I always try to learn something new every dive. I knew this trip would be special, as I was focused on taking a very business-like approach to today's dives. Objectives were clearly outlined, measures of success clearly defined - it was either going to rock, or suck - but it was surely going to be a learning experience.
As a musician, I can appreciate the value of practice. I can rehearse all I want, and it will make the ensemble tighter, but it will do little to elevate my personal contribution to the group. I can perform show after show, in front of tens of thousands of people - and while its a rush, and makes the group better, it too will do little to improve my individual skill set. I need to set aside focused, dedicated time just for practice - me and the click track, doing drills over and over and over again, by myself.
ALL of my diving (can I say, all of many people's diving) is spent in rehearsal or performance - the objectives are simply touring, sight seeing, etc. That's cool - I love that, too. But I know that my essential skills and growth as a diver will be glacial without a balance of practice between performances/leisure dives.
Today was practice. My first dedicated practice dives. Working on skills - not touring, not sightseeing - practice. And you know what? It was luxurious. I had a great buddy who was there for the same thing, and we just drilled our cylinders near dry, then got back in and did it again. I will surely be going this more often...I was able to see his improvement (and feel my own) as we focused and practiced. it was glorious.
Objectives:
1) I had some new gear to try out.
2) I had some practice I wanted to do (for upcoming DIR/F)
3) I had a new buddy I wanted to dive with
Measures of Success:
1) Come back alive (always at the top of the list...)
2) Get comfortable with new gear (location, use, stowing, etc.)
3) Successfully execute the 5 Kicks
4) Verify correct weighting
5) Practice Horizontal Ascent
6) Work on trim and buoyancy control
New Gear Tryout day:
* Helios 4.5 10w HID Light
* Oceanic Mini-Shadow Mask (put my beloved SeaVision in the pocket...)
* OMS SPG
* Overrated Scout Light
* Turtle Fins with Spring Straps
* Wet Notes
* EMS Shears
Objective Eval:
1) Gear Tryout
LIGHT - The day was perfect for the light tryout. The Avalon Dive Park on Catalina was in Post-Storm - so there was a lot of flotsam in the water... Vis wasn't bad, just hazy. What a pencil beam. Wound be great for buddy confirmation and signaling, for sure. I'm sure the suspended stuff added to the effect, but it was amazing. In flood it was wide and in spot it was a javelin. Very pleased. No issues, no flood (!) all is well. I had to drip it a bit (slide UP the bands) as I couldn't reach it at first. Its still hard to reach, but like everything else in this DIR rig, it requires a degree of flexibility and muscle memory to operate. With my mask clearing issues (below) and the fact that I still use a computer on a retractor clipped off a D-ring between my knife and ACB on the left, the beam was flashing and flying all over the place as I reached up to clear the mask, reached down to grab the computer, etc...I'm sure I looked like that BladeRunner floating Billboard - with beams flying around all over the place... too funny. On the left hand is cool. Reaching for my computer every few minutes with that hand is not cool...I'm growing wearier of that brain-rotting mini-brick with each dive.
Mini-Shadow Mask - Cool mask. I forget to give it the once through with SoftScrub/toothpaste etc. So I spit, rinsed, scrubbed and did my best to get all that releasing agent off the glass. I also forgot to shave under the nose this AM to assure a good seal. It fogged, and I was clearing it a lot. Near the end of dive 1, I had had enough and did an underwater mask switchola back to the Seavision. It was strange, diving with a clear mask (hadn't dived clear since 1999).... it was OK. I like that mask - I just need to prep it right and shave next time. SeaVision sealed up fine, even with the beard. That mask just fits.
OMS SPG - after using my Data Trans+ for so many years, its weird looking at an analog anything... took awhile to get used to it. Do you guys unclip it to view it? What a pain...I just sort of pull it over and let the bungee-ed D-ring slide up the hose. I get a good look without having to unclip and re-clip left-handed every time. Despite my best intentions to use that as my primary SPG, it was just too cumbersome using THAT for my pressure, then going to the Data Trans+ for time remaining, etc... I need to get my Data Trans+ off the retractor and onto the wrist soon. I wish it had a gauge mode. Oh well. Bottom Timer soon.
