OW certification questions

[pdhenry]

I'll +1 that the CESA is easier and much more natural when you do it for real from 20-30 feet rather than simulating it swimming diagonally in a 12 foot pool. The air in your lungs expands and just keeps coming as you slowly exhale on your way up.

 

[Steve_C]

The first night of pool time I needed 4 additional pounds in the BCD in addition to the 4 on my waist belt. This time all 8 were on my waist - could placement of the weights effect me that much?

They can affect trim but for buoyancy weight is weight. It is not unusual that some extra weight is needed at first because divers have not learned to fully relax and exhale at the beginning.

The shallower the water the trickier it is at first to maintain buoyancy. It is one of those things, like riding a bicycle that your body learns with experience. In case you are an engineer it is an oscillating feedback control computed using a neural net.

As your body learns when doing the fin pivots it is like prejumping a mogul when skiing. You are inhaling as you start to sink and are exhaling as you start to rise. Result is you slowly oscillate around a fixed point. Folks look like they are level but if you look at the dive log later you will see a slow small oscillation around the set point.

We dive some time in a quarry that has a road entry. I find it is very good practice to see how close I can get to shore swimming slowly without breaking the surface or touching the bottom. The shallower the water the more delicate things are. Hoovering in three feet of water is much more amusing than doing it in 30 ft.

 

[DivemasterDennis]

Read this- still one of the most popular blog posts ever here on SB
[h=4]So now you are doing your open water dives [/h] [h=6]

[/h]

0 Comments
by DivemasterDennis
, July 7th, 2011 at 03:08 PM (2435 Views)

This weekend I will be part of team leading 24 new divers through their open water dives to certification as new divers, and as I know we have a lot of new divers in training who read scubaboard, I'd like to share a few suggestions with you to make your experience smoother and more enjoyable.
1.Check all you gear a day or two before the dive, to be sure you have everything, everything is working properly and everything fits properly. Put stuff on, especially rented exposure gear. If anything is too tight, too loose, looks damaged, or doesn't work, go to your local dive center and get it switched.
2. Before you leave the dive location after day 1, check to make sure you have everything in your dive bag, and that what you have is yours. In big groups, people sometime get the wrong stuff. While it can usually get straightened out the next day, it is a pain and an anxiety maker. Do the same on day 2.
3. Be on time. This can be a problem. And it will stress you and others. Punctual divers are calmer divers. Give yourself plenty of time to get to where you need to be.
4. Don't schedule stuff for later the same day as you open water dives. You won't want to rush off, because you may well forget a piece of gear, or miss out on meeting new people, or conversations that would be helpful to you. Getting certified is a big deal, and also involves some physical exertion. Try and schedule yourself so you can be fully focused on the dives, not be rushed, and fully enjoy the experience and the achievement of open water diving.
5. Ask questions. If you have a question ask your instructor or divemaster. There are no stupid questions. If you want a "private moment" asks for one. We will accommodate you.
6. Report problems. If you don't feel well, a piece of gear doesn't fit right,
or you have some other issue, please tell one of us. We need to know, and we can help.
7. Be patient. Sometime you have to wait your turn. Sometimes we have weather delays, or other things that delay a planned schedule. Stay calm, stay relaxed, we will get everything done. We promise.
8. Bring you paperwork ( including photo, written work not yet turned in,etc.) and log book and a pen. The job isn't over till the paperwork's done. Bring everything in your student kit. It's a great feeling to not only have done your dives successfully, but to have all the paperwork ready to go, your dives logged, and be a totally legitimate certified diver.
9. Ok, as the co-author of "The Scuba Snobs' Guide to Diving Etiquette" I can't close without saying this: "Don't Bitch." If you have a complaint, state it to your instructor or divemaster. We can't control the weather or water conditions, but we will do all we can to meet your needs while guiding you to becoming a certified diver. That means we won't be doing things for you, but will guide you through it. You can minimize problems by having all your work in before the open water weekend, checking your gear a day or two before, and following the other suggestions here.
Diver's bond with other divers in a hurry. You are about to join one of the coolest clubs that has ever existed- the brother- and sister-hood of certified divers. Let's have a fun, positive and memorable(in a good way) experience under the water!
DivemasterDennis
​

---------- Post added September 16th, 2014 at 08:22 AM ----------

And then read this one:

[h=4]Student Divers: Don't Think too Much [/h] [h=6]

[/h]

