Surface swimming stamina (and speed?)

[ClayJar]

Recently, during my Rescue checkout trip, I and my trip buddy were goofing off on the diving boards, swings, and platforms while we waited for everyone else to make it to the spring. After quite a few large splashing events (bellyflops are *so* much more comfortable in a 5-mil), I suggested we swim over to the floating dock.

It was at that point that I discovered how thoroughly out of surface-swimming shape I truly was. Obviously, I don't use my arms for propulsion while scuba diving, but I was somewhat surprised how quickly they gave out on me. If I decide to go for divemaster next, I'll certainly need to be better, but even as "just" a diver, I cannot help but think I would be well-served to be better.

To that end, I'm now one week into a six-week program by the end of which I should be able to swim a mile non-stop.

So, fellow ScubaBoardians, how about sounding off? Do you even note your surface-swimming abilities (or possibly the utter lack thereof)? If you had a swim test (for divemaster or whatever), did you just do enough to pass, or have you kept up with it? Does swimming a mile non-stop fill you with fear and trepidation at the very thought of it, or is the concept somewhat intriguing?

Incidentally, does anyone know a good way to create a push-dummy so I can work on tired diver assists once I'm in better shape?

 

[mulefeathers]

What is your six week program?

 

[ClayJar]

I'm basing it on ZERO to 1650 in Six Weeks.

 

[eckybay]

One day I got the bright idea of actually using the pool at the local YMCA for some laps. I grabbed an open lane and slid in to the water. I quickly discovered that I didn't very far on the surface. I really missed my fins. I switched from the freestyle stroke to the backstroke and that worked out alot better for me as I have always preferred that stroke. I've never been that big of a swimmer - just enough to say that I can swim. The Y here does offer adult swim lessons that I thought about taking, but they are held in the smaller therapy pool and not the large pool, and that has kind of put me off of them.

 

[Drewski]

Let me tell you a little story about swimming...

Back when I was a younger and DUMBER man, I was really ate up about the need to go diving on "the spur of a moment." So, one morning I decided to round up a few buddies and head out to the Morgan, a liberty ship about 30 miles or so off Virginia Beach.

Unfortunately, I could only get one other buddy (a fellow instructor who shall remain nameless) but, we figured "what the heck?," piled into my boat and took off. It was a GREAT day, warm, blue sky, FLAT as a coffee table. We both were wreck divers, had full gear, doubles, etc. Originally, we were going to dive solo, but, AGAINST MY BETTER JUDGEMENT, we decided to dive together and leave the boat unattended on the surface. Now, we can argue all day about solo diving, but let's just say that wasn't the REAL issue in question.

So, to "protect" us, we hooked into the wreck, geared up, and made the descent down the anchor line. We had hooked into a center section of the wreck and had planned to follow the outer edge around and back. Our profile was about 110 FT for 30 minutes with a 10 FT stop. We planned our dive on landmarks, knowing our position and the position of the anchor line.

BUT, things don't always go as planned. We came off the wreck to explore the debris field, planning to go back to the hull landmark and continue our circuit. We started digging at a spot that looked interesting and before we knew it we hit max bottom time. Realizing our mistake, we quickly turned and headed back to the wreck only to find we had lost orientation. Thinking "OK, no big deal," we attempted to reacquire orientation and find the anchor line. By the time we figured where we were, another 5 minutes had passed and we were pushing closer to long decompression. To avoid this, we decided to institute "emergency" decompression procedures.

We'd always carry 200' of brown twine in a BC pocket in case we got in this predicament. I tied off the twine to a piece of wreckage, both of us secured to it and we began our ascent. When we got close to the surface the first thing we noticed was that waves had come up that weren't there when we descended. We also noticed that a surface current had picked up, causing about a 20 degree angle on our ascent line because of the pull. We added air, became slightly buoyant, and began to bounce up and down with the wave action. About 5 minutes into the stop, the ascent line snapped and we began to drift.

Now I've been in tight situations before, but this one started to worry me. It was about 5 PM, in the summer, and no one else was on the wreck when we went down. We had at least 20 minutes more of decompression and neither of us planned to surface unless we ran out of air (both of us had more than 1000 PSI remaining). So, we stayed calm, remained at depth after buoyancy adjustment, and did a "drift decompression stop." Believe me when I say I'll NEVER do that again.

When we surfaced after this little adventure I immediately did a 360 looking for the boat. NO BOAT. The waves were running about 1 to 2 FT now, so I realized I probably couldn't see it. I stripped out of my gear, inflated my BC to float the tanks, and "stood" up on my fins. It took 3 times of doing a 360 until I spotted the boat. I could only see it by the reflection off the windshield and I knew we were in BIG trouble. My buddy, a fellow instructor, was a smoker and he said "no way man, I can't do it. Pick me up after you get it." Smiling, he held onto my gear, laid back and waved good-bye. Using my compass (this is why you should always have a WRIST compass), I shot a course to the boat, reversed it, turned on my back, and started the swim. More than 1 hour later, I climbed on the boat tired, but VERY happy.

Not wanting to screw around I buoyed the hook, lined up on course and 20 minutes later picked up my buddy. INCREDIBLY, he was smoking a cigarette when I got to him. It seems he always carried a couple with him in a baggy while diving "just in case." I asked him what "just in case" meant and he replied he wasn't worried because he knew I could make the swim. He didn't light up until he saw me coming.

So, the moral of this LONG story? ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, realize that SWIMMING is part of DIVING. Especially if you plan to act STUPID like we did.

As far as carrying "just in case" smokes, well, I'll leave that to you...

Peace..

