Scott M
Contributor
Just a reminder that task loading or overloading I should say can come on very fast if your not carefull and try to take on too much at one time. Allow me to explain.
I recently purchased a DS and wanting to be a good little diver I took a DS training course with a very good instructor. I was very pleased with the training, how the dives went, with the emergency proceedures taught and with my over all trim and bouyancy. That was the good. When I went with the DS I made some changes to my basic gear set-up to accomodate the DS. The changes where as follows. New fins to fit the DS boots (At this point the fins where still not the best fitting but they were all I had so I used them), I put together a new Hog harness(I have always used a Transpac so BP/Wing is not new to me). I had new gloves that where really too tight to be comfortable but I did manage to use them. All in all even with the ill fitting equipment it went fine and I believe this is because I was with a diver that I felt very comfortable with and trusted. Leaving the dives I had a good handle on the changes I needed to make to my gear and items ordered.
Now comes my first time out with my regular dive buddy. He is not a DS diver. We typically make a good pair because of the way we both dive, I do all the planning, prep, tow the dive flag, decide the profile etc. I am more of a zen type of diver being quite happy to hover and watch where as he is a searcher always looking and poking and prodding so I follow and make sure we stay close. He is pretty good at staying close and being there, not perfect but it works for us. well at least it did. On this dive we have decided because the DS is still quite new to me and most of the gear I have ordered had not arrived yet, we would keep this to a shallow dive to 50' and just do a nice easy dive just to get used to the suit. We arrive at the site via my pontoon boat, it is quite warm out, the water is little choppy from boat traffic and full of sediment from all the rain we have been getting but this is a shallow dive so we should be fine. We start to donn our gear and we are both sweating pretty good, he gets equiped faster than me so after a quick gear check he jumps in to cool off, this is fine. I continue to donn my gear and get close to the edge to put on my fins and gloves. The fins are not going on, they are just too tight but after a good struggle I finally get them on but I am wetter inside the suit than if I had dove wet in the first place, I grab my gloves last and no way there going on with my hands all sweaty so after a few seconds of thought I know the water is not that cold so I decide to go with out them and in I go. The water is an instant relief and I begin to settle in and we begin our dive, everything good so far but I am far from confident at this point. We drop down to around 23', the vis is horrible, my buddy has a whole thing going on with the flag reel, my fins are not feeling great and my mask is flooding to beat the band. My mask is my priority at this point and I am doing everything I can to get it to stop leaking but it is not happening, I have never really found a good fitting mask that does not leak so I use the one that leaks the least but on this dive it is just not going to work. I resign myself to living with the leak and start to consentrate on my bouyancy and the DS. It gets real ugly about now. I can not see the bottom and put too much air in and have trouble dumping it but I do get it dumped so now I have no air in it and feel it start a little squeeze and I add more air and back and fourth this goes. So now with no confidence in my ability to dive the DS and all the other issues going on I realize this dive is just not going to happen so I had to thumb it.
In looking back and really assessing what happened. I have come to the conclusion that a lot of the problem stemmed from not having enough confidence in my gear and/or my buddy on this dive. I'm sure I could have worked through any and all of the issues I faced that day if I had been with the instructor knowing he would have been there for me or if any one or two of the problems did not exist. I faced all of these same issues on my check out dives and the instructor even took my fins off underwater and had me do a surface swim to show me how little we can move in a DS with out fins, afterwards when he put my fin back on it pulled my boot almost off, I finished that dive like that with my boot and fin ready to come off at any point, a leaking mask and poor vis. On this dive the task loading became evident once compounded by being pretty much on my own. Oh and I forgot to mention I had just watched the youtube video on the last dive of David Shaw about an hour before this dive, when I looked over at my buddy all tangled in the dive flag line it really hit me.
In moving forward I have found a great fitting pair of fins that donn very easily and fit perfectly once on, I have ordered a few more masks to try and get a better fitting one and have scheduled a nice easy dive with the guy who instructed me just as dive buddies and to work on my DS diving. Now if I can just come up with some ideas on keeping a little cooler while suiting up I should be about as ready as I can be.
