaths in with nice long slow exhales out. Practice that until it becomes second nature while underwater. You can as much as double your bottom time with practice

4) Keep forgetting bits and pieces of gear. First of all the hood, then the light marker and lanyard for the camera, then the weight belt and last some hot water...I will keep writing a list every time a pack my gear until eventually it sinks inside my brain.

Making a list helps... but slowing down may be all the help you need. If life is hectic... take a few deep breaths everyday. You'll feel better and it's amazing how it improves your memory. Your memory is in place... your hurried state is what does you in. Stop and smell the roses : )

That's it for now.

Cheers

Enjoy your new love... Kiss a Sea Lion!

 

[TSandM]

Actually, since I know her AOW instructor, I am quite sure she is properly weighted.

The buoyancy control and the gas consumption probably go hand in hand. A big part of buoyancy control is breath control, and as long as your breathing is rapid and shallow, your buoyancy is going to be hard to pinpoint, especially in the shallows. Learning to relax is a big part of this. We can talk about it when you're here.

 

[Soakedlontra]

Seems like you are thinking about things and that is the first step. Debrief your dive and figure out in descending order of seriousness what didn't work and needs to be fixed. Fix the serious ones while they are fresh. Don't wait until the next dive prep. Lists - don't remember anything, you will find that you will change gear configurations and lists and notes are indispensable. You don't want to waste valuable dive time revisiting the same errors. Don't use air consumption to keep score, just relax, it will come. Right up front let your buddy know that you are heavy on air, that will keep him informed and keep the performance anxiety on your part down. Usually someone at cove 1 or 2 on wed. and thurs. nights if you find yourself in the big city.

I write notes that sometimes look like essays in my log book as soon as possible after each dive, because you are right I have noticed that if I let too much time go by the memories about the dives get blurred and more inaccurate. Something that hardly other divers do nowadays ( some even look at a paper log book almost with contempt!).

I have also need to take some time to 'analyze' the data that I collect after each dive to figure out my own general trend in gas consumption and how it fluctuates with depth and dive profile (Do I make sense?) without getting too caught with numbers.

Another issue that has been cropping up lately is how to deal with what I would call "solo-divers-by-default" (they go solo when they cannot find a buddy). In the case of the guy that I mentioned in my previous post, I did make a conscious effort to keep myself calm and relaxed (while my instinct kept ringing alarm bells.

On a gut level I feel that those kind of divers have a potential to become trouble, but on the other hand I think that I need to learn how to cope with divers that have different 'styles' of diving from mine, but then where do I draw the line? (In this particular case he turned out to be ok).

That diver never dived from a boat before and it came natural to me to tell him to remember to inflate his wing before jumping in the water (it was also a reminder for myself), He then remarked: " So are you not going to rescue me if something happens?" and I replied "I would rather avoid to put myself in that situation if I can help it" (something like that I don't remember the exact words) then a deep silence followed...Jeeezzz and I felt terrible....

I do believe that it is better to be honest that pretending to be a 'hero' when I know perfectly well that I do not know how I would respond to an emergency without any training and my lack of experience of dealing with emergencies in general (never being involved in car accidents etc, let's touch wood and ferro) and my vague belief that I may end up getting overwhelmed by panic and be totally useless. For now prevention is the only concrete thing that I can hang on to it with some knowledge.

This is really a sticky issue especially when diving with people whom I do not know at all. I don't even know whether it is appropriate to bring it up in the first place or not. Who wants to stir up this gloom and doom at the beginning of a dive?
(For obvious reasons I don't have a problem in discussing this uncomfortable subject with my regular buddy and other divers who I know and are more experienced than me).