(Happy dad post. You've been warned. Nothing technical inside the post.)
Spent an hour in the dive shop pool last night with my youngest son. He doesn't, or didn't, necessarily see the need to get too geeky about his diving. But, he is interested in maximizing his dive time. I've been talking to him about getting weighted well and how that can lead to efficiency, and the cascade of benefits and skills that get him towards better air consumption.
Executive version: He lost four pounds and didn't kneel on the bottom once.
Longer version: We were just messing around. Swimming circular laps around the bottom. Practiced SMB deployment (weather willing, first ocean dive Monday). Blew some bubble rings. I had mentioned to him that he was using air to adjust his BC and that in the pool I could go to any depth by adjusting my lung volume rather than my BC. We did a tank check about 20-30 minutes into the "dive" and I had 400PSI more in my tank. I could see the wheels begin to turn in his head. Before long I could see him working on adjusting his depth based on his breathing rather than the inflator/exhaust.
He seemed a bit pleased with his new found awareness. And of course then he pivoted to the fact that now his older brother, who is already the quickest tank drainer, was going to force him to surface that much sooner (relatively). We talked about some strategies where he'd hand off his brother to me for ascent and he would pair up with his mom to finish their dive. I liked seeing a bit of spark back in his scuba eye. I darn sure don't want to kill that by making some arbitrary rule that he was stuck with a less sparked brother. I also hope that when his brother sees himself being handed off, it'll sink in a bit that his unwillingness to slow down and pay attention to his efficiency is making him the 'sea anchor' of our little dive group. A bit of peer pressure to do the right things is okay by me.
Digression, the youngest also worked on his hover/trim position AND after he got his weighting better and was focusing on his buoyancy I noticed him tucking in his console and managing his inflator hose that had been dangling below him because he didn't want it hitting the bottom of the pool. I told him that the reefs and corals appreciated his attention to detail. He is an aware diver/kid, I just need to make sure that I can keep his spark fueled.
Spent an hour in the dive shop pool last night with my youngest son. He doesn't, or didn't, necessarily see the need to get too geeky about his diving. But, he is interested in maximizing his dive time. I've been talking to him about getting weighted well and how that can lead to efficiency, and the cascade of benefits and skills that get him towards better air consumption.
Executive version: He lost four pounds and didn't kneel on the bottom once.
Longer version: We were just messing around. Swimming circular laps around the bottom. Practiced SMB deployment (weather willing, first ocean dive Monday). Blew some bubble rings. I had mentioned to him that he was using air to adjust his BC and that in the pool I could go to any depth by adjusting my lung volume rather than my BC. We did a tank check about 20-30 minutes into the "dive" and I had 400PSI more in my tank. I could see the wheels begin to turn in his head. Before long I could see him working on adjusting his depth based on his breathing rather than the inflator/exhaust.
He seemed a bit pleased with his new found awareness. And of course then he pivoted to the fact that now his older brother, who is already the quickest tank drainer, was going to force him to surface that much sooner (relatively). We talked about some strategies where he'd hand off his brother to me for ascent and he would pair up with his mom to finish their dive. I liked seeing a bit of spark back in his scuba eye. I darn sure don't want to kill that by making some arbitrary rule that he was stuck with a less sparked brother. I also hope that when his brother sees himself being handed off, it'll sink in a bit that his unwillingness to slow down and pay attention to his efficiency is making him the 'sea anchor' of our little dive group. A bit of peer pressure to do the right things is okay by me.
Digression, the youngest also worked on his hover/trim position AND after he got his weighting better and was focusing on his buoyancy I noticed him tucking in his console and managing his inflator hose that had been dangling below him because he didn't want it hitting the bottom of the pool. I told him that the reefs and corals appreciated his attention to detail. He is an aware diver/kid, I just need to make sure that I can keep his spark fueled.
