Our class started out like most others with the usual excitement and concerns that go hand in hand with this type of training. One of the concerns on my mind was the change from a 5thd-x Wreck Workshop to a NAUI Wreck Penetration level 1 class with certification, and I wasnt really sure how this would affect the class.
Would AG go light on us because it was a NAUI course? (not a chance)
Would we still get the in depth line drills and protocols wed hoped for? (Abso-fricken-lutely!)
Would my skills be up to the challenge? (still not sure about this one )
Janeane and I showed up at Breakwater (Monterey, Ca) about 8 am, and Kevin, our teammate for the class, had driven up from L.A. the night before. Part 1 of our class started at 9 am, Friday morning (11/11/05), with the arrival of Andrew Georgitsis (AG) and Joe Talavera. As the class kicked off, we started with hard limits and expectations for the class.
1. Stick to NDL limits (no decompression dives)
2. All penetrations will be limited to 80 cft of gas
3. One continuous guide line at all times (i.e. no jumps)
4. No major restrictions
5. No complex navigation
6. Max depth 100
The gear requirements would include the usual DIR gear configuration in addition to doubles, 1 reel, 1 free spool (2 if 1 is secured to your smb), 1 primary light, and 2 backup lights. Following the discussion on limits and gear, we learned that the class would be broken down into 14 dives spread out over 5 days (6 for us). Each day would start at 9 am with lectures and land drills till 12 pm, diving till 4 pm, and wrapping up each day with gas fills, lectures, and video review.
Day 1 would focus on introduction to line work intermixed with valve failures and a history lesson on wreck diving.
Day 2 would focus on lost line, no vis / no mask, and lost buddy protocols with failures.
Day 3 would continue with the previous days lessons in deeper water (i.e. 60 rather than 30) to focus on laying line, miscellaneous failures, following the line back to the exit, and ascending as a team.
After a brief run down on the above information and schedule, we got into the nuts and bolts of wreck diving. We discussed the basics of wreck diving with topics on environment, Sheck Exley and accident analysis, history of wrecks, laws governing salvage, and several stories of some of AGs wreck diving experiences to tie things together. He must have repeated the limits 5 or 6 times through this part of the lecture.
We then moved on to the reel. We learned the features of the reel, how to run line, the importance of a primary and secondary tie, the difference between double and single tie ins, wraps, and how to do an end tie. The term slack kills came up often as we started running line around the benches, posts, and rocks up by the grass at Breakwater. We wouldnt learn just how bad slack was until Day 2.
Our in water experience came soon after lunch (note to AG: tuna fish subway sandwiches with mayo are not a good dive food). The plan was to hit the water, shoot a bag for an upline, tie it in, and do a round of valve and s-drills. This took a bit longer than expected as is usually the case on the first dive, but we made our way through the tasks before a slow ascent backup to the surface. On the surface we met up with AG and Joe, and came up with a plan of attack. AG and Joe would demonstrate a primary and secondary tie in, and find one or two tie ins before the final end tie. They would then clean up the line on their way back to the start point. The only difference from the demonstration and our dives would be the inevitable failures we would experience. We were informed that we should expect right and left post failures, both fixable and non-fixable, along with left post roll offs during right post failures. Oh joy!
Heading back down, we did 3 dives back to back with each of the teammates taking turns as captain. Things went pretty well, not pretty, but well. It was the first time all of us had dove together, and we were able to work through the failures while running line for the first time. The failures went pretty well, but we made a few mistakes with team positioning after a failure, remembering who had which failure, and stuff like that. The line was difficult to work with. Keeping it tight, getting the ties right, and finding tie ins was a bit more difficult than I had expected. Overall though, we learned a lot.
On a personal note, I still have a lot to work on with regards to diving like my hairs on fire. I thought I had made big progress on this issue of mine since RecTriox, but seeing the video of me vetoing Janeane, the captain, when she turned the dive made things quite clear. I need to keep working on this one.
We wrapped up Day 1 with video reviews at Morgans (a coffee shop). Although our trim was off at times, the video confirmed that we were able to work well together while handling the failures. The line work was a completely different issue, and we spent some time discussing ways to improve. We were pretty wiped out after the video, and decided to pick things up again in the morning.
Day 2 started off great. We were able to sleep in, get the tanks filled, and start off at 9 am at Breakwater. The water conditions were rough to say the least, and I was looking forward to the land drills and lecture putting off our first dive.
