lv2dive
Formerly known as KatePNAtl
So I have been fairly immersed in GUE-thinking recently: over the course of two months, I've taken 2 fundies classes (class report/s in the works) and a drysuit class. I started training with GUE with the primary goal of improving my skills as a diver, and while I had an open mind and expected to learn about the background behind the philosophies, I didn't expect to "buy into" most of the concepts (especially gear standardization). Now, I'm not saying that I've reached the point where I 100% buy into everything I've been taught, but without a doubt, the education I've received has changed the way I think.
And, that can be annoying. It's one thing to make decisions based on ignorance, quite another to have the knowledge to realize that choices I make may impact my safety - however marginally - and realize that I can't make in good conscience make those choices anymore.
Which brings me to this weekend. I am visiting my parents in Morehead City, NC. The last few times I've visited I haven't been able to get in the water and it has felt almost sacrilegious. I didn't think I could be in MHC again without paying my respects to the graveyard of the Atlantic. Luckily my parents are as understanding as they can be of my need to indulge my passion, even when it means I'll be spending a big chunk of my visit away from them. Now, this is a short trip - I flew down Thursday night and am flying back home early Monday morning. The water offshore is warming up but I wasn't planning on trying to dive wet. So when it came to packing, I had one checked bag taken up by my drysuit. Working "from home" Friday meant one carryon bag was my backpack with my files and work computer (as well as personal computer). I wanted to bring my camera and my light, so with my regs, that pretty much took up another carryon. By this time I'm thinking, how can I minimize my luggage? It occurred to me that I should dive my Zuma I've got this perfectly serviceable minimalist back inflate travel BC. Lots of advantages: A) I won't have to deal with re-configuring my BP/W for singles B) much less weight and C) I've barely used it! Well it sounded like a great plan. I packed it.
Then Thursday at work I started to noodle on my BCD selection
My thought process went something like this: I am going to be diving a single tank when I am used to diving doubles . I probably need to be keeping a sharper eye on my gas, and where am I going to clip off the SPG to do that?
I think there is plastic D-ish ring on the left front of the jacket, but that's not where my muscle memory is. And where are my backup lights going? :depressed: I know there aren't shoulder D-rings on the Zuma. Not that I should need the backup lights, this is ocean/wreck diving with light if any penetration, but I used to carry a light on a lanyard on my wrist and *that* isn't gonna happen. I guess I could put one in a drysuit pocket and one in the Zuma pocket. Suddenly this Zuma solution isn't looking quite as attractive as it had been.
And then I really started thinking about the dive. Make no mistake, I have no qualms diving NC, been doing so for about a decade. But I realize there are few things I should probably take into consideration this weekend. I've been diving doubles exclusively for four-five months and I'm diving a single this weekend. I'm new to drysuits and although I've got 30 or so dives in mine, the vast majority of my dives have been in fresh water.
At this point I start to realize that the the cost benefit of the Zuma vs the BP/W just isn't there. I'd be introducing unnecessary elements of change to a dive that already has enough deltas to deal with. Not that anything I've noted is that significant. In fact, three months ago I would have taken the Zuma and not thought about it twice. And I am sure that I would have had a safe, fun, enjoyable dive. But what if it was the one time out of thousand that something went wrong? Wouldn't it be better to have the kit with which I'm more intimately familiar? So although I felt "pouty" about it, I did the right thing and went home and replaced the Zuma with the BP/W.
When I was a kid my parents told me not to touch the stove. When anyone told me not to do something, I had a tendency to want to do it. But my parents were smart, they told me *why* I shouldn't touch the stove. So over time, as I was inclined to touch the stove, I thought about it and decided not to. I was reminded of the stove in this situation .a kid can touch a stove 998 times without being burned, but the 999th time, when it's on, it will burn him. Why touch the stove when you know there's a better option? I feel like I backed away from the stove, and walked over to the refrigerator and poured myself some koolaid and sipped it. My choice, because it made sense. Wasn't what I *wanted* to do, but it was the right thing to do, given the situation. Sometimes it's not the big things you take away from classes, it's all the little things that you absorb/learn without realizing it.
klp
(and as a side note - the dives ended up great today... well the viz on the first one (Schurz) left something to be desired, but the Spar delivered as always! I'll try to put together a quick trip report, but I'll just say quickly, I had a great time as expected with Tortuga Charters. Couldn't have asked for a more friendly or professional dive op, and really enjoyed the other divers as well).