Overrated Scout Light - turned it on and it failed. OK - I'm kidding. It was perfect and did what it does. Boring, reliable, etc. It'll stick around for a while.
Turtle Fins - I am SOOOO BUMMED. I am in that nebulous no-man's land of in-between acceptable foot sizes. It sucks. A size 9 DUI Rock Boot is too large for an XL ScubaPro jet fin, and just too small for a Turtle. There is some wobble - its not significant, but its noticeable. Its bugging me. I either ditch the rock boots, and go to Turbo Soles and ScubaPro Jets, or I get used to the small fin shifting. MEMO TO ALL: Turtles are probably great from size 10 - 12+....if you're an 8 or 9 Rock Boot, stop kidding yourself...they're too big. These were the first paddle-fin dives for me in well over 2 years. I forgot what a difference there is. Honestly - a big difference. I liked them. I mean, fins are fins at the end of the day - and I really liked these. I haven't checked SAC yet so see if I sky rocketed (the only negative I can possibly imagine) but overall, very nice. I guess the difference was this: When I needed power, I got power. A V6 is nice, but these deliver the V8 power, you know? When I really leaned into them, I was motoring and moving a lot of water. There was a lot of surge today, and I needed a push to go that last little bit to make a clean exit. I reached down. really dug into the fins and they responded with the power I needed to push through the outgoing rush and get to the rock to exit. I was pleased. I also liked the burn in my quads....maybe I'm sick that way - but I've been hitting the gym 3X weekly lately, and it felt good to really push the fins, and feel them push back.
WetNotes - this thing RULES. What was I thinking all these years with that Big A$$ Quest mag slate? Jotting notes down during the dive (work on this, remember that, etc.) was very nice. At COVCI WetNotes are about 1/3 the price of the Quest, I can get a lot more info on a page, the notebook is "wafer thin", I can write smaller, erase (sort of) and besides - how cool is it to write on paper underwater with a mechanical pencil??!! They are high-contrast, easy to use, easy to read, and have the inherent "wow" factor. I highly recommend them. Two thumbs, way up.
EMS shears - OK...they're shears. But I wanted to try out my fly deployment method. Perfect. Very pleased. I pray I never need them.
Measures of Success
So how'd I do?
1) Come back alive (always at the top of the list...)
I did. Always makes for a better trip.
2) Get comfortable with new gear (location, use, stowing, etc.)
Lowered the light, got used to clipping and unclipping the lighthead, switching hands, changing the beam, etc. Mask would have worked if I werent a big dork. The SPG is just so much window dressing until I get the rest of the components in place - BUT I did get better as I went on at estimating remaining gas. I've always been good with my own cylinder (PST HP100)...but on dive two I dove with a new cylinder for me...an ancient LP73. THAT threw me for a little loop.... I got in the groove at the end of the dive, and realized that I've been so close on estimating consumption for my HP100 because I'm using a TIME-based estimation (I know how long it will last, and I've been doing a countdown in my head...I am very good at estimating elapsed time) and not doing a VOLUME-based usage estimation. I know some of you will know what I mean....I need to move away from my current TIME-based gas consumption estimate and move to a VOLUME-based consumption estimate so I can be accurate on any cylinder I may find myself diving. You guys (and gals) that dive a multitude of rigs (AL80's, 73's, HP100's, 127's, doubles, etc...) have likely become more in tune with Volume-based consumption estimates. I dive the same rig 99% of the time...so I've gotten lazy and have been using time and translating that in my head. Of course, that would be fine if exertion levels, depth, etc. were constant. I don't want to turn this into a tech thread - I need work in this area, I know it, I'm on it. Other gear was fine.
