Stupid or embarrassing things you did when you where training?

[Greg G.]

Originally posted by socaldiver
I just remembered something that might put me on the majority side and not one of them thar folks still screaming foul over "chads"


Right after I got my Reefmaster we were diving Casino Point. At the time I would just use the strap on the camera housing and put it on my wrist when I wasn't using it. Evidently I forgot to cinch it down and when we came out of the water after the dive I noticed my camera wasn't where it was supposed to be. Looking out over the water I noticed it floating about 50 yards out so I had to jump back in and swim out to retrieve it.

Does that count for a stupid act? Oh please please please. I don't want to be like doc.

Be thankful it floats. I forgot to even load film in my camera once. Couldn't figure out why the counter kept going and it wouldn't rewind after the dive, finally got brave enough to open the back to confirm that I'm an idiot.

 

[socaldiver]

Thanks Greg, that just reminded me of another stupid thing I did. In September of this year, second dive on Molokini I put a new roll of film in the camera, jumped in the water AND FORGOT TO TURN THE CAMERA ON!! Argh

Sorry Doc, really letting you down now.

 

[The Chairman]

I guess I'll just have to go back and edit your song...

:tease:

 

[bash]

Thanks for the positive comments. You've made me brave. I have another -more recent- story, however its not so gut-wrenchingly embarrassing as my earlier experience.

Last weekend I was completing the last few dives of a navigation course. I had some problems with my nav skills so the instructor swam with me while I followed the navigation directions. He swam directly over my right shoulder, holding lightly onto the top of my tank so that he could watch the compass when I set and followed the bearings.

At the end of a short navigation skill exercise we stopped at the bottom: he was still positioned horizontally in the water over my right shoulder.

And then it got embarrassing.

He took my compass to demonstrate something. The compass is part of my gauge panel which is fixed to my left side. As he gently pulled on the hose to bring the compass nearer to his face, he flipped me over onto my back.

You will recall that he was swimming above me, so the effect of flipping me over was to place us face to face in a horizontal position. I was on the bottom: missionary position.

Still... things weren't too bad - we were separated by about 30cm (1 foot)of water which saved a little decorum for our situation...until..

Until my self-conscious awareness of our relative positions made me a little flustered and caused me to breath a little quicker than usual. The experienced divers amoung you will immediately appreciate the result. I started to ascend and very quickly crashed into him (remember we were only a hose-length appart).

So there we were, face to face in the horizontal position - another parody of affection.

I wriggled and flailed my arms trying to discretely waft myself down-wards and away from him while also dutifully watching the stuff he was demonstrating on my compass. My efforts to separate us were to no avail - I was breathing quite quickly by this stage.

I tried to waft sidewards, banging my knees and hip into him but something on our BCs got a little tangled so the escape was clumsy. He was still holding onto my gauge - he was focused on showing me the compass stuff and apparently oblivious to the fact that we were well within eachother's personal spaces: flank-to-flank. When I pushed my leg away from him it had the effect of a fin-kick, which pushed me closer to him.

Eventually I did manage to dislodge myself, recover some dignity and passed the nav course (I now qualify for a Master Scuba Diver and I also figure that I qualify for a Master of Mr Bean too).

-bash

 

[Ber Rabbit]

Hey Bash, being in your buddy's personal space isn't considered to be an unusual thing especially if you ever dive in water with bad visibility. I have 112 dives and still hold my buddy's hand when the vis. gets a little low just to make sure I don't lose him/her (I am female) if the vis. goes to zero, a common occurrence in Ohio. We do an exercise with our OW students where we put duct tape over their masks so they cannot see at all. They are then required to do octopus breathing in the shallow end of the pool. Once that exercise is completed to our satisfaction the students are directed to the deep end (14 feet) and told to find 3 metal cylindrical objects per buddy pair. Once they are on the bottom and comfortable we have our surface person start throwing CO2 cartridges into the pool. This is what the students are hunting for. They feel around the bottom of the pool often butting into and sometimes groping each other (put 6-18 blindfolded people in a small space finning and searching for something). The staff isn't blindfolded so we have a pretty good time watching the fun and dodging fins! Oh, btw, each staff memeber also carries a CO2 cartridge on a string that we touch a diver's fingers with then yank away as they try to grab it. It is too funny watching them try to figure out where "they knocked" that cartridge to, as any cartridge will move if you bump it. After everyone has their 3 cartridges we surface and they remove the tape from their masks. After much praise from us we ask if anyone had a cartridge that kept getting away--you should see the look on their faces when we show them our cartridges on a string!

Don't be afraid to touch your buddy or get in their space. It may be the thing that saves someone's life if caught in an out of air situation or rip current or other emergency situation.

Ber

 

[Wisconsin]

Bash,
LOL Great story!! I haven't had a date in awhile-think I'll try that! :mean:

 

[socaldiver]

Don't mess with my;-0 song NetDoc ;-0 I don't know what I will do.

I promise I will be good and try not messing things up anymore.

I will eat my veggie, clean my plate, brush my teeth , and not talk back anymore.

 

[rem308]

Originally posted by socaldiver
Saw your instructor tonight at the LDS club meeting.

How are things in KS?

Was that giant stride off the Aquatica?

No I did that during the pool sessions. I did my pool sessions here in KS and then went to cali for my ow sessions.
things in ks have slowed down now that the weather is cooling down so not much diving around here.
How are things in arcadia? If/when i make it back there we need to hook up and do a dive or two.
tell my instructor his favorite kansas student says hi lol.
cya

 

[Sea Squirt]

Originally posted by bash

And then it got embarrassing.



-bash

Bash, you and your instructor must have developed quite an affintiy to each other by now!

 

[socaldiver]

Things are ok here.

I will tell Tony next time I see him.

Anytime you are in the neighborhood give me a hollar.