Zellet grows up

Sorry I didn't get this out sooner but I want all to know how Zellet handled his getting certified, thus making me a proud father yet again...


to cut to the meat of the story

we met with 3 other students at the lake and with a 2 piece 7mill wetsuit and 18 pounds of weight. The 4 did their first dive pretty much arm in arm as the viz really sucked bad... I followed close behind while dodging tree branches and crappie hotels....

for the second dive after only a 30 minute mostly in water break they started the second dive, by doing a tired diver tow and Zellet did good to the dive flag where the decents would be done did the Ok, Ok to go down and started decending at about oh 10 feet stopped gave the something wrong signal and asked to go up... I was still up on the surface and was able to ask Zellet what was the matter he was sick at his stomache so with the aborted dive I as his Father stayed with him on the surface taking off his weight belt making him VERY bouyant and allowing him to actually take a nap..he was so tired that he was sick...

I made arrangements with the FANTASTIC Instructor to come back the next morning a little earlier to let Zellet get caught up.

the next morning I found that his weight belt was unbalanced mix matched lead, we had also gotten a better fitting BC. we all suited up where by accident Zellet dragged his Reg in the sand causing a free flow after a quick clean started out to the dive bouy where ZELLET then said he was uncomfortable diving today... Dive aborted... we made our way back to the shore where as Father and Son did some snorkling, and talking

we decided that there were 5 things that made him uncomfortable

1 the BC didn't have a shoulder strap and continued to ride...
2 the mask leaks, I had a spare that he used while snorkling.
3 The 2 peice suit took alot of effort to move around in and felt constricted
4 the regulator had sand
5 The water was COLD.

4 of the 5 can be fixed anytime and when the water warms up to a temp that Zellet has been acustomed to will finish his diving certification

the thing that made me the proudest was his COMMUNICATION

and that when I told him of all the trouble I had to get certified said that's ok I won't take that long.....

Sounds to me that you both deserve a big ! I have seen so many parents try to 'encourage' their child to "buck up and take it", "it's only a few dives", "you can do it", and even "Don't you dare embarrass me." Can you imagine that?

Kudos to you for your understanding, patience and parenting style. Kudos to Zellet for his honesty. I wish all parents/children felt as comfortable with each other.

Like he will be great.

He knows to call it if it ain't right. A lot of folks never figure that out.

You are going to have a great buddy there.

Chad

You have a good son.... and he has a good dad.... we're proud of you both.

Cool

Thats a good positive story. How many stories have we all heard about the diver who became fustrated and gave up, never to try diving again. All because they tried to just push on through with problems never understanding why they have the problem or how to correctly address the problem. You son shows a clearer level of understanding and muturity to abort the dive and address the problems than most would expect of a new diver. He will be a better diver for waiting to get certified. How many just drive on and accept problems as par for the course on normal never knowing or suspecting there is a problem.

My sister tried her hand at diving before I did. She didn't plan it well or take it serious enough and washed out nerver to try again. She did well in the pool but was takeing the class in Feb and she should have considered the water temps in her planning. She was warned the water was very cold and was recomended for her to wait till the water was warmer. She is overweight and would be hard to properly fit for a wetsuit with enough thermal protection for the season she was in. Being stuborn and hardheaded She took her open water portion of the class in the dead of winter, Waited to long to get fitted for a wetsuit so had a poor fitting one (because all the rest were gone and was the only one left she could get in). On top of that she lied about being asmatic. Uncomfortable, Cold and restricted by the ill-fitting suit just before the decent she had an asma attack and had to be helped back to shore. The instructor learning he had be misled (outright lied to is a better description) on her medical condition told her that was it, class over for her until she could be medicaly certified and would take diving more seriously. To this day she won't admit the real cause of her not being certified. She is in her fourties and didn't learn a bit from her experiance. I only know the real story because her instructor is now my Bro-Inlaw

Kudo's to both of you

geek