What message for brand-new diver you...?
- Thread starter Just Don
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stretchthepenn
Contributor
Most of what I'll say is repeats from above, but here goes anyway...
- Chill out. Get horizontal and just float. If you can't, then figure out why.
- Dive slow. Check out the scenery.
- Buddy up with people who are more skilled than you and imitate them.
- Learn to frog-kick. Don't be that guy who stirs up the bottom.
- Low-volume masks are your friends.
MaxTorque
Contributor
Hey, great question! I'm still a total newby, but (hopefully) learning fast, so here's what i've learnt:
1) Watch others, all the time. See what they do, how they do it, even when they are doing it wrong. Watch them put their kit together and how they pull their scuba unit on.. Does it look awkward, easy, effortless or even stylish? Why does it look that way.
2) Listen, a lot. speak much less., but don't be afraid to speak up and ask questions if unsure. IME, other divers are not just happy to explain what and why they are doing the thing they are doing, but actually enjoy doing that. And this applies to everyone, not just instructors and DMs etc!
3) The kit you dive with is less important than a) how you keep it (ie service it, look after it) and b) how well you understand it and work with it, not against it. Nothing wrong with new kit, but make sure when you change, you fully understand the differences and take time to practice with that new kit
4) Don't be afraid of 3m dives in a pool. If you can hover and do all your skills at 3m, at the depth zone with the greatest change in volume with depth, then you can do those skills at 30m! Just messing around in the pool, even in the shallow end means because your are safe and relaxed, those skills really hit home fast ime.. Yes, yes, you need to be able to clear your mask in cold water, in poor vis, in a heavy current, but if you can do it with your eyes shut, by muscle memory in a 2m hover in your nice warm clear pool, your setting yourself up way better!
5) Take photo's and notes of your gear after each dive. yes, yuor dive computer will log stuff, but simply being able to click on a pic and count 1,2,3,4,5,6 kg of weights on the belt in the picture, and see a 12l cylinder, and your 5mm wetsuit, and those sinky fins of yours, is an incredibly useful memory tool when you start out. When you become a saltly old diver, with 1,000 dives, yes, you'll just know what weighting you need, but right now, like me, you don't, and there is a lot to remember, so jot stuff in a log book, take a quick snap with your phone of your kit, and bingo, permanent record!
and finally, depsite what you'll read on the internet:
6) mostly, there is no wrong / right, but plenty of shades of grey! From things like if you should use your BCD or your dry suit for your buoyancy control, if you should use manifolded twins or seperate cylinders, from piston to diaphram 1st stages, from weight belts to integrated systems, BP&W vs BCD, hell, even the colour of your fins and mask, most stuff in in all honestly is a compromise.. Yes, there are some things that you can do that really are dangerous, but actually, not that many (directly) so what ever your set up, your method of diving, do what works for you.. If someone can come up with a reason you shouldn't dive with your kit in that format, then listen, analyse what they are saying, make your own judgement. Often they have a point, but just as often there logic is as flawed as their line of arguement!
Right, lets go get wet
1) Watch others, all the time. See what they do, how they do it, even when they are doing it wrong. Watch them put their kit together and how they pull their scuba unit on.. Does it look awkward, easy, effortless or even stylish? Why does it look that way.
2) Listen, a lot. speak much less., but don't be afraid to speak up and ask questions if unsure. IME, other divers are not just happy to explain what and why they are doing the thing they are doing, but actually enjoy doing that. And this applies to everyone, not just instructors and DMs etc!
3) The kit you dive with is less important than a) how you keep it (ie service it, look after it) and b) how well you understand it and work with it, not against it. Nothing wrong with new kit, but make sure when you change, you fully understand the differences and take time to practice with that new kit
4) Don't be afraid of 3m dives in a pool. If you can hover and do all your skills at 3m, at the depth zone with the greatest change in volume with depth, then you can do those skills at 30m! Just messing around in the pool, even in the shallow end means because your are safe and relaxed, those skills really hit home fast ime.. Yes, yes, you need to be able to clear your mask in cold water, in poor vis, in a heavy current, but if you can do it with your eyes shut, by muscle memory in a 2m hover in your nice warm clear pool, your setting yourself up way better!