3) Successfully execute the 5 Kicks
Flutter, Mod Flutter, Frog, Helicopter Turns - all no brainers. Left turn, right turn, no hands, no worries. I've never seen the right way, so I can't speak to the correctness of my execution, but I could spin left, spin right hands free without rising or sinking. Back kick I couldn't get. I thought I had it dialed, I got in the water and couldn't deliver. I'm going to the in-laws this week to park my grill on the wall of their pool, and try, try, try until I stop mashing my dome into the coping. Call me flattop, because if today was any indication, its probably gonna be awhile. None of the kicks were pretty, but I did them as close to the bottom (6" - 10") as I could, and I wasn't bouncing off the bottom and when I looked behind me, there was no dust cloud. I may fold when the camera is rolling (may...more like probably) but I was not unpleased with this. I'd give myself a C
4) Verify correct weighting
No chance to. The brightstar at the fill station at the Casino wouldn't fill my HP100 - so I had to rent the 72. I wasn't about to drain it to 500 and try to hold at 10' on a rental. More on that clown in another thread. He said he wouldn't fill a nitrox tank, as then his entire system would now have my nitrox in it.... I've been filling this cylinder there for 5 years. As late as a week ago. Whatever.
5) Practice Horizontal Ascent
Horizontal descent is a no brainer. Horizontal ascent is harder. I get it OK...it was tough balancing filling (to get lift and momentum) with dumping (as gas expanded so I didn't become rocket man)...I liked it. I did two, but I need to drill more on that.
6) Work on trim and buoyancy control
I had fun with this. But the $@%# 72 was throwing me. I needed to grab a few rocks for the belt. This exercise was not a complete bust, but I could have been better. In the 35 minutes of drilling on dive #2, I could feel me improve on this, as I inched closer to the bottom, arched back and bent knees and was able to go worm-burning along....without the cloud. I want to work on this some more. I'd give myself a C- on this. Again, I hope I don't fold when the camera is rolling...my back kicking will likely be comedy hour enough for the team!
Lots learned. One of the most important things was I learned that practice, even a couple of dives of focused practice, will yield improvement on those dives. I'm confident I need many, many more practice dives to see lasting improvement, but it was very cool to see it after an hour.
My buddy, Doug was the bomb. He lurks around these parts sometimes - Doug, if you're here - thanks a ton. It takes a special kind of buddy to hang out while I spin around and writhe about the place, write a few notes, then spin around some more....thanks for being there.
I'm going to the Tank room to talk about the reverse Nitrox Narcosis the fill guy was selling me today...as he was reading Sun Tzu's "Art of War..." There's something about a fill station meathead reading TZU that just struck me as funny today....
K
As a musician, I can appreciate the value of practice. I can rehearse all I want, and it will make the ensemble tighter, but it will do little to elevate my personal contribution to the group. I can perform show after show, in front of tens of thousands of people - and while its a rush, and makes the group better, it too will do little to improve my individual skill set. I need to set aside focused, dedicated time just for practice - me and the click track, doing drills over and over and over again, by myself.
ALL of my diving (can I say, all of many people's diving) is spent in rehearsal or performance - the objectives are simply touring, sight seeing, etc. That's cool - I love that, too. But I know that my essential skills and growth as a diver will be glacial without a balance of practice between performances/leisure dives.
Today was practice. My first dedicated practice dives. Working on skills - not touring, not sightseeing - practice. And you know what? It was luxurious. I had a great buddy who was there for the same thing, and we just drilled our cylinders near dry, then got back in and did it again. I will surely be going this more often...I was able to see his improvement (and feel my own) as we focused and practiced. it was glorious.
Objectives:
1) I had some new gear to try out.
2) I had some practice I wanted to do (for upcoming DIR/F)
3) I had a new buddy I wanted to dive with
Measures of Success:
1) Come back alive (always at the top of the list...)
2) Get comfortable with new gear (location, use, stowing, etc.)
3) Successfully execute the 5 Kicks
4) Verify correct weighting
5) Practice Horizontal Ascent
6) Work on trim and buoyancy control
New Gear Tryout day:
* Helios 4.5 10w HID Light
* Oceanic Mini-Shadow Mask (put my beloved SeaVision in the pocket...)
