Tomikp
Registered
OK he is not lost
Last edited:
Tips and tricks of buoyancy control with blackout/absent mask.
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DevonDiver
N/A
Not really.
Even for tech diving, the redundancy requirements are far from a burden....
Pretty much everything you would need can be fitted into one pocket. I use a hip pocket on my Eclipse...but the same pocket could easily be sewn onto my wetsuit thigh....
A spare mask, of low-volume/fold flat design, can easily be stored in a small pocket on your wetsuit or wing harness. I carry one as routine...for either tech diving or as a spare when teaching.
A redundant computer/dive timer adds litttle to your configuration...
A back up DSMB/lift bag and finger reel is easily bungeed to your backplate or rolled into a pocket.
Likewise, back-up tables are pocketed.
To be honest I don't know anyone that doesn't dive with a back up timer and tables/slate+plan. Electronics are the least trusted item in my kit.
Everyone takes their own approach to minimalistic diving I suppose.
very interesting thread, mainly absent mask. Never thought of tying mask to your person. Thankyou for that tip. I dive and sometimes lead dives through tunnels Kauai Hawaii. And that got me to thinking what if my mask was kicked off in one of them there over and through, and under overhangs. Anyother tips for diving in that type of environment, to make it safe for say leading four certs.Mahalo!
dschonbrun
Contributor
Maintaining bouyancy without a frame of reference, is nearly impossible. Whether you are in open water with no rope or visual references, or your mask floods and you lose use of your eyes... it's all the same.
Since it is safer to descend or stay stable, rather than ascend uncontrolled... use shallow breaths when doing valve drills or mask failure drills. It requires a lot of practice, you have to get over the panic. I have learned to take off my mask in the middle of every dive, and at the end. It's a good habit to get into... so when it happens accidentaly, you don't panic.
Since it is safer to descend or stay stable, rather than ascend uncontrolled... use shallow breaths when doing valve drills or mask failure drills. It requires a lot of practice, you have to get over the panic. I have learned to take off my mask in the middle of every dive, and at the end. It's a good habit to get into... so when it happens accidentaly, you don't panic.
I was practicing air trapping today, to make it simpler for the beginning I was kneeling on the platform. Got it 3 times. each time it was easier. Once I learn to do it quickly I will switch into the floating position. It was great. I was able to read my bottom timer with no mask on and air trapped. First time it took me 2 minutes to figure out but next times it was quicker.
I'm not quite sure what you meant by this, but we do free water ascents as a matter of course here, in low viz. It does take training and practice, but it's quite doable. Even I have learned to manage, despite my tendency to vertigo in midwater.
An uncontrolled ascent is always bad, but if you are on a Nitrox mix, descending may have its own fairly significant hazards. If you are going to dive where you are likely to lose visual references, it's a good idea to practice in shallow water, and to learn to deploy an SMB (which serves as an excellent visual reference.)
Lot of good information. Very good thread. Here are some comments and summaries from what I have read.
As far as carrying extra gear being tough or reducing fun. I dive a BP/W and have a canister light on my right, a spare 3-c-cell led light on each shoulder strap, knife on my left hip. I then wear my x-shorts with extra mask, cutting shears, wetnotes in right pocket and an smb with 150' line on a spool in my left. I have lots of room to spare in those pants. Then compass and dive timer/depth guage on left wrist and depth guage/timer on right wrist. All of this, lots of room left over and my profile in the water is still miniscule compared to many divers in the water. No loss of fun either.
As far as the ascent. Many good ideas listed here.
--First, have your body help you ascend. Dont even know why your instructor had you do a lost buddy/lost mask ascent for a deep diver specialty. Not in the training plan and not safe. That doesn't mean that it isn't something good to practice, but still could have opened him up to a lot of liabilty.
--Spare mask
--relaxing and feeling the air in your ears
--shooting smb and then making yourself slightly negative and simply rolling up the line slowly and stopping every few feet for a minute or so. Just to help since you might not know where 20 feet is so that if you stop every 4-5 feet for a minute you should do 3-5 minutes between 20ft and the surface.
--Have your buddy assist you
--Air bubble with hadn (I really like this idea). I am going to have to try it.
All in all a good thread. Lots of good ideas.
As far as carrying extra gear being tough or reducing fun. I dive a BP/W and have a canister light on my right, a spare 3-c-cell led light on each shoulder strap, knife on my left hip. I then wear my x-shorts with extra mask, cutting shears, wetnotes in right pocket and an smb with 150' line on a spool in my left. I have lots of room to spare in those pants. Then compass and dive timer/depth guage on left wrist and depth guage/timer on right wrist. All of this, lots of room left over and my profile in the water is still miniscule compared to many divers in the water. No loss of fun either.
As far as the ascent. Many good ideas listed here.
--First, have your body help you ascend. Dont even know why your instructor had you do a lost buddy/lost mask ascent for a deep diver specialty. Not in the training plan and not safe. That doesn't mean that it isn't something good to practice, but still could have opened him up to a lot of liabilty.
--Spare mask
--relaxing and feeling the air in your ears
--shooting smb and then making yourself slightly negative and simply rolling up the line slowly and stopping every few feet for a minute or so. Just to help since you might not know where 20 feet is so that if you stop every 4-5 feet for a minute you should do 3-5 minutes between 20ft and the surface.
--Have your buddy assist you
--Air bubble with hadn (I really like this idea). I am going to have to try it.
All in all a good thread. Lots of good ideas.
Tomikp
Registered
Since our last discussion here I have been thinking about the "eye-bubble" and therefore I have couple of questions. First I must say this method will never change my view on a spare mask.
Tell me, when you train it, do you use a hood and gloves? I have tried to do it many times at the end of a dive, but with dry gloves and a hood it is very difficult to catch bubbles and then use it for looking. But in the pool, with no gloves and no hood this method works pretty fine. What are your experiences?
Tell me, when you train it, do you use a hood and gloves? I have tried to do it many times at the end of a dive, but with dry gloves and a hood it is very difficult to catch bubbles and then use it for looking. But in the pool, with no gloves and no hood this method works pretty fine. What are your experiences?
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