What was your, "Oh got it lesson learned moment"

[Gareth J]

Have you considered doing your back roll on either side of the gunwale? Both hands are needed when doing a roll back entry.

If there is not much tide, or the boat is small enough, it is preferred to roll off opposite sides.
Where the boat is larger, or we have a lot of run. The boat will approach the shot on the same side as the divers are positioned.

so why have the forward diver rolling first why not start at the rear -that way the person on their left cant land on them if boast is creeping forward. Ive never heard of this practice and it has lots of potential for a screw up- especially on the cattle boat type dives .

The boat is not creeping forward, it is coasting forward against the tide and in neutral.
Both divers are supposed to roll together. Ideally both divers should be within 3 feet of each other once in the water, and 6 - 9 feet upstream of the shot, dependent on how fast the tide is running.

Most of the dive hard boats have got bigger, especially now we use diver lifts. So we tend to do a stride entry off the lift at the stern.
On some boats, the access to the water on one side of the boat may be restricted, or visibility for the skipper restricted. When manoeuvring close to the shot most skippers like an unimpeded view, in case someone surfaces unexpectedly.

We don't do 'cattle boats' in the UK. Maximum number of divers on any UK boat is 12. Even the boats you sign onto as an individual, have an expectation that you know what you are doing for the proposed dive.

Techniques are adapted for the environment, like negative entry onto some sites.
The Scapa block ships are all dived without a shot, and a negative entry. If you don't go on "go", or you don't descend quickly, you are swept off the site. Normally we try to drop a minimum of 2 sticks of divers on any one pass, if we can, up to 4. If you mess it up and miss the site you have a wait, whilst all the other divers are put in, before the boat will attempt to recover you. It is highly unlikely that if you miss the site on the first pass you will have the opportunity to try again once recovered. The window is really tight.

 

[nolatom]

"Why I appreciate my (now retired) instructor":

On one occasion early on, way offshore, at night, I messed up without buddy nearby, and after splashing-in negatively buoyant, found myself a few feet underwater in darkness, with no reg in mouth (please don't ask--well, okay, is this idiotic, I had taken reg out of my mouth to tell my ID number to the DM with the list at the gate, and flat-out forgot to put it back in as I giant-strided in, unbelievably stupid but there you have it, I was new), mask askew up on my forehead probably from reg hitting it, and no one who saw, including buddy who hadn't splashed in yet .

And I had exhaled during all this, and needed to inhale. But couldn't, or it might be the last thing I ever did. And right then, instead of freaking out and drowning, I literally heard my instructor's voice:

"Remember, if you can breathe, you can solve all your other problems".

Right. I need to breathe. I need my reg. couldn't find primary, but swept arm back (Instructor's voice once more), came up with my octo, and got it into my mouth. And got that precious inhale of real air. Then I found my mask up on my forehead where my primary reg must have knocked it when I splashed, and now I that I was breathing I was beginning to think almost rationally. Instructor's voice again, "press the top of it inward against your forehead, and it will empty as your nose exhales". Got it. Did it. *Wow* did that salt water sting. But now I can see. And at some point I did what I should have done first--pressed the inflator button.

All this seemed like an eternity, but it was probably less than a minute. Did anyone see me, this is embarrassing? Nope. Ah, good.

So now what? Well, go ahead with the dive, dummy, you're okay. So I did, and switched to to my primary. Stetson Bank, hauntingly beautiful at night by flashlights and some lights from the boat crew.


I don't recall if I fessed up to anyone right afterward, it seemed so stupid of me. But to Dave, my instructor, thanks. Your voice saved me.

So, I think the lesson is, pay attention during your classroom time. Very glad I did.