5) Take photo's and notes of your gear after each dive. yes, yuor dive computer will log stuff, but simply being able to click on a pic and count 1,2,3,4,5,6 kg of weights on the belt in the picture, and see a 12l cylinder, and your 5mm wetsuit, and those sinky fins of yours, is an incredibly useful memory tool when you start out. When you become a saltly old diver, with 1,000 dives, yes, you'll just know what weighting you need, but right now, like me, you don't, and there is a lot to remember, so jot stuff in a log book, take a quick snap with your phone of your kit, and bingo, permanent record!
and finally, depsite what you'll read on the internet:
6) mostly, there is no wrong / right, but plenty of shades of grey! From things like if you should use your BCD or your dry suit for your buoyancy control, if you should use manifolded twins or seperate cylinders, from piston to diaphram 1st stages, from weight belts to integrated systems, BP&W vs BCD, hell, even the colour of your fins and mask, most stuff in in all honestly is a compromise.. Yes, there are some things that you can do that really are dangerous, but actually, not that many (directly) so what ever your set up, your method of diving, do what works for you.. If someone can come up with a reason you shouldn't dive with your kit in that format, then listen, analyse what they are saying, make your own judgement. Often they have a point, but just as often there logic is as flawed as their line of arguement!
Right, lets go get wet
Brant Emery
Contributor
Lots of really good advice here.
Buoyancy and trim should be your first objectives.
Learn to slow down and enjoy the dive. You can’t see the flowers driving at 60 mph, slow down and enjoy all the little things. You won’t be scarring the big things, and you will get to enjoy them.
Your hands are useless for propulsion and steering. Learn to frog kick and use your head (literally) to steer.
Enjoy the view, this is supposed to be fun.
RELAX!!!!
Buoyancy and trim should be your first objectives.
Learn to slow down and enjoy the dive. You can’t see the flowers driving at 60 mph, slow down and enjoy all the little things. You won’t be scarring the big things, and you will get to enjoy them.
Your hands are useless for propulsion and steering. Learn to frog kick and use your head (literally) to steer.
Enjoy the view, this is supposed to be fun.
RELAX!!!!
AdivingBel
Diver
FishWatcher747
Contributor
1. When people tell you to work on your trim what does that mean? To a beginner it means nothing. Trim is how you place your lead on yourself. That may be in a weight belt, integrated weight pockets in a jacket BCD, using a weighted stainless steel backplate, weight trim pockets on the tank cam bands, weight pockets attached to other parts of a backplate, or weights placed around the neck of the tank. Trim will change in whatever new configuration you are using, thickness of wetsuit, drysuit, buoyancy of fins, steel or aluminum tanks.
If you cannot stay horizontal without finning or moving you need to adjust the lead on yourself. It has very little to do with technique or skill.
2. If you end up buying your own gear, just skip the hassle of beginner stuff and get a backplate and wing. It will help solve your trim problems.
If you cannot stay horizontal without finning or moving you need to adjust the lead on yourself. It has very little to do with technique or skill.
2. If you end up buying your own gear, just skip the hassle of beginner stuff and get a backplate and wing. It will help solve your trim problems.
Don't "overweight" yourself -- it's skin diving, not sinking, like a mob informant; don't get up-sold on equipment that you will have little use for (which will find eventually find itself in your closet; or on eBay, for pennies on the dollar); don't fall for the sundry, f**king ludicrous classes, when your most valuable training, will come through simple experience.
I dove some 175 times that first Summer, as an open-water diver in the late 1970s, in Northern California; and I was far more capable and comfortable by August, of that year, than that June, flopping about . . .
I dove some 175 times that first Summer, as an open-water diver in the late 1970s, in Northern California; and I was far more capable and comfortable by August, of that year, than that June, flopping about . . .
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I used to get leg cramps a lot, on rare occasions in both. You can move forward using arms only doing a breast stroke--I have done it. Not as much drag as trying to do a forward crawl on scuba, but you can move slowly. Better to grab rocks and pull, of course.
David Novo
Contributor
This is not entirely true: the way you place your body affects your trim. For example, the further your hands are in the front of your head, the higher your feet will be vs your head.
FishWatcher747
Contributor
You have just pointed out the "very little" part.
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