 

[redacted]

INCREDIBLY, he was smoking a cigarette when I got to him. It seems he always carried a couple with him in a baggy while diving "just in case." I asked him what "just in case" meant and he replied he wasn't worried because he knew I could make the swim. He didn't light up until he saw me coming.
..

He had probably already figured out how many days he would last if you didn't make it and had allocated his cigarette rations accordingly. When he saw you coming, he was greatly relieved ... that he didn't have to wait any longer for a cigarette.

 

[Wilson]

Even after the DM swim tests, I still do the same routines (regular weight lifting, running and SWIMMING). As previously stated, don't ever underestimate the value of swimming skills, both personally and professionally if you go that way. Part of staying with my routines are that they are now a habit. The other side is that you never know when you will be called on to use you rescue skills, which may involve swimming a long way like Drewski. I remember reading a stat somewhere that in something like 80 percent of the recorded diving accidents the divers involved did everything right (i.e. "it" happens).

 

[Wilson]

I remember when I did Rescue- the guy I did the class with was (is) 7 foot, 300 lbs (no jive). During the pool sessions he flopped around quite a bit and had fun making things harder for me. Before the checkout dives, I told him to be a good boy or I'd wait till I had him on the bottom, drops his weights, fully inflate his BC and shoot him to the surface (they call this a Redneck Rocket Launch down this way). In vain, I tried to talk the Instructor into a side bet as to how many boats he'd take out with the surface swell. The whole experience did tell me how out of shape I was. That and the fact that I was shaking like a leaf after hauling his arse all around creation that day.

 

[Devil505]

Let me tell you a little story about swimming...

Back when I was a younger and DUMBER man, I was really ate up about the need to go diving on "the spur of a moment." So, one morning I decided to round up a few buddies and head out to the Morgan, a liberty ship about 30 miles or so off Virginia Beach.

Unfortunately, I could only get one other buddy (a fellow instructor who shall remain nameless) but, we figured "what the heck?," piled into my boat and took off. It was a GREAT day, warm, blue sky, FLAT as a coffee table. We both were wreck divers, had full gear, doubles, etc. Originally, we were going to dive solo, but, AGAINST MY BETTER JUDGEMENT, we decided to dive together and leave the boat unattended on the surface. Now, we can argue all day about solo diving, but let's just say that wasn't the REAL issue in question.

So, to "protect" us, we hooked into the wreck, geared up, and made the descent down the anchor line. We had hooked into a center section of the wreck and had planned to follow the outer edge around and back. Our profile was about 110 FT for 30 minutes with a 10 FT stop. We planned our dive on landmarks, knowing our position and the position of the anchor line.

BUT, things don't always go as planned. We came off the wreck to explore the debris field, planning to go back to the hull landmark and continue our circuit. We started digging at a spot that looked interesting and before we knew it we hit max bottom time. Realizing our mistake, we quickly turned and headed back to the wreck only to find we had lost orientation. Thinking "OK, no big deal," we attempted to reacquire orientation and find the anchor line. By the time we figured where we were, another 5 minutes had passed and we were pushing closer to long decompression. To avoid this, we decided to institute "emergency" decompression procedures.

We'd always carry 200' of brown twine in a BC pocket in case we got in this predicament. I tied off the twine to a piece of wreckage, both of us secured to it and we began our ascent. When we got close to the surface the first thing we noticed was that waves had come up that weren't there when we descended. We also noticed that a surface current had picked up, causing about a 20 degree angle on our ascent line because of the pull. We added air, became slightly buoyant, and began to bounce up and down with the wave action. About 5 minutes into the stop, the ascent line snapped and we began to drift.

Now I've been in tight situations before, but this one started to worry me. It was about 5 PM, in the summer, and no one else was on the wreck when we went down. We had at least 20 minutes more of decompression and neither of us planned to surface unless we ran out of air (both of us had more than 1000 PSI remaining). So, we stayed calm, remained at depth after buoyancy adjustment, and did a "drift decompression stop." Believe me when I say I'll NEVER do that again.

When we surfaced after this little adventure I immediately did a 360 looking for the boat. NO BOAT. The waves were running about 1 to 2 FT now, so I realized I probably couldn't see it. I stripped out of my gear, inflated my BC to float the tanks, and "stood" up on my fins. It took 3 times of doing a 360 until I spotted the boat. I could only see it by the reflection off the windshield and I knew we were in BIG trouble. My buddy, a fellow instructor, was a smoker and he said "no way man, I can't do it. Pick me up after you get it." Smiling, he held onto my gear, laid back and waved good-bye. Using my compass (this is why you should always have a WRIST compass), I shot a course to the boat, reversed it, turned on my back, and started the swim. More than 1 hour later, I climbed on the boat tired, but VERY happy.

Not wanting to screw around I buoyed the hook, lined up on course and 20 minutes later picked up my buddy. INCREDIBLY, he was smoking a cigarette when I got to him. It seems he always carried a couple with him in a baggy while diving "just in case." I asked him what "just in case" meant and he replied he wasn't worried because he knew I could make the swim. He didn't light up until he saw me coming.

So, the moral of this LONG story? ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, realize that SWIMMING is part of DIVING. Especially if you plan to act STUPID like we did.

As far as carrying "just in case" smokes, well, I'll leave that to you...

Peace..

Great post!! Good to advise some of the new dive heroes here (with very limitted dive experience that don't think swimming well is necessary) that things just have a way of "going south" in a hurry when diving!

 

[jeditdog]

I like these comments. I lap swim regularly, mostly just because I like to be in the water.

I'm glad the story posted turned out happy. Wow, that must have been pretty nerve racking, but you also sounded pretty capable.