Giant stride entry

[Thalassamania]

Yup, especially when it's a Jacob's ladder hung of the side of the ship. I like lines to hitch my rig and belt to, then I climb.

 

[Steve_Dives]

You definately want to make sure you look forward, one hand on face (reg, mask) other hand on back of head (mask strap)..most important - look forward!

What this means is that if you look down you can face plant. And the hand on the back of the head holds the mask strap but also keeps your skull from smacking tank.

 

[Thalassamania]

I take a different approach. left hand on my mask, snorkel in my mouth, hoses under my armpits, right thumb hooked into my backpack where the waist strap connects, hit the water with my heels leaning back ever so slightly.

 

[Doc Harry]

Take a look at this.

I've done the 12-foot giant stride into Cenote Temple of Doom in doubles and full cave gear (~110 pounds of gear). No problems.

 

[captndale]

In Chicago, we have an annual but unofficial New Year's Day dive. For a number of years it took place just north of Navy Pier where there is a concrete wharf. The drop to the water is about 6 to 8 feet. On this particular New Year's morning there was some ice cover so the first thing we did was take one of the aluminum ladders we brought and use it to break up the ice just below a bollard on the wharf. We then tied the ladder to the bollard so the divers would be able to climb out. The first divers in, seeing how easily we were able to break up the ice with the ladder, decided to do side-by-side step in entries right onto the ice. They figured that they would go right through and, at the same time, open up a larger area of free water.

Well, of course, things did not go exactly as planned. They jumped out and, with their feet together, hit the ice. The ice, however, did not break quite as easily as they thought it would. Their feet hit hard but slid forward and the divers spun backwards. When their tanks hit the ice the ice finally gave way and they went through into liquid water. Fortunately, neither of them broke anything but they were both complaining of pain in their legs as they climbed out after their dive.

 

[vladimir]

Wow, no disrespect to your buddies, Dale, but that sounds incredibly stupid. Did they come straight from the New Year's Eve party to the dive?

 

[captndale]

Wow, no disrespect to your buddies, Dale, but that sounds incredibly stupid. Did they come straight from the New Year's Eve party to the dive?

They were not exactly my buddies. They were just other divers who showed up that day. This annual dive attracts divers from all over the area. Yes, it was incredibly stupid, but it provided amusement for the rest of us and continues, I think, to be a good story.

 

[Indian Valley Scuba]

I love that ice entry post.....still laughing, and of course, glad no one was hurt.

 

[nolatom]

To our original poster, you asked about "safely" and got good answers. When you're new to diving, you also want a "what's comfortable for me?" answer. Mine when I started would be about 4-5 foot drop (like out on the Flower Garden boats).

I hold my reg and mask in with left hand, right hand on weight belt buckle, look *straight ahead* out at the horizon, step off, and wait for the splash. I think that's enough height for a new diver, at least in terms of comfort level>