Preparations for Basic Cave

[xiSkiGuy]

I took my Cavern Course this past April and I'm scheduled to take Basic Cave in about a month. I'll be taking the class with an unfamiliar dive buddy (also Cavern certified), and as such we have agreed to do some warm up/practice dives in the interim. Aside from S-drills, what skills would be beneficial for us to practice, both to gain a familiarity with each other and to be better prepared for Basic Cave?

[Jason B]

I'd say some touch contact line following while air sharing.

[loosebits]

Well, to work well as a team you need to make sure you are on the same page as far as communication. You also need to figure out what the guy with the reel expects of the #2 diver as far as freeing wraps, placements, etc. Also, you should get a handle on each others attrentiveness. Cover your light and see how long it takes your buddy to notice.

Other skills I'd practice (that don't really have anything to do with having a new buddy) are lost line/lost buddy (in OW of course), valve drills (you'll be on doubles or an H). And obviously general reel work.

[H2Andy]

do anything at all, just make sure to constantly task-load yourself, and manage your bouyancy while task-loaded.

if you can keep your bouyancy while task loaded, you will be able to do any skill

[scubafool]

What everyone else has said. Also practice lost line without a mask. Mark your line gear (reels, spools, arrows, and cookies) with tactile (touch) marks that are different from your buddy's markings. This comes in handy when doing a lights out exit, so that you can be sure that the line that you end up following is actually yours. Lots and lots of reelwork, working as a team. Practice breaking out your backup lights. And like Andy said, try to do all of this while maintaining neutral bouyancy.

[loosebits]

Oh yes, forgot that, mark those reels, arrows, cookies, whatever. Mui importante.

[theskull]

Buoyancy control, frog kick, modified frog, modified flutter.
Tieing off and retrieving reel while hovering in head-slightly-down position.
Signals! Use of light to keep buddy aware of where you are. Looking back between your legs to see buddy and receive signals from him.

theskull

[GDI]

Lets me see:

communication - lights , hand, touch, line arrows and markers
buoyancy while task loaded
time management
gas management
depth management
team management
equipment failures
lost line
lost diver
lost viz
touch contact
ooa touch contact
ooa with light
ooa no lights
ooa - initated sharing in a no light situation
lost of primary light
entangled diver
broken line
equipment familiarization -deploy and restow equipment (lights, cutting tools, reels, arrows and non-directional markers)
valve drills
frog/modified flutter kicks
pull and glide
reel work
wraps and placements
cave awareness techniques - lines, and configuration
high flow and no flow managemnt


Does this help you out with what to practice before cave?

[PerroneFord]

LOL!!

Rick, I gotta take a class with you one day! You keep showing up everywhere I train...

[xiSkiGuy]

Lets me see:

communication - lights , hand, touch, line arrows and markers
buoyancy while task loaded
time management
gas management
depth management
team management
equipment failures
lost line
lost diver
lost viz
touch contact
ooa touch contact
ooa with light
ooa no lights
ooa - initated sharing in a no light situation
lost of primary light
entangled diver
broken line
equipment familiarization -deploy and restow equipment (lights, cutting tools, reels, arrows and non-directional markers)
valve drills
frog/modified flutter kicks
pull and glide
reel work
wraps and placements
cave awareness techniques - lines, and configuration
high flow and no flow managemnt


Does this help you out with what to practice before cave?

Thanks, Rick. We should be able to knock that out in 10 or 15 minutes, right? Right?


Thanks to everybody for the suggestions. I've got alot to practice between now and the class.