jastorino
Registered
I had Maciej as my instructor for my Rec 1 class. 9 months after being certified to dive, he asked me if I'd like to take Rec 2 with Mark and Shawn. SURE! I want to learn more. I want to be a more confident diver. I want to be an asset on a dive team.
Dates are set. Maciej and Nick discussed with me around a month prior to our class about using doubles. I was not into the idea 'cause I felt I needed some time to get comfortable in them. A week before our first dive, Nick and I went to Laguna to "test" out doubles. I actually felt pretty comfortable. Felt somewhat stable. Learned valve drill. Nick and I discussed on the drive home that I should try to take the class in doubles. EEK! What the hell am I thinking!!! I saw Maciej the next day for our lectures and declared that I would indeed take the class in doubles.
March 14th finally arrives. I was really really nervous. I hate having to "peform" with someone judging and watching. The stress it adds to the dive is immense.
What I f'd up:
-the valve drill: i need to remember to do flow check
-the valve drill: I need to not get tunnel vision while I'm focusing on turning the valves off. My next attempt showed improvement with my awareness
-ascents (what a difference adding two pounds makes!!). Wish I could have figured this out on my own.
-not waiting for #2 when I was handling out of mask #3...upper levels would have thrown out of air to #2.
-LOL: going lights out...deploying backup and screwing it the wrong way. Happened with 2nd deployed backup too. I hope they both still work!
-"pretend" right failure...turn right post off. bubbles stop. I should have known it was right post and not manifiold, but I proceed to turn off isolator anyway! STUPID. I know better.
-not clipping off primary!!!! Maciej made sure I learned my lesson!
-communication needs to be BOLD! ( I think i have improved on this....but I still suck).
What I felt good about:
-doing the navigation drill and finding the bag!
-reeling out the line...it is way easier to do this in the water than in Nick's living room.
-not giving up on the doubles (even when I was so frustrated at times, thinking it would have been much easier for me to strap on my single tank).
-Watching the video of Maciej trying to show me my primary was unclipped (2nd time)....lol...but it was clipped. He patted me on the back for an "I'm sorry" gesture.
-feeling like I am a much better "teammate" than I was when I started this class.
It was so much fun to watch us all come together as a team! The improvements we made as a team from dive day #1 vs. dive day #2 and #3 were amazing. Thank you to my awesome teammates! You guys rock! Both of you showed a lot of improvement over the course of the class! And I had a lot of fun!!!
Maciej...thank you for pushing me, challenging me, teaching me A LOT...and being patient! You are a fantastic instructor. You know exactly what a person's weaknesses are and can address them and make it a very good and enjoyable learning experience.
And...THANK YOU so much Christian for filming our class! I love to make a mistake underwater, hear Maciej bitch me out about it on the surface and THEN...WATCH IT OVER AND OVER AGAIN , with the pause button so the mistake can be really focused on
Seriously, though...thank you very much for taking your weekend time to film us! The video reviews really do help a great deal. It is amazing how seeing your problems makes such a huge affect on correcting the mistakes the next time out.
Now...FUN dives! No more classes for a while!
Dates are set. Maciej and Nick discussed with me around a month prior to our class about using doubles. I was not into the idea 'cause I felt I needed some time to get comfortable in them. A week before our first dive, Nick and I went to Laguna to "test" out doubles. I actually felt pretty comfortable. Felt somewhat stable. Learned valve drill. Nick and I discussed on the drive home that I should try to take the class in doubles. EEK! What the hell am I thinking!!! I saw Maciej the next day for our lectures and declared that I would indeed take the class in doubles.
March 14th finally arrives. I was really really nervous. I hate having to "peform" with someone judging and watching. The stress it adds to the dive is immense.
What I f'd up:
-the valve drill: i need to remember to do flow check
-the valve drill: I need to not get tunnel vision while I'm focusing on turning the valves off. My next attempt showed improvement with my awareness
-ascents (what a difference adding two pounds makes!!). Wish I could have figured this out on my own.
-not waiting for #2 when I was handling out of mask #3...upper levels would have thrown out of air to #2.
-LOL: going lights out...deploying backup and screwing it the wrong way. Happened with 2nd deployed backup too. I hope they both still work!
-"pretend" right failure...turn right post off. bubbles stop. I should have known it was right post and not manifiold, but I proceed to turn off isolator anyway! STUPID. I know better.
-not clipping off primary!!!! Maciej made sure I learned my lesson!
-communication needs to be BOLD! ( I think i have improved on this....but I still suck).
What I felt good about:
-doing the navigation drill and finding the bag!
-reeling out the line...it is way easier to do this in the water than in Nick's living room.
-not giving up on the doubles (even when I was so frustrated at times, thinking it would have been much easier for me to strap on my single tank).
-Watching the video of Maciej trying to show me my primary was unclipped (2nd time)....lol...but it was clipped. He patted me on the back for an "I'm sorry" gesture.
-feeling like I am a much better "teammate" than I was when I started this class.
It was so much fun to watch us all come together as a team! The improvements we made as a team from dive day #1 vs. dive day #2 and #3 were amazing. Thank you to my awesome teammates! You guys rock! Both of you showed a lot of improvement over the course of the class! And I had a lot of fun!!!
Maciej...thank you for pushing me, challenging me, teaching me A LOT...and being patient! You are a fantastic instructor. You know exactly what a person's weaknesses are and can address them and make it a very good and enjoyable learning experience.
And...THANK YOU so much Christian for filming our class! I love to make a mistake underwater, hear Maciej bitch me out about it on the surface and THEN...WATCH IT OVER AND OVER AGAIN , with the pause button so the mistake can be really focused on
Seriously, though...thank you very much for taking your weekend time to film us! The video reviews really do help a great deal. It is amazing how seeing your problems makes such a huge affect on correcting the mistakes the next time out.Now...FUN dives! No more classes for a while!
