Night Ascents

[DwayneJ]

Any tricks/techniques for improving my skills for 70' night ascent in bad visibility with no guideline/no kelp?

I was tracking my computer and sensing my body/ears but it was tough. I'm thinking of packing my reel and using a lift bag in case this happens again.

Certainly want to get better so looking for any advise.

Dwayne

 

[RJP]

Any tricks/techniques for improving my skills for 70' night ascent in bad visibility with no guideline/no kelp?

I was tracking my computer and sensing my body/ears but it was tough. I'm thinking of packing my reel and using a lift bag in case this happens again.

Certainly want to get better so looking for any advise.

Dwayne

What was "tough" about it? Too fast? Too slow? (Is there such a thing?) Just didn't know where you were?

 

[DwayneJ]

What was "tough" about it? Too fast? Too slow? (Is there such a thing?) Just didn't know where you were?

Bouncy to start with. Like Pilot Induced Oscillation (PIO).

 

[Scuba-Jay]

Little confused about what you're asking. Are you struggling to keep tabs on your depth?

 

[DwayneJ]

Little confused about what you're asking. Are you struggling to keep tabs on your depth?

I struggled with a continuous ascent without any visual reference - Night, bad vis so I could not track the bottom or surface, and no ascent line.

What you said though gives me thought I should try and focus on a stepped ascent. Up 15' - Stabilize then up another 15' etc.

 

[AfterDark]

That's what your computer / gauges / watch is for, sometime you have to dive on instruments only it's one of the many skills you'll learn diving at night or in limited vis. Learn, enjoy, practice diving by your gauges when you don't need to.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

It comes with time. But you can condition yourself by using different tools. If there are no hazards (boats, other lines, kelp, etc.) there is absolutely no reason not to use a lift bag and reel or spool. However when you do this don't rely on it completely. When using it pay close attention to your gauges and your body. Note carefully the feelings in your ears, suit, bc, etc. I can do open or blue water ascents fairly easily but am not crazy about doing them so I always carry a reel and bag or smb I can shoot from depth. One thing that does help if there is little to no current and if you can don't try to come straight up. Swim ascending circles. For me this helps keep some perspective and increases the amount of control I have. I'll even do this around an anchor or mooring line. And if you do use a bag get some mentoring or actual training in deploying it from someone who knows what they are doing, I do this in my AOW class and will offer it in OW if the students thinks they will need it.

 

[gcbryan]

I do half of my diving at night (many times solo) in those conditions. Usually I follow the slope in (shore dives) but I've made direct ascents as well. It's simply about being in control.

Don't think of your ascent as being one nonstop trip to the surface or to safety stop depth. A horizontal ascent makes things easier. Your comments about a stepped approach is the idea. Move up and stop, even if you feel a little disoriented if you're in control like that you aren't going anywhere which is the key.

Shut your eyes for a second if necessary, you won't be continuing to move upward. Once you know that you are in control the entire way it's no big deal. I don't stare at my computer but certainly check it to make you are in fact in control

Once you have confidence that you are in control and have some experience with this you won't really care that you can't see the bottom or surface and that you don't have a line of some sort.

It's much easier (IMO) if you do this horizontal however but the concept is the same if you choose to do it vertically.

Once you can do this it helps with many other issues that can come up...light goes off for a minute, need to replace a mask, or anything where you need to know that you will be in control.

 

[Jorgy]

I have used the particles and bubbles in the water to help with this.........

I also swim forward it seems to be easier to transition smoothly in depth when you are making good headway, at least for me......

If there is current, I turn into it and it is like being on treadmill.......

Then it is up to your depth gauge.....this is one of those cases where the ascent rate bars on my Sunnto computer help..........and having it wrist mounted……

M

 

[TSandM]

Dwayne, I hear you. Night ascents are far more difficult, because you don't have the gradation of light to give you orientation.

Things that helped me a lot: 1) WRIST GAUGES!!! Having my depth on my wrist, where I can check it constantly, helped a ton -- and getting the Liquivision, which doesn't require that I backlight or illuminate it to read it, helped even more. Pulling up a console to look at depth meant I didn't have a continuous readout, and allowed me to get the PIO going.

2) Learning to watch the particulates in the water. Except in strong up or downcurrents, they tend to stay at the same depth. You can use your movement in relation to them to get a visual cue about your motion.

3) Learning to shoot a bag in midwater. Having the reference for vertical, and also for depth, was very helpful. But learn this skill in the daytime, because adding the task-loading to a night ascent when you are having trouble with them is a recipe for worse instability.

4) Dive with buddies who are better than you are. Buddies make a great visual reference, if they are accurate and stable. Of course, you can end up dependent on them, and that's a dependency you eventually have to break. But for your early learning, more accomplished buddies are a very nice crutch.

5) Do lots of free ascents in the daytime. Ascents are ascents; the physical cues from your ears and your gear are the same in the daytime and at night. The better you get at your daylight ascents, the easier the night ones will become.

All that said, the only time I have seen the two best divers it's been my privilege to dive with lose their buoyancy control completely was in night ascents. They aren't easy!