What Next?

[ginti]

You might find the 7' hose not long enough!!!! And in a tight passage you better hold on to your mask!

Frankly speaking, I find the 7' very comfortable for open water. When I did the no viz exit with gas sharing... that was another story! not comfortable at all, but obviously, comfort is not the priority in such cases, and anything longer would be a serious entanglement risk.

A lot of fun during the course, but I don't want to try it in real life

 

[ginti]

For the people who did and the ones who teach the recreational courses, did/do you also practice gas-sharing during no visibility exit?

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

NOTE: now I have to check if I didn't lose my skills, after so much time dry

I'm in the same boat. New job, baby, Covid19, pre production for filming project of ancient wrecks in Greece. I actually want to hire some of the local GUE instructors to do an evaluate/tests of me.

 

[Manatee Diver]

If you find air shares through a restriction fun, you have something wrong with you.

I remember being in the Catacombs, one hand protecting my head, the other holding the hose and the line. Trying to make my way through a restriction that would require me to rotate to my side blind feeling the reg pulling around hoping that it wasn't pulled out of my mouth.

That wasn't fun in training and I knew that I could always put in my necklaced secondary and pull the mask off.

 

[TMHeimer]

For the people who did and the ones who teach the recreational courses, did/do you also practice gas-sharing during no visibility exit?

I would think that is dangerous to say the least. Unless you were right near the entrance and already were pointed in the right direction prior to stirring up things.

 

[Ayisha]

Assessing the wreck for hazards, drawing the entry point to assess on the boat, reel skills and line laying were in my wreck class, among other skills...

Mine too in '02. No lost line drills or gas sharing, which weren't expected.

A complete silt-out though.
We laid line inside the school bus in Innerkip Quarry, which is like thick pea soup on the best of days. The viz was arms length at best, so the instructor did the dive with one buddy pair at a time, and the rest of the students stayed ready at the shore with the CA.

My buddy and I were last to do the dive, and the visibility inside the school bus was zero. I suspect it was probably like that from very early on though.

Afterwards at the LDS, I was telling one of the owners that it was a complete silt-out, and she said, "well, those were the best conditions for training since you should only dive in similar or better conditions than you were trained in".

 

[ginti]

I would think that is dangerous to say the least. Unless you were right near the entrance and already were pointed in the right direction prior to stirring up things.

Maybe I was unclear. It can happen, in training, that the instructor gives a gas sharing scenario. Then, while the trainees are exiting and sharing, the instructor also gives a no visibility condition. This happens in caves, I am not sure whether it makes sense or not in wrecks.

The oog scenario during a no-viz exit should also be discussed (that is, first no visibility and then gas sharing), but I have never heard anyone doing it (at least at introductory courses), probably because, as you said, it can be dangerous.

From your answer, I can imagine you didn't do any of these exercises...

 

[TMHeimer]

Maybe I was unclear. It can happen, in training, that the instructor gives a gas sharing scenario. Then, while the trainees are exiting and sharing, the instructor also gives a no visibility condition. This happens in caves, I am not sure whether it makes sense or not in wrecks.

The oog scenario during a no-viz exit should also be discussed (that is, first no visibility and then gas sharing), but I have never heard anyone doing it (at least at introductory courses), probably because, as you said, it can be dangerous.

From your answer, I can imagine you didn't do any of these exercises...

Good points. Correct, we did no drills in zero viz. We did what you're supposed to do-- such as keep contact with the line, turn around properly, exit, etc. We were only in 20-30 feet of water inside the wreck. If you were a lot deeper, say in the ocean, and someone didn't keep contact with the line while turning during a silt out, I can see a panic problem. Something agencies or instructors would shy away from with in an introductory course.

 

[ginti]

Good points. Correct, we did no drills in zero viz. We did what you're supposed to do-- such as keep contact with the line, turn around properly, exit, etc. We were only in 20-30 feet of water inside the wreck. If you were a lot deeper, say in the ocean, and someone didn't keep contact with the line while turning during a silt out, I can see a panic problem. Something agencies or instructors would shy away from with in an introductory course.

For me, it's a bit weird that you did not do the scenario I described. But I have penetrated only one wreck in my life, an easy one, with a very low possibility of no visibility conditions... In other words, I do not have much experience to judge anything. I can tell you that in caves the visibility can drop quite quickly because of bad diver etiquettes/techniques, but also due to other reasons out of the control of people. Therefore, no visibility skills are quite important. For wreck diving, it can be different, I just don't know.

Anyway, thanks for your answer

 

[ginti]

Mine too in '02. No lost line drills or gas sharing, which weren't expected.

If I remember well, you have a bit of tec/cave-training, don't you? Maybe you can help me in understanding a bit more Do you believe drills/gas sharing in no-viz should be done, or are actually useless in a rec-wreck course? If useless, are people taught, in a way or another, to understand which wrecks are riskier and require more training?