Tips for the 10 minute treading portion of OW certification?

[divezonescuba]

To the students, we call them the “magic shorts”. However, someone who had to use them once referred to them as the “shorts of shame”.

They are a pair of shorts we made from cutting up an old 7mm wetsuit that we had laying around the shop.

I think that you can also buy them ready made.

That one guy without the shorts treaded water furiously in the pool and then had to come to the side. I asked him if he knew how long he had been treading water for. He said he didn’t know, but it was a really long time. It was actually 45 seconds.

 

[purbeast]

LOL oh I see. Well I hope that isn't the case for me. I still find it kind of odd that OW certification requires treading water for 10 minutes. But if that's what I gotta do, that's what I gotta do!

 

[tbone1004]

LOL oh I see. Well I hope that isn't the case for me. I still find it kind of odd that OW certification requires treading water for 10 minutes. But if that's what I gotta do, that's what I gotta do!

don't take my OW course then.... it requires all sorts of swimming skills, shows comfort in the water

 

[mcpowell]

Stuff two tennis balls and 8 inches of a swimming "noodle" in the front of your swim trunks. Nobody is going to look to make sure it's not really you.

 

[purbeast]

don't take my OW course then.... it requires all sorts of swimming skills, shows comfort in the water

OK?

Of course being comfortable in the water is important to SCUBA, you're in the water. I never said otherwise.

I'm not even sure what that has to do with anything.

 

[dmaziuk]

LOL oh I see. Well I hope that isn't the case for me. I still find it kind of odd that OW certification requires treading water for 10 minutes. But if that's what I gotta do, that's what I gotta do!

Don't thread water "furisously", relax as much as possible and you'll be fine. Main problem with people who can't swim is they try very hard to push their heads out of the water as high as possible, quickly run out of steam, and drown. Main point of the "float" exercises is to teach them that all it takes to stay afloat is being relaxed with lungs full of air.

For most people, that is: if you don't have much fluff and/or large lungs, you may have to add a little hand sculling and perhaps even an occasional water polo kick as described upthread.

PS. "comfortable" usually goes with "relaxed".

 

[purbeast]

Don't thread water "furisously", relax as much as possible and you'll be fine. Main problem with people who can't swim is they try very hard to push their heads out of the water as high as possible, quickly run out of steam, and drown. Main point of the "float" exercises is to teach them that all it takes to stay afloat is being relaxed with lungs full of air.

For most people, that is: if you don't have much fluff and/or large lungs, you may have to add a little hand sculling and perhaps even an occasional water polo kick as described upthread.

PS. "comfortable" usually goes with "relaxed".

Yeah I'm not concerned with the swimming part of it in general, it's just that I've never had to tread water for 10 minutes before and just thinking about when I've had to tread water for a bit, that seems like a pretty long time.

 

[tbone1004]

OK?

Of course being comfortable in the water is important to SCUBA, you're in the water. I never said otherwise.

I'm not even sure what that has to do with anything.

it's part of standard watermanship, or least used to/should be. 10 minutes isn't that long, but if you are out in the middle of the ocean somewhere and your bc fails, you need to be able to stay at the surface, even if you ditch the rig. While you obviously have fins, you also have to prepare for the worst case scenario. It's easy, takes 10 mins, and shows the instructor a lot about the students

 

[purbeast]

it's part of standard watermanship, or least used to/should be. 10 minutes isn't that long, but if you are out in the middle of the ocean somewhere and your bc fails, you need to be able to stay at the surface, even if you ditch the rig. While you obviously have fins, you also have to prepare for the worst case scenario. It's easy, takes 10 mins, and shows the instructor a lot about the students

I guess, I still don't think that is really a realistic comparison. If you're out in the ocean without fins or your gear, chances are it's not going to be calm like it is in a still water pool.

What is the reasoning behind them letting you choose to do the swimming portion with fins or not? Why do they let you do that with fins but not the treading part, for a longer period of time?

(serious question too)

 

[dmaziuk]

Yeah I'm not concerned with the swimming part of it in general, it's just that I've never had to tread water for 10 minutes before and just thinking about when I've had to tread water for a bit, that seems like a pretty long time.

Well can you swim for 10 minutes straight without fins and snorkel? That should be acceptable as long as you don't touch the sides (don't do wall turns).