The Most Difficult Skill to Master

[do it easy]

I have Active Corners enabled so I just sling my mouse to the upper right corner of my screen and voilá...widgets.
You could always get this in Safari by holding your mouse over a word and hitting Ctrl+applekey+D.

I think you and have hijacked more threads inthe last few days than... ok let's not go there....

but, one thing that I've noticed about Macs over the years is the flexibility of the user interface. It doesn't force you to conform to it, but it has many options that allow you to use it in whatever way suits you. For example, the myriad ways to access the dictionary. My active corners show the desktop and active windows.

 

[SparticleBrane]

I think you and have hijacked more threads inthe last few days than... ok let's not go there....

I'm good and hijacking threads. It's a bad habit though, I should stop.

 

[LIVES4SHARKS]

I had the pleasure of being shown buoyancy and trim after dive 5. So I have been working on it dilligently ever since. In the pool as much as possible, hovering with just the sound of my breathing is very relaxing to me. When I dove in the Bahamas, it was amazing hovering over the bottom so quietly that a nurse shark slipped under me and just hung out with me being only 2 ft at most above her! I was tyring not to get too excited and exhale too much and drop onto her! What has been lucky for me is being close enough to cave country in Florida to be able to see the GUE guys in action. I was amazed at Orange Grove watching a team descend together and hang as if in mid-air not moving but doing many tasks and drills. I was absolutely fascinated by them. I have such a long way to go, but having people like them to guide me has really helped me improve myself. So, when not in the springs, or the ocean, its into the pool for a game of JACKS! Who knew breathing could make things so difficult! Task loading....LAWD do I have a LOT of work to do!

Happy Diving Y'all!
Carolyn:sharks:
"So...you like to dive HORIZONTAL?" --Diving Locker Ski Chalet Savannah

 

[Fish_Whisperer]

Frank, I would love to meet you. Dressage, my first love, is precisely like that . . . You can never attain perfection, and the artwork you can create is ephemeral. There is a reason why I went DIR. Perfection in diving is the same unattainable ideal. One has to focus upon, and enjoy, the journey.

Likewise, TSandM. And you're so right: The journey itself has to be enjoyed and appreciated. Every new step, every sharpening of a skill, everytime you really nail it, (whether it's a dive, Chopin's Nocturne in Eb, or truly creating a masterpiece in Dressage), there is this incredible rush of joy and triumph... And yes, it's damn addicting!!

 

[Fish_Whisperer]

An apt analogy ... it's not even so much that there are new skills to master as it is that there are always higher levels to take the skills you already have. Diving, like music, is as much about emotional and intellectual involvement as it is about the physical skills themselves ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Exactly! It really does become elevated to an artform...

 

[jpsexton]

Rick, would you agree that the biggest trick to mastering this skill is equipment selection, especially weight distribution, suited for one's body type?

Weighting and distribution including tank position is key. Then I would say buoyancy awareness and skill are next. I'm not so sure that equipment has anything to do with it. I see this skill demonstrated all the time by my regular dive buddy/instructor. I've seen him do it wearing an old chlorine faded regular jacket bc just as well as when using a bp/w.

 

[Kim]

Most people don't even walk properly....and they don't know it. Consider the sort of training there exists for that!

The key to this skill is IMO the same as the key to all diving, and many other things too - your breath. Your breath is like an internal surge that pushes you every which way until you realize how to stop fighting it. It's very zen....you know....the one hand clapping and all that!

My overhead instructor didn't really know if my wife and I would really handle his training - mostly he only trained people with 100s of dives and lots of certs - Dm...Instructor....that sort of thing. After the first dive on the course he turned round afterward and pointed at the tanks in the shop. Take what you need, he told us, and come back for the next lesson with me when you can handle.... without hands or fin movement, one meter above the bottom.....horizontal - for 5 min's (or was it 10?). We used around 30 tanks each before we felt safe enough to ask him for the next lesson - about a week later. My advice? If you have problems with this skill take a hatha yoga course......learn to really relax. Otherwise it's simply impossible.

I expect I'd have to fine tune it even more in a dry suit though. I only dove a dry suit twice, (with Jagfish) - the second dive felt better, but it was still a little different to what I was used to!

 

[Diver Dennis]

Next step is to start adding tasks while holding your buoyancy ... a camera, for example. Try sneaking up on something and holding perfectly still while you line up a nice macro shot ... it does wonders for improving your bouyancy skills ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Especially in a current and upside down...

 

[scratchmyback]

Great post!

I finally feel like I achieved a small measure of 'doing nothing' earlier this month in the Bahamas. I was diving all week with my boyfriend, and he dives this way on every dive. Even the others in our group commented on his 'zen diving'. Hands folded in front, perfect horizontal trim, hanging there doing absolutely nothing. You never see his hands move unless it's to check his guages, computer, vent/add air etc. I swear it's a thing of beauty (ok I may be just a bit biased )

Over the course of the week I was able to relax and improve my position in the water. Eventually the last few dives I hung there beside him in exactly the same position, doing nothing, no sculling, no finning, hands folded in front. Just looking at the creatures on the reef. That was when I really felt like I was a diver. At the end of the week, he said I'd improved so much, and that nobody would know I hadn't been diving for years. It'll be one year next month.

I think people consciously or subconsciously emulate who they dive with, when they are new(er) divers. I still have so much to learn, and I'm fortunate to dive with someone who is a good mentor. It would be just as easy to pick up bad habits from someone who demonstrates those, if I didn't know any better. Many in our group that week were all over the place, sculling, finning, just moving around, being busy. I honestly don't think they knew there was any other way to dive.

Anyway, I can't wait to jump in the water and practice this again. It's such an awesome feeling.

 

[Fish_Whisperer]

Congratulations, Laura!! You know exactly the feeling and epiphany I had in Cozumel, then! That big, "CLICK!!" when it all falls into place and you think, Jeez... Who knew diving could be so effortless?