Weird skills your instructor thought you needed

[Steve50]

Our instructor had us sit and ride our BC with tank and all rigged on the surface then slip your arms in slide off the end and right into your bc. Never have used it in real diving or ever seen it done anywhere else.

Still teach this method all the time - and have used it off of a dive boat. convenient for donning in water too deep to stand up in.

 

[Rick Inman]

Back in the 70's when we bought At Pacs (plastic version of todays BP/W) the instructor that sold it to us told us to inflate the wings and lay on top of the unit to ride it out through the S. CA surf like a boogie board. We did it all the time and it worked great.

Except that one time a Zuma Beach / Point Dume, but that's another story...

 

[Blackwood]

Our instructor had us sit and ride our BC with tank and all rigged on the surface then slip your arms in slide off the end and right into your bc. Never have used it in real diving or ever seen it done anywhere else.

If you ever dive off a zodiac or some other small boat that forces you to don your gear in the water, that's certainly one good method.

Now that sounds like a fun class.

Heck yah it does.

the water temps stays at about 42⁰ F all year long.

Computer nerd tip here: if you are using windows, you can press Alt+0167 (on the keypad) to produce the degree symbol (°) rather than super scripting a small zero.

 

[Steve50]

Computer nerd tip here: if you are using windows, you can press Alt+0167 (on the keypad) to produce the degree symbol (Ž°) rather than super scripting a small zero.

thanks for the tip - but found it's 0176

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I learned most of the skills mentions so far, plus my favorite, eating a Snickers underwater. My instructor like to demonstrate this skill in the pool all the time.
My favorite DM "skill" was when we would throw all the gear into the pool while the OW students were on a break. They then would have to jump in the water, find a mask and reg so they could locate their own gear and put it on. If they came to the surface with any piece of gear that wasn't their own, they had to remove everything and start over.

 

[Blackwood]

thanks for the tip - but found it's 0176

Correct. I'm also dyslexic. Pretty weird that I can type it right when I want the symbol, but when I try to tell someone how to do it I transpose the numbers.

Good times.

 

[boulderjohn]

Correct. I'm also dyslexic. Pretty weird that I can type it right when I want the symbol, but when I try to tell someone how to do it I transpose the numbers.

Maybe this is why you got confused. The ASCII symbol for Žº is ALT + 167. It works anywhere.

 

[boulderjohn]

Maybe this is why you got confused. The ASCII symbol for Žº is ALT + 167. It works anywhere.

Or so I thought. When I was in the writing mode, it worked fine, but it came out different when it was posted. I have used it for a decade without a problem. Hmmmm.

 

[AbyssalPlains]

One skill that comes to mind is clearing the second stage via the "tongue method".

Care to explain?

 

[Law5Guy]

I still remember from my Naui open water, our instructor had us...

1. drink a bottle of coke underwater.
2. eat a banana underwater
3. dive to the bottom of the university golf course lake (The lake was pitch black from all of the Milorganite runoff) and collect three golf balls.

I just googled my instructor, Dr. Charles Burchell, and found this interesting note:

Dr. Charles Burchell retires from Southern Miss. - Free Online Library