Congrats John!

[KY_BOB]

"SULLIVAN2049"

Congrats on getting certified. I know how much you had your mind set on it. I talked to your instructors, they said that It all came together well for you.

I'm happy for you and would be happy to dive with you any time. I know that you've been well trained.

Glad that we got to meet but REALLY glad that you accomplished what you set for your goal.

I look forward to diving with you.

 

[SULLIVAN2049]

Thx Bob, I had great instructors in Rena and Bob and support from mentors like you and Tammy, without that I would not be certified. Bob probably is certifiable after our open water dives,Thx Bob for not letting me give up.

As soon as you get your suit issue down we will have to celebrate dual certs!!! Be pulling for you!
As soon as you can get wet again and don't think I would weight you down too much just let me know! I really enjoyed our conversations and look forward to being able to pick your brain some more and dive with you as well.

 

[tstormdiver]

Congrats John!

 

[KY_BOB]

You did it all on your own, you get full credit for it. All Tammy and I did were throw in a few words of encouragement and maybe a tip or two.

When I went through OW class, I had a nightmare with mask removal and replacement. Tammy and others give me some tips and encouragement, so I stuck with it. It's funny how a with a little practice and experience it becomes easy. Last weekend, I had to do mask removal and replacement in 42 degree water, I can't say that it was fun but I had no problem doing it. Larry actually has video of me from Cozumel at about 40' with no mask or reg, waving at the camera.

As for the class that I was in, Larry and I talked about it quite a bit Saturday. He feels very strongly that my suit was a large percentage of my problem. I may dive it some this summer but I don't think that I'll try to complete the class until I get a new suit and unfortunately, due to a streak of bad luck and unexpected expenses, that's not going to be in the budget for a while. I'm hoping to swing it before his fall class but a good drysuit isn't cheap.

 

[WarChief]

You did it all on your own, you get full credit for it. All Tammy and I did were throw in a few words of encouragement and maybe a tip or two.

When I went through OW class, I had a nightmare with mask removal and replacement. Tammy and others give me some tips and encouragement, so I stuck with it. It's funny how a with a little practice and experience it becomes easy. Last weekend, I had to do mask removal and replacement in 42 degree water, I can't say that it was fun but I had no problem doing it. Larry actually has video of me from Cozumel at about 40' with no mask or reg, waving at the camera.

As for the class that I was in, Larry and I talked about it quite a bit Saturday. He feels very strongly that my suit was a large percentage of my problem. I may dive it some this summer but I don't think that I'll try to complete the class until I get a new suit and unfortunately, due to a streak of bad luck and unexpected expenses, that's not going to be in the budget for a while. I'm hoping to swing it before his fall class but a good drysuit isn't cheap.

Whats wrong with the suit?

 

[KY_BOB]

Whats wrong with the suit?

It didn't vent automatically as it should have. Undergarment? Maybe? The worst part was that I didn't realize it was an issue until we started up for deco stops. I was negative enough with double 108's to stay down even with quite a bit of air in the suit. I was sawing back and forth on the wing to try to maintain my stops. Once something sorta resembling deco was done, I went to the surface and looked like the Michelin man. I hit the manual vent, dumped a ton of air and was back under control. Had I had realized that I needed to vent manually, I would have done better but I still need more practice in big doubles and some of the skills before finishing the class. It did vent some air around the neck seal, you know what that means COLD water inside the suit. It wasn't a fun dive.

Sorry for the threadjack. I just wanted to say congrats to John and let him know that everyone has difficulties.