Pearldiver07
Contributor
I was blessed to learn navigation from a very good Sergeant First Class while enlisted in the Army, then while going through Officer Candidate School a retired special forces colonel came out and volunteered a lot of his time to help. I also spent several years living in the field to practice it. This is key. Without practice, acquired skills will fade quickly.
The first one got me used to looking at the topography (under water would be "Bottom-o-graphy"? ) The second taught me/us how to move with limited visibility without getting lost. Then I had a retired helicopter pilot, now scuba instructor help me translate those skills to an underwater environment.
There's more than one way to navigate. Kicking and staring at a compass is great if you're going out to locate a specific location/item, but unless you're doing that, this kind of navigation is limited. And not much fun either. You've also got to learn to follow the bottom, features, and keep an innate understanding of your relative location given your approximate travels.
I have to say that this all came together to provide a very solid set of skills. Now I try to help instructors learn to really navigate. I've seen some instructors who don't even know how to travel with a compass, and I've seen students trained by commercial entities (read that: REI) that also didn't understand how a compass will assist them best.
In Lake Travis I like to take off in an area, roughly following general headings, then without looking at the compass, come back and surface at the entry/exit point. I've missed a few times, but it's really fun when you nail it. I guess this is how I keep my skills from fading too.
The first one got me used to looking at the topography (under water would be "Bottom-o-graphy"? ) The second taught me/us how to move with limited visibility without getting lost. Then I had a retired helicopter pilot, now scuba instructor help me translate those skills to an underwater environment.
There's more than one way to navigate. Kicking and staring at a compass is great if you're going out to locate a specific location/item, but unless you're doing that, this kind of navigation is limited. And not much fun either. You've also got to learn to follow the bottom, features, and keep an innate understanding of your relative location given your approximate travels.
I have to say that this all came together to provide a very solid set of skills. Now I try to help instructors learn to really navigate. I've seen some instructors who don't even know how to travel with a compass, and I've seen students trained by commercial entities (read that: REI) that also didn't understand how a compass will assist them best.
In Lake Travis I like to take off in an area, roughly following general headings, then without looking at the compass, come back and surface at the entry/exit point. I've missed a few times, but it's really fun when you nail it. I guess this is how I keep my skills from fading too.
