Steve Bogaerts on Diving

What Do You Think the Biggest Problem in Cave Diving Is Today? What Should We Do About It?

The biggest problem I see is the “too far, too deep, too soon” syndrome.

Too many divers are in too much of a rush to move to the next level without gaining sufficient experience first, or to buy the next new toy or to get to the back of the cave or the bottom of the pit.

My advice is to slow down and take your time.
There is no substitute for experience and time spent in the water diving.
When faced with a difficult situation that experience is really going to make all the difference to the outcome.

Also unfortunately I see a lot of impact in the caves here caused by divers who do not have the skills, experience or awareness to be diving safely where they are.

Get properly trained.
Search out an experienced, knowledgeable instructor who is actively doing the type of diving you wish to learn.
Taking training from a good Instructor will distill into a few days’ years of experience and advance your diving accordingly.
However taking a course is just the first step in the learning process.

After the course you need to go out diving and practice what you have been taught and build up your own personal experience bit by bit.

The cave is not going anywhere and will be waiting for you when you are ready to dive it safely and in conservation minded fashion.

Click to expand...

What Would You Like to See Perspective Students Do to Prepare for Your Courses?

Go diving; time spent in the water is invaluable.

You cannot learn to dive from a book or on the internet you need to put the theory into practice and get wet.

Also work on general all round fitness and watermanship abilities.

Work on the essential skills: buoyancy, trim, propulsion techniques and all round awareness.

You cannot add more complex skills until the basics have been mastered.

If you can comfortably hold your position trimmed horizontally at any depth in the water column and can fine tune it with precise fin movements and buoyancy control using lung volume then that will make everything else so much easier…………including my job as your Instructor!

Click to expand...

What Do You Suggest Divers Who Do Not Have Regular Access to Caves Do to Remain Prepared for Cave Diving?

Go diving.
There is no substitute for time spent in the water.
If you don’t have access to cave diving where you are then go open water diving.
If you can’t dive in the open water due to the weather then dive in a pool.

The most important thing is to get wet and practice the basics.

In fact as the cave environment is both unforgiving and fragile it is not really the best place to be learning and practicing new skills.

New skills should be practiced and perfected in the open water before entering the cave environment to protect both the diver and the cave.

When learning or practicing skills keep it simple, just do one thing at a time.
Make sure you understand exactly what you are trying to achieve and break complex skills down into their component parts.

Mentally visualize what you want to do and all the steps required for completing each skill.
Make sure you have a clearly defined sequence or structure to work through and follow that each time you perform a skill in order to build up and reinforce muscle memory.

Do not try and rush your skill execution “slow is smooth and smooth is fast”.
As you practice your execution will become smoother and more efficient, you will build up muscle memory and the speed will come.

Core skills must be mastered before more advanced skills can be.
When adding more advanced skills they should build on solid core skills in a logical, systematic fashion.

One important point to remember is that practice only makes permanent. Only perfect practice makes perfect!

Make sure that you are practicing the skills correctly otherwise you are reinforcing errors.
This is the main reason for getting instruction from a qualified, experienced Instructor so that you learn the skills correctly in the first place.

Once you have that basic grounding then feedback while you practice independently is very valuable.

One of the best feedback tools is video. Get a buddy to video tape you while you dive then review and critique the video.

Click to expand...

Which Drills Do You Think Are the Most Import to Perform for Back Mount and Side Mount Divers to Practice?

They are all important.

Every dive should be a learning experience.
Spend a little time after each dive you make and critique it.

Seek to improve all your essential skills (buoyancy, trim, propulsion techniques and awareness) every time you dive.

Practice at least one of the basic self rescue and survival skills that you have been taught during previous courses at some point on every dive.

Identify your weak points and turn them into strengths.

Practice the skills you don’t like most as these are probably your weakest ones hence your dislike of them.

Click to expand...

Is There Anything else You Would Like to Say?

The Mind is the key.
Once you have mastered the basics then being a good diver is 100% mental.

The most important thing is to treat every dive you make as a learning experience and take some lessons home from it.
Always seek to improve.
Every time I reach a certain level in my diving I realize that there is still so much more to do.
I am always seeking the perfect dive.
I have never done it and I never will but I keep trying and I enjoy trying to perfect my technique.

Have fun, be safe, keep an open mind, keep learning, keep practicing and I hope to see you underwater some day.

Click to expand...

DCBC:

I think that every dive I walk away from, without injury or the death of a diver is a perfect dive.

Click to expand...

Practice the skills you don’t like most as these are probably your weakest ones hence your dislike of them.

Click to expand...