piikki:
You're welcome to come and play any time, it's really kind of fun to do blindfolded exercises in a controlled environment complete with at least one safety diver.
I have had the opportunity to see students use this training on one occasion in the open water. We were doing the first day of check out dives in a shallow (about 18ft deep) low-vis quarry and I was a DM, my group of two was following the instructor's group of two and I was on my student's right within arm's reach. The instructor's students ran into a problem that resulted in a black cloud coming quickly toward my group. There was little time to react; I only had enough time to look to my left and see the center guy grab his buddy then he grabbed my wrist and everyone disappeared. I moved his hand from my wrist to my hand as he pulled us into a close group so we could communicate. He signalled a thumbs up and wrapped both my hand and his buddies hand around it as a fin from the front group came out of the muck and smacked all of us in the face. The students were handling the situation well so I just followed as we ascended to wait for the instructor and her group. They soon surfaced and one of her students was covered in mud. It seems his buddy lost him in the declining vis and ended up standing on him pressing him face first into the muddy bottom. The instructor saw the student getting his head stomped into the mud and uprooted him as quickly as possible because she wasn't sure how well the regulator would perform in the muck. The uprooting of the student is what sent the black cloud our way and the flailing fin that smacked us in the face was attached to the leg of the student who had the "rug" ripped from under his feet.
Sometimes diving can get REALLY interesting
Ber :lilbunny:
