TX101
Contributor
Firstly, A bit of background.. I've completed PADI OW, AOW, Drysuit & TDI Nitrox. This year Im looking at doing Rescue & TDI Adv. Nitrox. Currently, I have around 50 dives and have been diving nearly a year. All my training and most of my diving has been in the UK. This means cold water, low/zero vis, thick gloves and hoods.
At around 25 dives, I had completed AOW. My wife had also been doing her pool dives here in the UK and every time she went to the pool (around 6 session in total) I had also went with my own gear and practiced basic skills in midwater - air on/off, switching regs, mask remove/replace, getting trim & weighting done perfectly, etc. All these dives were in a drysuit and I don't log my pool dives. I have been swimming since the age of 5 and am very comfortable in the water.
So, I went back to australia (Im an aussie) for christmas and did around 10 dives on the GBR. The dives were great. I only wore shorts & t-shirt, 4lbs of lead, scuba unit, fins & mask. It was like wearing nothing at all and it took no time to gear up.
So, getting back to the UK, the first few dives I was *all over the place*. Id jump in & forget to connect the drysuit inflator. My bouyancy sucked. I had to wear 8-10kg of lead again (18-22lbs). This was also compounded by the fact that soon after returning I bought a twinset, backplate & wing and have been sorting that out (as an aside: I don't think it's much better than a jacket bcd - if at all, but thats another thread). I have put around 10 dives and 3 pool sessions on the twinset so far.
The point of the whole post is this: I think I had better skills & buoyancy control at 25 dives than I do at 50. Going to Australia and diving in warm water, excellent vis and no drysuit was too easy. Perhaps I picked up some bad habits..
So is # of dives a good way to measure skill?
At around 25 dives, I had completed AOW. My wife had also been doing her pool dives here in the UK and every time she went to the pool (around 6 session in total) I had also went with my own gear and practiced basic skills in midwater - air on/off, switching regs, mask remove/replace, getting trim & weighting done perfectly, etc. All these dives were in a drysuit and I don't log my pool dives. I have been swimming since the age of 5 and am very comfortable in the water.
So, I went back to australia (Im an aussie) for christmas and did around 10 dives on the GBR. The dives were great. I only wore shorts & t-shirt, 4lbs of lead, scuba unit, fins & mask. It was like wearing nothing at all and it took no time to gear up.
So, getting back to the UK, the first few dives I was *all over the place*. Id jump in & forget to connect the drysuit inflator. My bouyancy sucked. I had to wear 8-10kg of lead again (18-22lbs). This was also compounded by the fact that soon after returning I bought a twinset, backplate & wing and have been sorting that out (as an aside: I don't think it's much better than a jacket bcd - if at all, but thats another thread). I have put around 10 dives and 3 pool sessions on the twinset so far.
The point of the whole post is this: I think I had better skills & buoyancy control at 25 dives than I do at 50. Going to Australia and diving in warm water, excellent vis and no drysuit was too easy. Perhaps I picked up some bad habits..
So is # of dives a good way to measure skill?