When to start diving a DPV in OW?

[kathydee]

I’ve heard some divers switch to OW DPV diving right after Fundies, but others think it's best to spend post Fundies time focused on kicks/platform/skills & wait till after Tec 1 to dive scooters.

Different regions seem to have different perspectives, (which could vary with environment)?

I’m curious what you all think about this topic and why.

Thanks!

 

[DiverLaura]

Scooters are for FUN! The tow behinds came out of the tech diving world, but keep in mind, scooters have been used in recreational diving for a long long time. Though I understand why some people would say wait, I think that there are a lot of people who dive DPV's that may or may not ever take Tech 1.

One of the totally recreational, warm water, vaca divers at work gave me this response when I asked him what his favorite dive on his last trip was (to maui)

"The scooter dive!" he was just out on a shore dive off the beach, on a 'boring' little reef, but it was hands down his favorite dive of the trip. (he did the molokini crater, the stingray dive, etc...)

Although they are indeed 'tools' for bigger dives and they have allowed tech divers to do things that 15 years ago we could only dream of doing, they are also a ridiculous amount of fun, and we should not loose sight of that fact

 

[w ripley]

You should get one when you think you want one. They let you see more of the dive site and help you conserve your air, by not having to work so hard. While I have seen a few divers let their scooters compensate for their poor buoyancy, I think they have a lot to offer if you're on a site with current or you need to go a hike to where you actually want to drop the scooter and explore.

Start with a good one. My first was an Apollo and it did everything you can think of. For the last 8 years I've used a tow-behind (Silent Submerge) but that is mainly because I do so much cave diving and the tow behinds work better there.

You don't need a class or an instructor. Get in a pool and play around with the unit until you feel comfortable. Just take it easy and remember that they will take you a long way from where you started. Head up stream for the first part of your dive, just like you would do when swimming, so that if something does go wrong you can swim back with the current.

You might look for a used scooter to see if you like them. Once you get one you have to be consistent with charging the battery, even if you're not using the scooter for a while. And, the batteries go after a couple of years, so factor that in to the cost.

If you are not a solo diver then you should consider if your buddy is going to get one. No use having a scooter if your buddy is still finning. If you are a solo diver, then pay attention to the "run time" on the batteries when selecting the unit you buy.

BTW, we took our Apollos and rigged them so that we could use a tow line. That took the strain off of our arms and allowed one hand to be free (to adjust floatation, point a light, etc.).

Good luck and let us know what you end up doing.

Bill

 

[mikemill]

Now, get one now!

You aren't going to be on the trigger 100% of the time and it isn't unheard of to scooter to a location, clip off, and then kick around.

Buoyancy is still a big issue. Heck it can be a bigger issue as if you aren't paying attention you can get into trouble a lot faster/easier.

Navigation becomes a bigger deal. Scooters let you get off course or in an unfamiliar area a lot easier.

I kinda sorta disagree with the "you don't need a scooter class". Strictly speaking I don't think you need one but it is a hell of a lot of fun and teaches some good skills that you might not have thought of on your own. Plus there were some minor things that we didn't even consider that got addressed (like being able to just grab the shroud and not worrying about your fingers getting hit by the blades).

 

[lamont]

I’ve heard some divers switch to OW DPV diving right after Fundies, but others think it's best to spend post Fundies time focused on kicks/platform/skills & wait till after Tec 1 to dive scooters.

Different regions seem to have different perspectives, (which could vary with environment)?

I’m curious what you all think about this topic and why.

Thanks!

I think there's a kernel of truth in it, in that a lot of scooter diving can make you sloppy about your trim and kicks. If all you do after you get a scooter is scooter dive and then try to take Tech 1 with no practice doing skills without the scooter in the water column, then you might have a pretty bad first day.

That is a silly 'rule' to have though.

 

[alwaingold]

There have been some comments on having a solid platform (mechanically speaking), but I think one of the more important considerations is situational awareness and teamwork. Basically everything happens 3 times as fast on a scooter. So if you are using most of your bandwidth to do a task (like keeping track of the team, navigating, whatever) without a scooter, you will probably be screwed with a scooter.

I don't see why T1 is a prerequisite, because some people just aren't interested in tech diving but certainly have the skills to deal with a scooter. I guess maybe a better prerequisite would be to say you should have the capability to take T1 -- whether you care to do it or not is a different story.

You also need a healthy dose of common sense and knowing your limits. If you don't know a site from kicking it, probably not a good idea to scooter out 1500 feet. I think it's good to do a lot of kick diving at a site first, so you have an appreciation of what it means to kick back from there

I know I am more conservative about these things than most people, but being conservative in my diving hasn't gotten me killed yet.

Allison

 

[lamont]

You also need a healthy dose of common sense and knowing your limits. If you don't know a site from kicking it, probably not a good idea to scooter out 1500 feet. I think it's good to do a lot of kick diving at a site first, so you have an appreciation of what it means to kick back from there

I've done 3,000 foot scooter dives at sites I've never been to before. I did know that the site was current insensitive and that we could kick back 60+ minutes if the scooters crapped out completely, so I knew what my exit was. It might be a little different up here because navigation is just following a contour since most places around puget sound it gets stupidly deep very quickly -- don't need much more than a depth gauge to navigate.

 

[rjack321]

There's nothing in Tech1 which will teach you how to use a scooter (well or really at all, except maybe the awareness bits).

Personally I think scooter classes are surprisingly valuable and if you are interested in scooters you should take one of those.

Scooters and Tech1 are pretty much completely independent things. Both can be fun and eventually complement each other, but for now I'd consider scootering seperate from the mid-water buoyancy that is the Tech1 experience.

 

[kathydee]

At this stage in the game it sounds like there is a big difference between:

occasionally cruising around on a scooter for the fun of it (to the easy recreational sites we frequent by kicking)

vs. adopting a scooter to push the limits of our kicking range, or just to be lazy.

Thanks for the posts .

 

[lamont]

At this stage in the game it sounds like there is a big difference between:

occasionally cruising around on a scooter for the fun of it (to the easy recreational sites we frequent by kicking)

vs. adopting a scooter to push the limits of our kicking range, or just to be lazy.

Thanks for the posts .

Once you start diving new sites that you can't find much info on, you'll probably find that scooters become invaluable to skip over all the boring stuff at 4x the speed.

Of course before then you need to start pushing the limits at sites that you know to get experience.

Biggest thing to avoid is getting separated and not following your buddy separation plan and winding up with 911 being called. You've got to get really good at buddy awareness and passive light communication with scooters, which is what you really need to practice. As long as you follow your buddy separation procedure, though, it should just produce a little embarrassment worst-case.