And, that can be annoying. It's one thing to make decisions based on ignorance, quite another to have the knowledge to realize that choices I make may impact my safety - however marginally - and realize that I can't make in good conscience make those choices anymore.
Which brings me to this weekend. I am visiting my parents in Morehead City, NC. The last few times I've visited I haven't been able to get in the water and it has felt almost sacrilegious. I didn't think I could be in MHC again without paying my respects to the graveyard of the Atlantic. Luckily my parents are as understanding as they can be of my need to indulge my passion, even when it means I'll be spending a big chunk of my visit away from them. Now, this is a short trip - I flew down Thursday night and am flying back home early Monday morning. The water offshore is warming up but I wasn't planning on trying to dive wet. So when it came to packing, I had one checked bag taken up by my drysuit. Working "from home" Friday meant one carryon bag was my backpack with my files and work computer (as well as personal computer). I wanted to bring my camera and my light, so with my regs, that pretty much took up another carryon. By this time I'm thinking, how can I minimize my luggage? It occurred to me that I should dive my Zuma I've got this perfectly serviceable minimalist back inflate travel BC. Lots of advantages: A) I won't have to deal with re-configuring my BP/W for singles B) much less weight and C) I've barely used it! Well it sounded like a great plan. I packed it.
Then Thursday at work I started to noodle on my BCD selection
My thought process went something like this: I am going to be diving a single tank when I am used to diving doubles . I probably need to be keeping a sharper eye on my gas, and where am I going to clip off the SPG to do that?
I think there is plastic D-ish ring on the left front of the jacket, but that's not where my muscle memory is. And where are my backup lights going? :depressed: I know there aren't shoulder D-rings on the Zuma. Not that I should need the backup lights, this is ocean/wreck diving with light if any penetration, but I used to carry a light on a lanyard on my wrist and *that* isn't gonna happen. I guess I could put one in a drysuit pocket and one in the Zuma pocket. Suddenly this Zuma solution isn't looking quite as attractive as it had been. And then I really started thinking about the dive. Make no mistake, I have no qualms diving NC, been doing so for about a decade. But I realize there are few things I should probably take into consideration this weekend. I've been diving doubles exclusively for four-five months and I'm diving a single this weekend. I'm new to drysuits and although I've got 30 or so dives in mine, the vast majority of my dives have been in fresh water.
At this point I start to realize that the the cost benefit of the Zuma vs the BP/W just isn't there.
I'd be introducing unnecessary elements of change to a dive that already has enough deltas to deal with. Not that anything I've noted is that significant. In fact, three months ago I would have taken the Zuma and not thought about it twice. And I am sure that I would have had a safe, fun, enjoyable dive. But what if it was the one time out of thousand that something went wrong? Wouldn't it be better to have the kit with which I'm more intimately familiar? So although I felt "pouty" about it, I did the right thing and went home and replaced the Zuma with the BP/W. When I was a kid my parents told me not to touch the stove. When anyone told me not to do something, I had a tendency to want to do it. But my parents were smart, they told me *why* I shouldn't touch the stove. So over time, as I was inclined to touch the stove, I thought about it and decided not to. I was reminded of the stove in this situation .a kid can touch a stove 998 times without being burned, but the 999th time, when it's on, it will burn him. Why touch the stove when you know there's a better option? I feel like I backed away from the stove, and walked over to the refrigerator and poured myself some koolaid and sipped it. My choice, because it made sense. Wasn't what I *wanted* to do, but it was the right thing to do, given the situation. Sometimes it's not the big things you take away from classes, it's all the little things that you absorb/learn without realizing it.
klp
(and as a side note - the dives ended up great today... well the viz on the first one (Schurz) left something to be desired, but the Spar delivered as always! I'll try to put together a quick trip report, but I'll just say quickly, I had a great time as expected with Tortuga Charters. Couldn't have asked for a more friendly or professional dive op, and really enjoyed the other divers as well).
