nolatom
Contributor
I'm a frequent flier insofar as instabuddies are concerned, and generally it's worked out well.
Recently I got buddied with someone who had a few dozen dives but hadn't been underwater in a couple of years. First dive was fairly shallow, poor vis, and as we compared air-remaining signals I sensed this would be a short dive, and it was. I led him slowly around the edge barge so as to be sure we stayed together and could find the tie-in line before he got too low. I finished with half my tank unused, not a great loss as it was a so-so dive at best, but it didn't bode well for the future.
Second dive was going to be deeper and better, and the captain was trying to find us better vis, which he did (reverse profile was due to uncertainty about weather, if you're wondering). So I tried to think about how we could do better on this one. He had probably been a little anxious, how to relax me, but really how to relax him, too? Was anything wrong with how I led the dive?
Then the idea came--maybe the problem wasn't how I led him, it was that I thought I had to lead him at all? What about if he led the second dive? Then he could set his own pace and it might be calmer for him. I could tag close, divert briefly for something of interest while he was the "steady Eddie", and run a little deeper than him. He agreed. It was a bridge rubble dive and some guide lines had been set, so it would be easy for him to stay on course out and back. And the vis was good enough that we could see each other while he went straight and I zig-zagged a little, both sideways and downward.
Well, it worked out pretty nicely. Instead of him using air almost twice as fast, we were within a couple hundred pounds of each other, and this time we both enjoyed the dive. He was more confident, and went fairly slow but now that was okay, no upline-finding anxiety, and I had the freedom to go under some rubble while he went over it, and so forth, being careful to keep him in sight and not stray too far. There may be some dive sites (no guide lines, current, topography, what have you) where this wouldn't work, but it did here.
Anyway, I may have learned something--my actions may have increased his burn rate, I needed to ease up so he could ease up too. Kind of karmic? Or the "golden rule" in action?
Observation number two: In my dotage I've finally gone to a few yoga classes, they seem to help with not only strength and flexibility, but with better air usage underwater.
I suspect none of these ideas are new at all, but "everything's old hat 'til it happens to you", yes?
Recently I got buddied with someone who had a few dozen dives but hadn't been underwater in a couple of years. First dive was fairly shallow, poor vis, and as we compared air-remaining signals I sensed this would be a short dive, and it was. I led him slowly around the edge barge so as to be sure we stayed together and could find the tie-in line before he got too low. I finished with half my tank unused, not a great loss as it was a so-so dive at best, but it didn't bode well for the future.
Second dive was going to be deeper and better, and the captain was trying to find us better vis, which he did (reverse profile was due to uncertainty about weather, if you're wondering). So I tried to think about how we could do better on this one. He had probably been a little anxious, how to relax me, but really how to relax him, too? Was anything wrong with how I led the dive?
Then the idea came--maybe the problem wasn't how I led him, it was that I thought I had to lead him at all? What about if he led the second dive? Then he could set his own pace and it might be calmer for him. I could tag close, divert briefly for something of interest while he was the "steady Eddie", and run a little deeper than him. He agreed. It was a bridge rubble dive and some guide lines had been set, so it would be easy for him to stay on course out and back. And the vis was good enough that we could see each other while he went straight and I zig-zagged a little, both sideways and downward.
Well, it worked out pretty nicely. Instead of him using air almost twice as fast, we were within a couple hundred pounds of each other, and this time we both enjoyed the dive. He was more confident, and went fairly slow but now that was okay, no upline-finding anxiety, and I had the freedom to go under some rubble while he went over it, and so forth, being careful to keep him in sight and not stray too far. There may be some dive sites (no guide lines, current, topography, what have you) where this wouldn't work, but it did here.
Anyway, I may have learned something--my actions may have increased his burn rate, I needed to ease up so he could ease up too. Kind of karmic? Or the "golden rule" in action?
Observation number two: In my dotage I've finally gone to a few yoga classes, they seem to help with not only strength and flexibility, but with better air usage underwater.
I suspect none of these ideas are new at all, but "everything's old hat 'til it happens to you", yes?