Regards
I recently purchased a DS and wanting to be a good little diver I took a DS training course with a very good instructor. I was very pleased with the training, how the dives went, with the emergency proceedures taught and with my over all trim and bouyancy. That was the good. When I went with the DS I made some changes to my basic gear set-up to accomodate the DS. The changes where as follows. New fins to fit the DS boots (At this point the fins where still not the best fitting but they were all I had so I used them), I put together a new Hog harness(I have always used a Transpac so BP/Wing is not new to me). I had new gloves that where really too tight to be comfortable but I did manage to use them. All in all even with the ill fitting equipment it went fine and I believe this is because I was with a diver that I felt very comfortable with and trusted. Leaving the dives I had a good handle on the changes I needed to make to my gear and items ordered.
Now comes my first time out with my regular dive buddy. He is not a DS diver. We typically make a good pair because of the way we both dive, I do all the planning, prep, tow the dive flag, decide the profile etc. I am more of a zen type of diver being quite happy to hover and watch where as he is a searcher always looking and poking and prodding so I follow and make sure we stay close. He is pretty good at staying close and being there, not perfect but it works for us. well at least it did. On this dive we have decided because the DS is still quite new to me and most of the gear I have ordered had not arrived yet, we would keep this to a shallow dive to 50' and just do a nice easy dive just to get used to the suit. We arrive at the site via my pontoon boat, it is quite warm out, the water is little choppy from boat traffic and full of sediment from all the rain we have been getting but this is a shallow dive so we should be fine. We start to donn our gear and we are both sweating pretty good, he gets equiped faster than me so after a quick gear check he jumps in to cool off, this is fine. I continue to donn my gear and get close to the edge to put on my fins and gloves. The fins are not going on, they are just too tight but after a good struggle I finally get them on but I am wetter inside the suit than if I had dove wet in the first place, I grab my gloves last and no way there going on with my hands all sweaty so after a few seconds of thought I know the water is not that cold so I decide to go with out them and in I go. The water is an instant relief and I begin to settle in and we begin our dive, everything good so far but I am far from confident at this point. We drop down to around 23', the vis is horrible, my buddy has a whole thing going on with the flag reel, my fins are not feeling great and my mask is flooding to beat the band. My mask is my priority at this point and I am doing everything I can to get it to stop leaking but it is not happening, I have never really found a good fitting mask that does not leak so I use the one that leaks the least but on this dive it is just not going to work. I resign myself to living with the leak and start to consentrate on my bouyancy and the DS. It gets real ugly about now. I can not see the bottom and put too much air in and have trouble dumping it but I do get it dumped so now I have no air in it and feel it start a little squeeze and I add more air and back and fourth this goes. So now with no confidence in my ability to dive the DS and all the other issues going on I realize this dive is just not going to happen so I had to thumb it.
In looking back and really assessing what happened. I have come to the conclusion that a lot of the problem stemmed from not having enough confidence in my gear and/or my buddy on this dive. I'm sure I could have worked through any and all of the issues I faced that day if I had been with the instructor knowing he would have been there for me or if any one or two of the problems did not exist. I faced all of these same issues on my check out dives and the instructor even took my fins off underwater and had me do a surface swim to show me how little we can move in a DS with out fins, afterwards when he put my fin back on it pulled my boot almost off, I finished that dive like that with my boot and fin ready to come off at any point, a leaking mask and poor vis. On this dive the task loading became evident once compounded by being pretty much on my own. Oh and I forgot to mention I had just watched the youtube video on the last dive of David Shaw about an hour before this dive, when I looked over at my buddy all tangled in the dive flag line it really hit me.
In moving forward I have found a great fitting pair of fins that donn very easily and fit perfectly once on, I have ordered a few more masks to try and get a better fitting one and have scheduled a nice easy dive with the guy who instructed me just as dive buddies and to work on my DS diving. Now if I can just come up with some ideas on keeping a little cooler while suiting up I should be about as ready as I can be.
Regards