* OMS SPG
* Overrated Scout Light
* Turtle Fins with Spring Straps
* Wet Notes
* EMS Shears
Objective Eval:
1) Gear Tryout
LIGHT - The day was perfect for the light tryout. The Avalon Dive Park on Catalina was in Post-Storm - so there was a lot of flotsam in the water... Vis wasn't bad, just hazy. What a pencil beam. Wound be great for buddy confirmation and signaling, for sure. I'm sure the suspended stuff added to the effect, but it was amazing. In flood it was wide and in spot it was a javelin. Very pleased. No issues, no flood (!) all is well. I had to drip it a bit (slide UP the bands) as I couldn't reach it at first. Its still hard to reach, but like everything else in this DIR rig, it requires a degree of flexibility and muscle memory to operate. With my mask clearing issues (below) and the fact that I still use a computer on a retractor clipped off a D-ring between my knife and ACB on the left, the beam was flashing and flying all over the place as I reached up to clear the mask, reached down to grab the computer, etc...I'm sure I looked like that BladeRunner floating Billboard - with beams flying around all over the place... too funny. On the left hand is cool. Reaching for my computer every few minutes with that hand is not cool...I'm growing wearier of that brain-rotting mini-brick with each dive.
Mini-Shadow Mask - Cool mask. I forget to give it the once through with SoftScrub/toothpaste etc. So I spit, rinsed, scrubbed and did my best to get all that releasing agent off the glass. I also forgot to shave under the nose this AM to assure a good seal. It fogged, and I was clearing it a lot. Near the end of dive 1, I had had enough and did an underwater mask switchola back to the Seavision. It was strange, diving with a clear mask (hadn't dived clear since 1999).... it was OK. I like that mask - I just need to prep it right and shave next time. SeaVision sealed up fine, even with the beard. That mask just fits.
OMS SPG - after using my Data Trans+ for so many years, its weird looking at an analog anything... took awhile to get used to it. Do you guys unclip it to view it? What a pain...I just sort of pull it over and let the bungee-ed D-ring slide up the hose. I get a good look without having to unclip and re-clip left-handed every time. Despite my best intentions to use that as my primary SPG, it was just too cumbersome using THAT for my pressure, then going to the Data Trans+ for time remaining, etc... I need to get my Data Trans+ off the retractor and onto the wrist soon. I wish it had a gauge mode. Oh well. Bottom Timer soon.
Overrated Scout Light - turned it on and it failed. OK - I'm kidding. It was perfect and did what it does. Boring, reliable, etc. It'll stick around for a while.
Turtle Fins - I am SOOOO BUMMED. I am in that nebulous no-man's land of in-between acceptable foot sizes. It sucks. A size 9 DUI Rock Boot is too large for an XL ScubaPro jet fin, and just too small for a Turtle. There is some wobble - its not significant, but its noticeable. Its bugging me. I either ditch the rock boots, and go to Turbo Soles and ScubaPro Jets, or I get used to the small fin shifting. MEMO TO ALL: Turtles are probably great from size 10 - 12+....if you're an 8 or 9 Rock Boot, stop kidding yourself...they're too big. These were the first paddle-fin dives for me in well over 2 years. I forgot what a difference there is. Honestly - a big difference. I liked them. I mean, fins are fins at the end of the day - and I really liked these. I haven't checked SAC yet so see if I sky rocketed (the only negative I can possibly imagine) but overall, very nice. I guess the difference was this: When I needed power, I got power. A V6 is nice, but these deliver the V8 power, you know? When I really leaned into them, I was motoring and moving a lot of water. There was a lot of surge today, and I needed a push to go that last little bit to make a clean exit. I reached down. really dug into the fins and they responded with the power I needed to push through the outgoing rush and get to the rock to exit. I was pleased. I also liked the burn in my quads....maybe I'm sick that way - but I've been hitting the gym 3X weekly lately, and it felt good to really push the fins, and feel them push back.
WetNotes - this thing RULES. What was I thinking all these years with that Big A$$ Quest mag slate? Jotting notes down during the dive (work on this, remember that, etc.) was very nice. At COVCI WetNotes are about 1/3 the price of the Quest, I can get a lot more info on a page, the notebook is "wafer thin", I can write smaller, erase (sort of) and besides - how cool is it to write on paper underwater with a mechanical pencil??!! They are high-contrast, easy to use, easy to read, and have the inherent "wow" factor. I highly recommend them. Two thumbs, way up.
EMS shears - OK...they're shears. But I wanted to try out my fly deployment method. Perfect. Very pleased. I pray I never need them.
