Three thoughts on the night between open water cert dives

[SlugLife]

Day 2:

Late guy became early guy. We had time for a qualified dive after the cert dives were done and he and I were the only two that stuck around. It turned out he made for a much better buddy than the guy who I'd been with since pool training started (this crowd was all military and he and I had similar backgrounds, so the instructor paired us up) April fools' must have just been after him yesterday.

When it comes to diving:

1. Safety is the #1 absolute priority. Having a dive thumbed, is 1000x better than having to deal with some kind of accident or incident during a dive.
2. Having fun is priority #2. That's sometimes easy for people to forget. (Also, you can't have fun if you get PTSD from ignoring #1).
3. Priority #3 is continuous learning and skill advancement. The more you advance (buoyancy, trim, knowledge, etc.), the better your dive are for you (see #2).

This might, however, be something to learn from. Dive accidents are most often a series of small incidents. Sounds like the diver had a couple of early issues. Running late, problems setting up gear (maybe, could be he was just double checking things), and an o-ring issue. That could mean a diver under stress. Given his low air consumption, sounds like he handled things fine. Just something to think about for future dives.

^ Precisely this. There's often temptation or pressure to feel rushed. Maybe you don't want to be the last guy in the water. Maybe you don't want everyone to be waiting for you. Maybe your just really excited to see all the cool fish. Maybe everyone is swimming faster than you and you're trying to keep up.

Slow Down is one of my biggest tips (more info here) for having better and safer dives. When you do rush, you'll be that guy who forgot his computer on the boat, forgot to turn his air on, or is freezing the entire 1-hour dive because you couldn't spend an 1-3 minutes putting on a hood or wetsuit.

 

[Belzelbub]

Slow Down is one of my biggest tips (more info here) for having better and safer dives. When you do rush, you'll be that guy who forgot his computer on the boat, forgot to turn his air on, or is freezing the entire 1-hour dive because you couldn't spend an 1-3 minutes putting on a hood or wetsuit.

Exactly. There is a phrase I first heard in motorcycling that I heard from my instructor this weekend during a Stress & Rescue course.

"Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast." This is applicable for all sorts of things. In addition to motorcycling, I've heard similar related to boating, and also for diving. Diving should be fun and no one should feel rushed. Taking time to set up gear is much better than being rushed and setting up incorrectly.

 

[CyPlainsDrifter]

Interesting and I can identify. I just completed my OW cert dives this past weekend in Florida. Had a blast. Several different abilities in the group. The most challenging for me were the younger kids in the group who were all over the place during the last river drift dive, and a couple already certified divers who joined the group and only knew how to scuba in a completely vertical position. I got kicked more than a few times.

BTW, I see you're in the Norfolk area. My son is in the Navy stationed there and lives in VB. Can you recommend LDS for him to use for his initial certification?

 

[fiveoboy01]

Welcome to the good and the bad. Diving is more of the former!

(Other divers can be annoying at times but being understanding goes a long way.)

 

[Adamastor]

My theory is the wetsuit takes the "shock" out of it, because the cold definitely hit during my mask flooding drills

To avoid "shock" during mask flooding drills, immerse your face in the water before putting the mask on and descending.

 

[Superlyte27]

As an instructor, I'd NEVER let my students into the water, pool or sea, without checking their equipment AND their air pressure with my own eyes, each single one of them before EVERY single dive (I also check and confirm their dive plan). Also, if somebody is "slow" in getting ready, this calls for my attention and me finding out why he is slow. Being slow in the openwater phase after all of the training in confined water means many things including the student's not knowing how to do something, nervousness, physical condition that maybe contradictory with diving including hangover, etc. In all scenarios, I must know why and determine what to do with this slow student. It maybe just a person who is naturally slow and nothing to worry about or there is something for me to be concerned with.

I was helping a fellow instructor in a training session with his students many years ago in Boston and I was working with a student who was very slow. I became suspicious with his slowness and had a talk with my instructor friend. I took this "slow" student aside and interrogated him (in an indirect way) only to find out that he is diabetic (he lied in his medical form) and was not feeling well. Long story short, this student didn't continue with the course since his medical condition did not allow him to dive (after checking with physicians expert in the subject). In another scenario, teaching university students and in their openwater day, a student was acting "slow" and after investigating, it turned out that he was up all night and drinking all night before coming to his openwater day. He was dismissed from class and told to call somebody to take him home.

The moral of the story here, the instructor must be vigilant dealing with the students and he must ascertain that the students are not only doing things right, but also that they are behaving properly. If there are any anomalies or unusual behavior, the instructor must investigate.

Disagree completely about the speed at which people get ready. “Interrogated” is that the word you really want to use? Yikes.

 

[Billg68bg]

I spent my night between OW days fixating on the exhaling while surfacing. Thought it was going to be a problem. Practiced slow exhaling until I could continuously exhale for @ a minute and a half. Actual ascent time- @ 30 seconds. Overthought that one a little.

 

[Adamastor]

Actual ascent time- @ 30 seconds

So you ascended from 3m ?

 

[Billg68bg]

About 13. Bottom was 40ft. Too rapid an ascent? My instructor never said anything. Maybe my time is a little off, but I really don’t think so.

 

[Billg68bg]

Correction. @ 10m. Just checked my log book.