Navigation should be on list- on every dive. Also dive planning- every dive. Also buddy proximity and communication- every dive. Also, thorough buddy check-every dive.
DivemasterDennis
DivemasterDennis
Which skills should be practiced regularly?
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Other: What ever skill I am currently least comfortable doing is the one I practice.
Basking Ridge Diver
Contributor
Navigation may be compass work - I have my son practice compass work with Fin kicks in a box pattern. CESA - horizontal swim with the regulator out of his mouth and humming so he gets used to no regulator in his mouth and still blowing bubbles - he can replace his regulator now without worrying about how to do it when something happens for real. Oral inflation of the BC at depth - like the old days.
CT-Rich
Contributor
Diving the Northeast US, my compass is something I use every dive. I should be more conscious of numbers of fin kicks and what not, but at this stage I am pretty spot-on dead when dead reckoning distances underwater (most of the time).
Doff and don is somewhat rig dependent. If all your weight is on your BCD, taking it off might put you in an awkward situation. I always have about half my weight on my belt. and usually do it firmly on the bottom so I am less likely to be seen dangling from my rig like the Underdog balloon at the Macy's Parade.
Probably aught to practice CESA more than I have... I have a pony, an Air II, and my primary, so I am not expecting to need it.
Doff and don is somewhat rig dependent. If all your weight is on your BCD, taking it off might put you in an awkward situation. I always have about half my weight on my belt. and usually do it firmly on the bottom so I am less likely to be seen dangling from my rig like the Underdog balloon at the Macy's Parade.
Probably aught to practice CESA more than I have... I have a pony, an Air II, and my primary, so I am not expecting to need it.
billt4sf
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The "horozontal CESA" sounds like a great idea to practice
But -- can you orally inflate *AT DEPTH*?!?!? I don't think I can, at all....I didn't think it was humanly possible.
- Bill
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Yes, very easy. A couple of logical differences than at the surface-- . Take breath from reg, blow your tiny stream of bubbles when switching mouth to LPI . Wait 'til your mouth is on it before pushing the release button so no water enters BC. Release the release button before removing mouth from LPI. etc. etc.--don't let water enter the BCD. Back to reg breathing. This should have been covered in OW class when orally inflating on the bottom to do the fin pivot. It is a good skill to have. A couple of times I was doing shallow, square profile dives and my LPI hose came off. Rather than bother to re-attach it I just orally inflated if I needed to. May not be the best thing to do if you're down 100' and not 20-30'--why complicate things.
I know someone who was diving Devil's Grotto (shallow swim throughs). He got stuck in one. Had to take off his BCD to get out, then pushed his BCD through and swam through. Of course, I'm following him a bit late and all I see is his fins going through the hole... I think that he swam through so I followed. I couldn't get through...
As for a skill to practice, I like doing whatever you're uncomfortable with.
Bill, if you guys took a PADI open water class, that skill is required both in the pool and in open water.
I think it's important to task load yourself fairly frequently. I try to shoot a bag whenever the dive permits it (anything from a boat) just to practice both the skill itself, and buoyancy control and communication while task-loaded. I like to practice air-sharing from time to time, but it's gotten less frequent since I have gotten pretty solid on it as far as stability goes. However, if I don't do it for a while, I'll screw up the sequence or leave out little steps.
Mask clearing I get to do more often than I'd like. Mask remove and replacement I really see as just an extension of clearing, so I'm good with that. Taking off my gear and ditching my weights are skills I have yet to need, do not expect to need, and I choose not to practice them. I do orally inflate from time to time, but I know how to do it (brought an unconscious diver (drill) out of a cave while managing my buoyancy that way) so I'm not real worried about getting rusty.
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