Measures of Success
So how'd I do?
1) Come back alive (always at the top of the list...)
I did. Always makes for a better trip.
2) Get comfortable with new gear (location, use, stowing, etc.)
Lowered the light, got used to clipping and unclipping the lighthead, switching hands, changing the beam, etc. Mask would have worked if I werent a big dork. The SPG is just so much window dressing until I get the rest of the components in place - BUT I did get better as I went on at estimating remaining gas. I've always been good with my own cylinder (PST HP100)...but on dive two I dove with a new cylinder for me...an ancient LP73. THAT threw me for a little loop.... I got in the groove at the end of the dive, and realized that I've been so close on estimating consumption for my HP100 because I'm using a TIME-based estimation (I know how long it will last, and I've been doing a countdown in my head...I am very good at estimating elapsed time) and not doing a VOLUME-based usage estimation. I know some of you will know what I mean....I need to move away from my current TIME-based gas consumption estimate and move to a VOLUME-based consumption estimate so I can be accurate on any cylinder I may find myself diving. You guys (and gals) that dive a multitude of rigs (AL80's, 73's, HP100's, 127's, doubles, etc...) have likely become more in tune with Volume-based consumption estimates. I dive the same rig 99% of the time...so I've gotten lazy and have been using time and translating that in my head. Of course, that would be fine if exertion levels, depth, etc. were constant. I don't want to turn this into a tech thread - I need work in this area, I know it, I'm on it. Other gear was fine.
3) Successfully execute the 5 Kicks
Flutter, Mod Flutter, Frog, Helicopter Turns - all no brainers. Left turn, right turn, no hands, no worries. I've never seen the right way, so I can't speak to the correctness of my execution, but I could spin left, spin right hands free without rising or sinking. Back kick I couldn't get. I thought I had it dialed, I got in the water and couldn't deliver. I'm going to the in-laws this week to park my grill on the wall of their pool, and try, try, try until I stop mashing my dome into the coping. Call me flattop, because if today was any indication, its probably gonna be awhile. None of the kicks were pretty, but I did them as close to the bottom (6" - 10") as I could, and I wasn't bouncing off the bottom and when I looked behind me, there was no dust cloud. I may fold when the camera is rolling (may...more like probably) but I was not unpleased with this. I'd give myself a C
4) Verify correct weighting
No chance to. The brightstar at the fill station at the Casino wouldn't fill my HP100 - so I had to rent the 72. I wasn't about to drain it to 500 and try to hold at 10' on a rental. More on that clown in another thread. He said he wouldn't fill a nitrox tank, as then his entire system would now have my nitrox in it.... I've been filling this cylinder there for 5 years. As late as a week ago. Whatever.
5) Practice Horizontal Ascent
Horizontal descent is a no brainer. Horizontal ascent is harder. I get it OK...it was tough balancing filling (to get lift and momentum) with dumping (as gas expanded so I didn't become rocket man)...I liked it. I did two, but I need to drill more on that.
6) Work on trim and buoyancy control
I had fun with this. But the $@%# 72 was throwing me. I needed to grab a few rocks for the belt. This exercise was not a complete bust, but I could have been better. In the 35 minutes of drilling on dive #2, I could feel me improve on this, as I inched closer to the bottom, arched back and bent knees and was able to go worm-burning along....without the cloud. I want to work on this some more. I'd give myself a C- on this. Again, I hope I don't fold when the camera is rolling...my back kicking will likely be comedy hour enough for the team!
Lots learned. One of the most important things was I learned that practice, even a couple of dives of focused practice, will yield improvement on those dives. I'm confident I need many, many more practice dives to see lasting improvement, but it was very cool to see it after an hour.
My buddy, Doug was the bomb. He lurks around these parts sometimes - Doug, if you're here - thanks a ton. It takes a special kind of buddy to hang out while I spin around and writhe about the place, write a few notes, then spin around some more....thanks for being there.
I'm going to the Tank room to talk about the reverse Nitrox Narcosis the fill guy was selling me today...as he was reading Sun Tzu's "Art of War..." There's something about a fill station meathead reading TZU that just struck me as funny today....
K
