I don't know what "recently" implies but as a newb diver with relatively few dives under my belt (and lots of multi-month breaks) the big ones for me are typically buddy drills. Signalling. Air shares. Those are the ones I know I need to work on since I don't have regular buddies to practice with and don't dive as often as I'd like.
Recently Certified Ow's: What Do You Most Wish To Brush Up On Or Learn?
- Thread starter WrmBluH2O
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
snowdog61
Contributor
While I'm not a noob, looking back at my OW training and the 1st year of diving there's a few things that I wish I had known/been taught/worked on that would have helped me with the amount of enjoyment I had. Foremost is buoyancy & trim. Everything you will do underwater is less stressful once you have both of them under control. Photography, spearfishing, lobstering, deploying a SMB, controlled ascent, the list goes on and on - all are much easier when you are horizontal and neutrally buoyant. Next would be learn some alternate finning techniques. Helicopter turns aren't difficult and you wont be scaring all the fish you are trying to observe unlike flailing your hands around. A good frog kick is also easy and is a good break from a bicycling flutter. Once you've got your buoyancy/trim and can do a frog kick & helicopter turns you can then get close to the reef and do the low & slow and really start to see all the amazing things that are on the structure. Slow down and really look - it amazes me how many people think diving is a race and completely miss and the little stuff that is there. Other things to work on would be mask removal/clearing along with being able to swim without a mask (getting a mask kicked off unfortunately does happen). Practice air share occasionally and be able to operate your tank valve underwater isn't a bad thing to know you can perform.
ljpm
Contributor
Although I completed my OW 2 years ago I still consider myself a 'noob'. The first thing I am continuing to work on is buoyancy. The second is relaxing. I am 6'5", 255 lbs so I go through my air very quickly, especially on the first of 2 dives. I want to do everything way to fast, go down, go up, swim., etc. This cause me to always run low on air and I'm usually the one calling the dive. I have purchased larger tanks but this doesn't solve the problem, just gives me more time to work on it.
My main aim (apart from practising skills/trim etc as everyone else has posted) is to learn to slow down. I think because I got to diving latish in life (mid 40s) I am in too much of a hurry to see everything now.
My wish list....buoyancy and trim, navigation, and better equalization.
Buoyancy and trim, I think, are a given to work on....working out my weighting has helped (I was definitely way overweighted in my class; it took some encouraging from other fellow divers to feel comfortable ditching a lot of that weight). I try to practice this when I'm in the water, but it's hard without feedback to know what I need to work on/what's improving.
Navigation is scary and hopeless. I still feel like I rely on more experienced buddies when doing anything more than a straightforward anchor dive, and I'd like that to change.
Finally, equalization....I can equalize okay but it takes me longer than others, and requires more conscious thought and effort than I would like (I do practice on land, but it's not the same as practicing underwater while descending). Valsalva doesn't work great for me, so I've been experimenting with other techniques, with varying success.
There's a lot more of course (I'd like to practice more drills, esp for equipment malfunctions like manual BC inflation/free-flowing regulator, etc), but those are the three core topics that I really feel I could have used a ton more work on. On the flip side, I'm pretty happy with my air consumption (being a petite woman is great sometimes!), and - thanks to accidentally learning with a leaky mask - I am a master at mask clearing!
Buoyancy and trim, I think, are a given to work on....working out my weighting has helped (I was definitely way overweighted in my class; it took some encouraging from other fellow divers to feel comfortable ditching a lot of that weight). I try to practice this when I'm in the water, but it's hard without feedback to know what I need to work on/what's improving.
Navigation is scary and hopeless. I still feel like I rely on more experienced buddies when doing anything more than a straightforward anchor dive, and I'd like that to change.
Finally, equalization....I can equalize okay but it takes me longer than others, and requires more conscious thought and effort than I would like (I do practice on land, but it's not the same as practicing underwater while descending). Valsalva doesn't work great for me, so I've been experimenting with other techniques, with varying success.
There's a lot more of course (I'd like to practice more drills, esp for equipment malfunctions like manual BC inflation/free-flowing regulator, etc), but those are the three core topics that I really feel I could have used a ton more work on. On the flip side, I'm pretty happy with my air consumption (being a petite woman is great sometimes!), and - thanks to accidentally learning with a leaky mask - I am a master at mask clearing!
Cool thread-Im following with interest.
The one thing I work on the most is SAC rate... That comes with good buoyancy control, trim, and overall comfort in the water. If you can perform skills in a shallow pool while holding your breath like a skin diving bailout it will help with overall comfort in the water which will help with how much air you will use while diving. perform all of your basic OW skills while neutrally buoyant instead of kneeling on the bottom.
MelasLithos
Contributor
As a fairly new diver (certified in November 2015), what I want to improve first and foremost is trim and buoyancy. Even though my instructor did talk about buoyancy a lot, I think 4 dives is too short for it to become really "natural". So I have been focusing mostly on this in my following dives, and for my next trip, I'd like to take a Peak Performance Buoyancy class.
Other thing I wish was easier is equalisation. I am really slow to equalize, but I've noticed it's getting easier and easier. Once, I even stumbled quite randomly on a jaw move that allowed me to equilize without pinching my nose/blowing/swallowing. Unfortunately, it was on my last dive, and I didn't have much time to train more with that. I hope it'll work again next time I'll go diving.
Last thing I wish could have been mentionned, or even learned, during my OW water class is alternative finning technique. I think I'll probably mention this to my AOW instructor when I get there.
Other thing I wish was easier is equalisation. I am really slow to equalize, but I've noticed it's getting easier and easier. Once, I even stumbled quite randomly on a jaw move that allowed me to equilize without pinching my nose/blowing/swallowing. Unfortunately, it was on my last dive, and I didn't have much time to train more with that. I hope it'll work again next time I'll go diving.
Last thing I wish could have been mentionned, or even learned, during my OW water class is alternative finning technique. I think I'll probably mention this to my AOW instructor when I get there.
mattia_v
Contributor
These things go together, really. It gets better with practice though!
Honestly, unless you're grimacing or making weird face that distort the seal all the time (or laughing at things under water; usually how I 'spring a leak'), this probably simply means you need to find a mask that fits you better.
Not quite sure what you want to achieve here...inflation is simple enough (press a button) - whether or not you need to inflate under water (for me, when I'm trimmed out properly, this means nothing more than a very short burst of air) depends solely on your bouyancy and trim. You should really never have to fully inflate your BC under water, all you risk is a very fast, dangerous, uncontrolled ascent. BCD inflation at the surface is just pressing the inflate button. And keeping your regulator in your mouth and mask on.[/quote][/QUOTE]
Last edited:
Similar threads
