Finished up open water classes and I am really Bummed out.

[Z Gear]

"something I did not expect and then my training fell out the window..."

Practice, practice, practice. Anytime you can,in shallow water, go through the skills that make you most nervous.

You must and can and will become confident in solving any problems where you are, not by bolting for the surface.

Stop - Breathe - Think. Then act...

You can program your safe responses to be automatic.

Knowing what to do and how to handle it should give you confidence and help you forget the panic reaction.

Its natural for negative situations to stick in our minds I guess it probably occupies a special part in our brain. If you choose to focus on looking at how you over came that challenge,and reflect on your victory of mastering the drill and finishing the program. I think we should always take time to reflect and celebrate our victories especially after we over come challenges. I think it replaces negative thoughts.

You have to decide on what you want to dwell on. Look forward to a new world of diving and put a period on the CESA drill it is in the past and since some have shared there stories if how they also had problems and moved forward, this should also inspire you to feel better.

Just my two cents.

Frank G
Z GEAR - Z Gear

 

[dmaziuk]

I upon taking a small breath of what was water, or so I thought, I then shoved my regulator back in my mouth and did not purge it manually but tried to blow on empty lungs and lastly I suck in what it more water.

Breathing water sucks and can't honestly recommend it to anyone. That said, the way I learned is by doing it over and over -- of course it's much easier on the surface, swimming, not underwater breathing through the hose. Once you get past the "bolt and gasp" reflex, you'll realize that
- you can close your throat once you feel the water hitting your tongue on the inhale and keep the water from getting into your lungs,
- there is still enough air in your chest for a small cough to clear the airway even at the end of exhale,
- even with what feels like water in your airway you can still get air in if you breathe in slowly and gently,
- breathing in a few drops of water isn't gonna kill you, it'll just make you cough. The trick is not gasping when you do cough -- as in "breathe in slowly and gently".

For what it's worth.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

If you have residual water you can not expel, I think it is better to try to swallow it rather than pull it into you lungs.

 

[Diving Dubai]

To the OP

Quite often people have an issue with a skill on their OW class. Mine was mask clear. I'd done a number in the pool successfully and the had one which sent me to the surface coughing and spluttering. On the OW segment it played on my mind and I refused the first time. In the end I got my head sorted and completed a number of them well enough to pass. The problem was it was still in my head. The few times I had a partial flood my clearing was hard. In a couple of cases I thumbed a dive. In the end I took advice then practiced at the end of every dive. I still don't like mask clear but do it as a necessary evil but can complete it with little or no drama. Get someone to work with you, preferably someone who will encourage you and be positive (not all instructors are) you'll be surprised at how soon this issue will disappear but it's a great learning excercise never the less

 

[archer1960]

It's good to learn that as long as you can get air from your regulator, you can cough your lungs out, and even throw up, and you'll still be ok if you keep your composure. During the pool sessions of my OW cert, when we were doing the skill where we had to breathe without the mask, I ran into this. I didn't have my head at the right angle, and the bubbles went up my nose, pushing water down the back of my throat, and I started coughing. My instructor (who was right in front of me watching) said later that he kept expecting me to push to the surface when that happened, and was pretty impressed that I didn't. I just let the coughing spell subside while I kept breathing, because I knew from a previous "discover scuba" dive many years earlier that even throwing up in a regulator isn't really a problem...

---------- Post added May 11th, 2015 at 09:18 AM ----------

A mask clear is one skill I've never had trouble with. I don't know why, but I have always had trouble getting a good seal even when trying many different masks, so constantly have water coming in. I've gotten really good at removing some leaked water from the mask, and getting clearing a completely full mask is just more of the same. I like to keep a little water in the mask anyway, to help clear any fog when needed...

 

[Helter Skelter]

Thanks everyone.

I by no means am bummed with diving. and really look forward to my next dive. Infact I was telling my wife I have to get out in the water at least once a week or I feel like Im drying out.

What does way on my mind is not the drill so much I had done this drill a couple times in the pool then a several more drills in the water. what I'm concern with is the fact that when the first time I panic I bolted. I know from training that is not the right thing to do. I had a perfectly good regulator in my hand. Back up octo on my right chest and 6 more octos all almost in reach. What I will have to do Is practice practice practice so Things become automatic. So that next time I can get a few educated responses in before panic sets in.

 

[TMHeimer]

Good advice about always practicing the OW skills no matter how experienced you get. When not diving for a while, review them on land--go through the motions. As mentioned, you now have a bit of perspective from a really tight situation (something I still lack). Sometimes a student will ace all the skills, but usually there are one or two they struggle with. You said the rest of the dive went fine/relaxed-- a good sign.

 

[TSandM]

I think you may well find that, the next time anxiety hits you that way, you have a better chance at controlling it. You'll recognize what's happening and what you need to do.

There's a resurrected thread running on panic in the experienced diver. There are a lot of stories there about people who were way past their OW classes, who experienced panic or near-panic. It can happen to anyone, and the trigger is often airway stuff.

 

[dmaziuk]

I think you may well find that, the next time anxiety hits you that way, you have a better chance at controlling it.

Story is, in traditional martial arts training the teacher would attack for real using real weapons specifically to provoke that anxiety in the student. So they get used to it and learn to control the panic. The flip side was that if either the student or the teacher got it wrong, it could end badly. As a result the traditional liability waiver included death and/or grievous bodily harm, typically in the form of "student's life is now teacher's to do with as he pleases". But then the ones who graduated had no problem controlling their fight or flight. The competing school of though focuses on mediation and running scenarios in one's mind. E.g. taichi: works wonders, too, but only after you practice for a few decades straight. There's always a flip side...

 

[archer1960]

Thanks everyone.

I by no means am bummed with diving. and really look forward to my next dive. Infact I was telling my wife I have to get out in the water at least once a week or I feel like Im drying out.

What does way on my mind is not the drill so much I had done this drill a couple times in the pool then a several more drills in the water. what I'm concern with is the fact that when the first time I panic I bolted. I know from training that is not the right thing to do. I had a perfectly good regulator in my hand. Back up octo on my right chest and 6 more octos all almost in reach. What I will have to do Is practice practice practice so Things become automatic. So that next time I can get a few educated responses in before panic sets in.

Running engineering casualty control drills in the Navy taught me something that has really helped in SCUBA and other aspects of life: there is very little that can go wrong where taking *instant* action will gain you enough to be worth more than taking a few seconds to figure out the *right* action. About the only thing I can think of in SCUBA diving that needs nearly immediate response is an uncontrolled ascent. Pretty much everything else won't be made any worse if you take 5 or 10 seconds to figure out what you really should do, rather than doing what your reflexes want you to do.