We started right off with running line around the benches. The primary difference from Day 1 was that instead of each of us running line at the same time, this time we focused on running line as a team. We looked at team positioning, communication, and how/when to assist the captain with the line. Once we ran about 150 of line, we pulled away and continued with a lecture about the risks of wreck diving. Special attention focused on the importance of protocols and accident analysis.
As mentioned above, Sheck Exley came up with a method for accident analysis for cave diving that identified several key factors that were common:
1. Lack of Training
2. Failure to maintain a continuous guideline
3. Failure to reserve adequate gas supply
4. Diving to excessive depths
5. Failure to carry sufficient lighting
Two more were later added to the list: Deep Air and SOLO Diving. To insure the impact of these points hit home, AG told us two stories that ended badly. I wont attempt to relay the stories here due to the fact Id likely butcher them. The first one emphasized how bad things can happen even when you follow the protocols, and the second emphasized how bad things do happen when you dont follow the protocol. Needless to say, the reality of what we were training for was beginning to hit home.
We followed up this serious lecture with 3 lessons that took several hours to work on. The first was line protocols in a no vis situation. We ran through a couple of dry runs as AG explained the protocols in great detail, and followed it up with following our line back while blind folded. Joe and AG modified the line as we started to make our way back by simulating someone tying into our line and placing a directional line marker in the wrong direction. This stumped us for a while, and we paused for a second to go over the protocol that helped us figure out what was up. Shortly afterwards we hit our first tie in, moved the team to the other side of the line, and continued on our path.
Shortly before we made it to our exit, we ran into a broken line. This is where the reality of the term slack kills hit home for us. Janeane took her time with a few helpful warmer/colder hints while searching for the line, and we quickly made our way to the exit. You get use to feeling the line tight in your hands showing the way back. The tactile feeling of a tight line becomes your security blanket in a no vis environment. Slack in the line destroys that sense of security, and the pucker factor increases exponentially. Not good.
The second lesson focused on the lost line drill, and covered several types of search patterns and procedures for locating the line. We each took turns getting spun around while blind folded, and released in the general area of the line. We felt like really bad participants at a piñata party. I started off with a circular pattern search, found a bench, tied in, and proceeded with a circular search of the line. With AGs help, I learned to take a full arms length of line from the reel I was using at the end of each search to incrementally increase the distance. It took me 3 tries to locate the line, at which time I tied in, picked a direction, found the original end tie (i.e. I went the wrong way), and finally knew where I was. Each of my teammates had increasingly difficult start points, but were successful in their attempts.
... continued in next post
Would AG go light on us because it was a NAUI course? (not a chance)
Would we still get the in depth line drills and protocols wed hoped for? (Abso-fricken-lutely!)
Would my skills be up to the challenge? (still not sure about this one )
Janeane and I showed up at Breakwater (Monterey, Ca) about 8 am, and Kevin, our teammate for the class, had driven up from L.A. the night before. Part 1 of our class started at 9 am, Friday morning (11/11/05), with the arrival of Andrew Georgitsis (AG) and Joe Talavera. As the class kicked off, we started with hard limits and expectations for the class.
1. Stick to NDL limits (no decompression dives)
2. All penetrations will be limited to 80 cft of gas
3. One continuous guide line at all times (i.e. no jumps)
4. No major restrictions
5. No complex navigation
6. Max depth 100
The gear requirements would include the usual DIR gear configuration in addition to doubles, 1 reel, 1 free spool (2 if 1 is secured to your smb), 1 primary light, and 2 backup lights. Following the discussion on limits and gear, we learned that the class would be broken down into 14 dives spread out over 5 days (6 for us). Each day would start at 9 am with lectures and land drills till 12 pm, diving till 4 pm, and wrapping up each day with gas fills, lectures, and video review.
Day 1 would focus on introduction to line work intermixed with valve failures and a history lesson on wreck diving.
Day 2 would focus on lost line, no vis / no mask, and lost buddy protocols with failures.
Day 3 would continue with the previous days lessons in deeper water (i.e. 60 rather than 30) to focus on laying line, miscellaneous failures, following the line back to the exit, and ascending as a team.
After a brief run down on the above information and schedule, we got into the nuts and bolts of wreck diving. We discussed the basics of wreck diving with topics on environment, Sheck Exley and accident analysis, history of wrecks, laws governing salvage, and several stories of some of AGs wreck diving experiences to tie things together. He must have repeated the limits 5 or 6 times through this part of the lecture.
We then moved on to the reel. We learned the features of the reel, how to run line, the importance of a primary and secondary tie, the difference between double and single tie ins, wraps, and how to do an end tie. The term slack kills came up often as we started running line around the benches, posts, and rocks up by the grass at Breakwater. We wouldnt learn just how bad slack was until Day 2.
