Yet another beginning tech diver

[esears]

Hi all, while I'm not a long time poster, I've been reading/lurking here for about 7 months. I'm basically looking for a couple of people's opinions based on their experiences. To start with, I've only been diving for about 9 months. I'm active duty military stationed in Italy (I know, I can't believe the Government is paying me to live here), and I took up diving here with an Italian club. Language barriers aside, I've learned quite a bit in a short period of time, but never enough! I'm quite lucky I think to have a great LDS, which is extremely tech oriented. I'm also lucky enough to live within driving distance of the only GUE diving center in Italy.

My basic goals are to expand my diving abilities. I don't foresee any desire to do any cave/cavern diving, however I could see light penetration of wrecks as a possibility, which may sometimes require exceeding the Recreational "limits".

I've signed up for a GUE Fundies class this summer and had a chance to meet with my instructor and do a day's worth of diving with him prior to the course meeting. This was quite invaluable in my mind, since it really firmed up my desire to take the course, since watching him was quite amazing. I think I learned more in 20 minutes of equipment prep with him than I have in any of my previous courses. I asked him to evaluate me through both dives to find a baseline for the class.

I have decided to take the course in doubles since it was such a huge difference diving a back-inflate BCD vice a doubles wing. I have a little over 2 months to prepare for the course and have a few trips lined up before hand in order to practice with a doubles set-up.

My basic question is, knowing what you know now, is there anything else you would try to prepare for? I should have zero issues with any of the swimming tests or any of the other physical aspects. My main plan right now is just to practice with a doubles setup as much as possible in order to improve trim/bouyancy. I have no plans to try to learn any of the drills, as I would rather be taught correctly, than to start to learn bad habits.

Thanks for any advice and taking the time to read a common questions. And yes, I did read a few years worth of posts here prior to posting, which has really helped to develop my current plans.

Eric

 

[TSandM]

Congratulations! Is it Mario you're taking your class with? He has an excellent reputation.

I think the very best thing you can do in preparation for Fundamentals is work on being still, and remaining so with task-loading. You can work on the Basic Five on your own -- try to be able to do each skill slowly and smoothly, remaining at the same depth and in the same position (no happy feet!) and in eye contact with your buddy. Have your buddy give you feedback on your trim. Trim is one of the things that really tends to go to pot when people switch to doubles, because most doubles are pretty head-heavy, and folks learn to rear up to try to balance the tanks. DO a formal weight check with empty tanks (lots of people skip this) and if you need additional weight, put it where it will help you balance so that you can be easily horizontal. Then DO NOT let anyone tell you to take that weight off!

You certainly can practice REACHING your valves, even if you don't want to work on doing the drill. If you find you have problems with that, take a look at Gareth Burrows' article HERE. (In fact, that entire website is worth reading.)

Most of all, don't stress. The class is a class, and you are meant to learn things in it. Too many people try to perfect everything prior to going -- which means you are basically paying the instructor for an evaluation, and GUE instructors almost always have a lot more to offer than that!

Come back and tell us about it. I don't think we've ever had a class report from Italy here before.

 

[syntaxerrorsix]

With a relatively limited amount of diving experience I'd just sit back and enjoy the Fundies course. No reason to learn improper techniques on your own and try to relearn them correctly later.

Just take in all the instructor has to offer. Once you have experience at your current certification level it may be more clear as to where you want to take your diving. Get good at what you can do now. Deeper and longer dives will come in time and be more enjoyable when you have some more experience under your belt.

Stay safe and make sure to swing by Munich for O-Fest.

 

[boulderjohn]

You certainly can practice REACHING your valves, even if you don't want to work on doing the drill. If you find you have problems with that, take a look at Gareth Burrows' article HERE. (In fact, that entire website is worth reading.)

The article Lynne cites is a good one that was helpful to me. I have two things to add/emphasize.

