Shore / Beach Dive: Entry Techniques

[Mo2vation]

You've gotten lots of great advice, so I have only a few things to add.

I'm something of an airhog, so to me the distinction between having your reg in your mouth and actually breathing from your tank is an important one. It's always in place as I enter the water, but I breathe around it until/unless the water level dictates otherwise. I just can't afford to empty my tank even a little bit quicker than I really need to.

It occurs to me as I type this that I can't remember ever discussing this with anyone, so maybe there's some hazard to doing as I described that I'm overlooking. I guess my statement should be taken as mentioning a technique that's worked for me rather than advice.


Adam

You don't got to be breathing off of it... I rarely do. But I got it in my teefies just in case.

I'm sure glad I did tonight. I got a facial in the way in, and then a complete Daffy Duck on the way out.

[soapbox] This is another example of the DIR rig just working. I clip off the long hose on surf entry, tuck in the light cord and have the bungee back up (which happens to be perfectly placed) in my pie hole as I plow in through any surf bigger than ankle slappers. [/soapbox]

Adam is quite comfy in the surf. He and I have had a couple of hairy exits at the end of long dives. Dude is rock solid in the surf.

To me, one of the most important things is to keep your head together as you're going sky-sand-sky-sand... I mean, its easy to want to fight it, swim in it, sit down or what ever.

At Vets there are no rocks. Its sand. SAND. No biggie. Keep it together. The worst thing that can happen is you crawl out, reg in mouth, mask on. Surf will pound your back, but it will push you in to shore. You won't get hurt if you get on all fours and crawl out.

I have crawled out a zillion times. No shame in that. Keep it together, keep your gas flowing, mask on and head pointed towards shore. You will get out through most any sand exit.

---
Ken

 

[im_a_piranha]

Chris, here is an article that may help you as well with beach dives. It's a great article especially for us here in California.

Here's the article: http://www.scubadiving.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=3100

Hope this helps!