Our in water experience came soon after lunch (note to AG: tuna fish subway sandwiches with mayo are not a good dive food). The plan was to hit the water, shoot a bag for an upline, tie it in, and do a round of valve and s-drills. This took a bit longer than expected as is usually the case on the first dive, but we made our way through the tasks before a slow ascent backup to the surface. On the surface we met up with AG and Joe, and came up with a plan of attack. AG and Joe would demonstrate a primary and secondary tie in, and find one or two tie ins before the final end tie. They would then clean up the line on their way back to the start point. The only difference from the demonstration and our dives would be the inevitable failures we would experience. We were informed that we should expect right and left post failures, both fixable and non-fixable, along with left post roll offs during right post failures. Oh joy!
Heading back down, we did 3 dives back to back with each of the teammates taking turns as captain. Things went pretty well, not pretty, but well. It was the first time all of us had dove together, and we were able to work through the failures while running line for the first time. The failures went pretty well, but we made a few mistakes with team positioning after a failure, remembering who had which failure, and stuff like that. The line was difficult to work with. Keeping it tight, getting the ties right, and finding tie ins was a bit more difficult than I had expected. Overall though, we learned a lot.
On a personal note, I still have a lot to work on with regards to diving like my hairs on fire. I thought I had made big progress on this issue of mine since RecTriox, but seeing the video of me vetoing Janeane, the captain, when she turned the dive made things quite clear. I need to keep working on this one.
We wrapped up Day 1 with video reviews at Morgans (a coffee shop). Although our trim was off at times, the video confirmed that we were able to work well together while handling the failures. The line work was a completely different issue, and we spent some time discussing ways to improve. We were pretty wiped out after the video, and decided to pick things up again in the morning.
Day 2 started off great. We were able to sleep in, get the tanks filled, and start off at 9 am at Breakwater. The water conditions were rough to say the least, and I was looking forward to the land drills and lecture putting off our first dive.
We started right off with running line around the benches. The primary difference from Day 1 was that instead of each of us running line at the same time, this time we focused on running line as a team. We looked at team positioning, communication, and how/when to assist the captain with the line. Once we ran about 150 of line, we pulled away and continued with a lecture about the risks of wreck diving. Special attention focused on the importance of protocols and accident analysis.
As mentioned above, Sheck Exley came up with a method for accident analysis for cave diving that identified several key factors that were common:
1. Lack of Training
2. Failure to maintain a continuous guideline
3. Failure to reserve adequate gas supply
4. Diving to excessive depths
5. Failure to carry sufficient lighting
Two more were later added to the list: Deep Air and SOLO Diving. To insure the impact of these points hit home, AG told us two stories that ended badly. I wont attempt to relay the stories here due to the fact Id likely butcher them. The first one emphasized how bad things can happen even when you follow the protocols, and the second emphasized how bad things do happen when you dont follow the protocol. Needless to say, the reality of what we were training for was beginning to hit home.
We followed up this serious lecture with 3 lessons that took several hours to work on. The first was line protocols in a no vis situation. We ran through a couple of dry runs as AG explained the protocols in great detail, and followed it up with following our line back while blind folded. Joe and AG modified the line as we started to make our way back by simulating someone tying into our line and placing a directional line marker in the wrong direction. This stumped us for a while, and we paused for a second to go over the protocol that helped us figure out what was up. Shortly afterwards we hit our first tie in, moved the team to the other side of the line, and continued on our path.
Shortly before we made it to our exit, we ran into a broken line. This is where the reality of the term slack kills hit home for us. Janeane took her time with a few helpful warmer/colder hints while searching for the line, and we quickly made our way to the exit. You get use to feeling the line tight in your hands showing the way back. The tactile feeling of a tight line becomes your security blanket in a no vis environment. Slack in the line destroys that sense of security, and the pucker factor increases exponentially. Not good.
The second lesson focused on the lost line drill, and covered several types of search patterns and procedures for locating the line. We each took turns getting spun around while blind folded, and released in the general area of the line. We felt like really bad participants at a piñata party. I started off with a circular pattern search, found a bench, tied in, and proceeded with a circular search of the line. With AGs help, I learned to take a full arms length of line from the reel I was using at the end of each search to incrementally increase the distance. It took me 3 tries to locate the line, at which time I tied in, picked a direction, found the original end tie (i.e. I went the wrong way), and finally knew where I was. Each of my teammates had increasingly difficult start points, but were successful in their attempts.
... continued in next post