1. When I was struggling with the valve drill, I used to look at the online videos of people doing it, and it looked so easy. One of the things that finally worked through my thick skull was that my valves were not where theirs were. The article above helped me to change my kit to get them where they needed to be. In my case, the problem was counterintuitive--my valves were too high to be reached easily. It was strange, like the blind spot in the side mirror of a car, they were in a place where my hands didn't reach easily. Lengthening my harness straps made a big difference.

2. I have never been an extremely flexible kind of guy, but I eventually realized that my shoulders and arms were just ridiculous in that regard. I started doing dynamic stretching exercises using weights. I lay on my back at the end of a weight bench and repeatedly recreated the motions associated with the valve drill upside down while holding a relatively light (they got heavier as I got stronger) dumbbell. I also did some static stretches that were suggested by some web site or other, but I think the dynamic stretching did the most for me. My range of motion increased dramatically in time.

 

[Griffo]

Having literally just finished funnies, I think Lynne's suggestion is a good one. Try to hover just above the bottom, then do something that causes you to be task loaded. Maybe try shooting an SMB, or anything you can think of that causes you to have to concentrate on the task at hand. If you can do that without holding your breath and ascending, or hitting bottom, and keep situational awareness while you do so, you will have a great foundation for the course.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[Ozwald]

First thanks Lynne for the link to that website.

So I have issues reaching my valves. i can do it but it resembles someone trying to escape from a straight jacket! So when it says that the bands should be just below the neck, I ran out to the garage immediately once i read that and checked mine, the top of my bands are 2 inches below just where the flat part of the tank starts to round. This doesn't appear to be "just below" to me?

 

[syntaxerrorsix]

Before attacking your gear with a wrench I would suggest altering your technique.

Try this, loosen your waist belt and reach back with your left hand and hike the tanks further up your back. All of this can be done in trim. Like anything else you just need to practice.

Good luck.

 

[TSandM]

syntaxerrorsix, loosening the waist belt CAN work for getting to valves.

But one thing I finally realized during my Full Cave class was that the goal isn't getting through a valve drill. The goal is to be able to shut down valves, FAST, in the event of a catastrophic leak. Personally, I don't want to be fussing with my waist strap while my breathing gas is escaping into the water . . . I think it's actually quite important to have one's gear set up so that the valves are reachable QUICKLY and easily. Whether that means taking to the gear with a wrench, or religiously doing stretches, or -- as I think is probably what's needed for a lot of people -- replacing expensive exposure protection that's limiting one's range of motion, what needs to be done needs to be done.

Ozwald, if I were you, I'd have someone knowledgeable check out your exposure protection and your reach, and then watch you try to reach your valves. It may well be that your tanks are too high on your back, but most of the time, people have the opposite problem, where they are too low. Moving the bands can help enormously with the BALANCE of the tanks and the tendency to go head-down, but for reaching valves, most of the time, too high is not the issue. (If you can put your head back far enough to look straight in front of you without the isolator knob making a hole in the back of your skull, the tanks probably aren't too high . . . ) Read Gareth's article -- it's as exhaustive a piece on problems reaching valves as I've seen anywhere.

 

[syntaxerrorsix]

Loosening the waist strap is done with one hand while the other hand is reaching back for the valve. There is no delay.

In my mind valve placement is secondary to a balanced rig that you don't have to fight throughout the dive. Maybe this is why SM is so popular

As the OP didn't mention what was restricting his movement I offered a very common solution that doesn't affect gear configuration.

 

[Ozwald]

Hey Lynne

I don't think it's my drysuit. It doesn't restrict my movement. I am a pretty muscular guy and have had some shoulder issues throughout my lifetime. Old football injuries, extreme downhill mountain biking mishaps and basically just ignoring good stretching practices while lifting weights over the past 25 years or so. My last valve drill had me reaching to get a hold of the valve and having to pull it towards me when, put together with the physics of raising the band therefore moving them closer to my back made perfect sense.

At any rate i am going to see what happens next time out but I think this made perfect sense.