The Fundamentals of Better Diving with Ed Gabe

[TSandM]

Lovely writeup. It sounds as though Ed teaches an excellent class, which is what I would expect from what I've heard of him.

Now the cool stuff starts, because you'll find that, as you practice the skills (and in particular the ability to be completely STILL in the water), every dive you do will simple be more fun. And diving with your wife will be more fun, because both of you will be on the same wavelength, and communication will be much easier.

And now, when you travel, you know how to find people with whom to dive, who will be predictable in terms of how they will do things and how they will communicate. This is a great world of divers you've taken a step into -- it only gets better.

 

[b1gcountry]

Then wait until you get into warm water without drysuits.........

One of the only complaints I had about the class was that the vis was pretty bad below 20', so we stayed above the thermocline, where the water was about 78*. That first dive was pretty miserably hot in my DS, 7mm hood and dry gloves in this really warm water.

 

[gitterdun]

Congrats on your course. I'm not really sure what else to say, that hasn't already been said, so... I'm going to point at TSandM and say... "what she said."

Way to go!

 

[ppo2_diver]

Congrats Tom. Ed does run a great class.

 

[Bismark]

One of the only complaints I had about the class was that the vis was pretty bad below 20', so we stayed above the thermocline, where the water was about 78*. That first dive was pretty miserably hot in my DS, 7mm hood and dry gloves in this really warm water.

Ha! When I was in pilot training in the military, we used to have a phrase called
"Fire in the Helmet" which pretty much accurately described what your head felt like inside your helmet when you started to get a little behind the power curve as you were learning to fly. It literally felt like the outside or your head was on fire......... I imagine your head felt the same way in a 7mm hood in 78 degree water while maintaining perfect buoyancy and trim, doing an ascent with somebody on the long hose and shooting a bag

 

[sporket]

Thanks for the report Tom. That was very helpful. Can't wait to take the class myself.

 

[dtkachev]

Welcome to the dark side! I wonder if your point of view about the "textbook" has changed http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/dir/224096-skills-during-dir-f-5.html Enjoy the newly acquired skills and information. Safe diving.

 

[b1gcountry]

Congrats on your course. I'm not really sure what else to say, that hasn't already been said, so... I'm going to point at TSandM and say... "what she said."

I'm always saying that too. No matter what thread it is, she always manages to say what I want to say before I get to say it. Don't you have a job Lynne?

Thanks for the congrats. I'm really happy I passed.

Tom

 

[b1gcountry]

Ha! When I was in pilot training in the military, we used to have a phrase called
"Fire in the Helmet" which pretty much accurately described what your head felt like inside your helmet when you started to get a little behind the power curve as you were learning to fly. It literally felt like the outside or your head was on fire......... I imagine your head felt the same way in a 7mm hood in 78 degree water while maintaining perfect buoyancy and trim, doing an ascent with somebody on the long hose and shooting a bag

Probably, but I managed to 'accidentally' slip below the target depth a couple times to cool off. I took the hood off for the subsequent dives, but it was still warm.

Tom

 

[b1gcountry]

Welcome to the dark side! I wonder if your point of view about the "textbook" has changed http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/dir/224096-skills-during-dir-f-5.html Enjoy the newly acquired skills and information. Safe diving.

No, I don't think my point of view about the textbook really changed. The instructor still had to detail all the skills for us, and the worksheets were okay, but had a couple errors. I doubt they have enough students going through the class to really polish up the materials to the extent of some of the larger training agencies. Then again, I took the class for time with the instructor, and not to read some coursebook.

BTW, sorry for the harsh post last time. When I re-read it, it sounded a lot worse then I had meant it to be. For the record, the course was expensive, but I think we got our money's worth out of it. It was more value for the money than most of the PADI courses I've taken. I've heard the phrase "isn't you safety worth it" related to useless courses too much, and it's lost all meaning to me.

Tom