0 Comments
by DivemasterDennis
, July 18th, 2011 at 08:37 AM (1315 Views)

I have been reading posts by dive students that are having problems with their certification dives, and want to share a thought with you all. Some problems reported are equipment related, and some pertain to conditions- cold water, poor visibility, and others relate to physiological problems, like an ear that won't clear or neck/back pain. But there is a recurring theme in the reporting, and it is that student divers who are having problems appear often to be "overthinking" the dives. By that I mean you may be focused so much on discomfort, or getting a skill right, that you are stressing out and creating problems that you might not otherwise have. My suggestion: HAVE FUN!". I am not saying to ignore an ear squeeze, or other comfort issue, but I am saying don't be preoccupied with it to the point of obsession. Also, remember you have done all the skills you are going to do in confined water, and can do them. In fact, many are actually easier to do ion the open water dives than in the pool. Don't overthink them and create stress. Relax and enjoy the experience. Whether you are in a quarry in Ohio, or warm seas off the coast of Florida, you should have fun on those certification dives. Look around, enjoy weightlessness, as you pay attention to your instructor. Some of you will have difficult issues to work through, but you will be less likely to have them, and fewer of them, if you relax and enjoy the experience rather than "waiting for something to go wrong." You instructor and dive masters are there to help if it does. It probably won't. So the night before your first open water dives, relax, watch a movie, look at underwater pcitures or videos, or read a travel magazine about a destination you are headed to. Be positive in your outlook and you experience is likely to be positivie too!
DivemasterDennis​

 

[TSandM]

Oh, I remember the UP and DOWN and UP and DOWN . . . It's in the journal! I wish somebody had told me to stop fussing with the BC and work with my breathing instead. But you have to be able to get more or less horizontal; any time you are feet-down, any movement of your fins will drive you upward. If you're feet down, you CAN'T stay neutral. You have to stay a little negative so you won't go up. That means that, if you STOP kicking, you sink; then you put air in your BC, and when you start kicking again, up you go .. . Being properly weighted is important, but having those weights distributed so you can stay in a horizontal position is important, too.

 

[DukeAMO]

With the CESA, the one thing I've learned is that I have to let air out much more slowly than I initially thought. You can practice it on your couch: take a deep breath and try to breathe out for at least 30 seconds. Then relax for a couple of minutes and try again. I find that I definitely need to exhale slowly at the beginning, or I have nothing left to breathe out after 30 seconds. If I breathe out quite slowly, I can exhale for almost a full minute! You'll also get used to that tense feeling of wanting to breathe in with a little practice. Once you get the breathing down, then you need to also pay attention to your ascent rate. Don't forget to dump air from your BCD if you start moving up too quickly!

I'm with TSandM on the buoyancy. I personally need to have weights fairly high up (in trim pockets mid-back, or even on the tank valve) to be able to hover in a horizontal position; otherwise as soon as I stop finning, my feet sink. You can do a fin pivot if you're out of trim, but actually swimming along and staying neutral are nearly impossible if your weights are in the wrong place.

 

[sll612]

Thank you all for your comments! I'm excited to get back in the pool tomorrow and practice. I'm going to get this!

 

[Roatan Joe]

Oh, I remember the UP and DOWN and UP and DOWN . . . It's in the journal! I wish somebody had told me to stop fussing with the BC and work with my breathing instead. But you have to be able to get more or less horizontal; any time you are feet-down, any movement of your fins will drive you upward. If you're feet down, you CAN'T stay neutral. You have to stay a little negative so you won't go up. That means that, if you STOP kicking, you sink; then you put air in your BC, and when you start kicking again, up you go .. . Being properly weighted is important, but having those weights distributed so you can stay in a horizontal position is important, too.

And sometimes the Instructor can explain over and over AND also physically pry the inflator out of the hands of students, only to have them grab it moments later and start inflating or deflating. Same thing with telling them to stop kicking and dog-paddeling. Every Instructor has probably told students to stop the dog-paddeling, only to have them start again seconds later!

Fun times for sure!

 

[sll612]

I wanted to update this post to say that my pool work paid off! I passed my PADI certification yesterday. We had some trouble with my buoyancy on day one. They had only accounted for my weight, not accounting for booties, a hood and a 7mm wetsuit, so I had to pack on a total of 18 lbs to get me to be able to descend, hover, maintain neutral buoyancy, but when it was all figured out, I was good to go. And that CESA? A BREEZE in open water.

Thank you all for your tips and support! Costa Rica (in November) here I come!

 

[ScubaDoo83]

Awesome! Congrats! Unfortunately I just had to postpone my first dive vacation (death in the family) but I am looking at around November as well.