Neat Little Tricks Are Good to Know

[formula1mb@aol.com]

One tip I learned recently is to always practice flooding and clearing your mask in the beginning of the dive, especially in cold water. Last time I went diving, still not sure what happened but I think my strap was knocked loose or moved around to the point where suddenly I started getting a fairly major leak I couldn't stop. Esp with cold water when your face isn't used to the temperature and you start feeling the water flooding in quickly, it can make you feel almost like you're drowning and start to have some mild panic. All of a sudden, I could feel myself start breathing quicker and just had to take my mask off and put it back on and I was good.

If you practice mask recovery in the beginning though, it gives your face a change to adjust to the temperature and if you do start having mask problems it won't be as dramatic when the water hits your face.


Is it just me btw, or does it feel a lot worse when you have a major leak and feel the cold water rushing onto your face versus completely flooding your mask? I've never had much trouble clearing a mask but seems weird how if I flood the mask completely, not a big deal but something about having the water trickling in that I hate.

 

[DeepSeaExplorer]

I've heard this, but really, I have the same problem. Even if I have a minimal amount of air in my dry suit, it will pool near my feel eventually because most of the time my feet are the highest point. When I dive using a dry suit I have to try to keep my legs out straight when I'm just sitting there not moving instead of bent a bit like when I dive wet. I don't know why this is such a surprise - the dry suit doesn't fit snugly, so the legs have plenty of room to balloon out and *all* the air in the dry suit can go there easily. Even if you have a minimal amount of air in the dry suit it will cause your feet to be floaty if all the air is there.

I use my BCD for buoyancy and just put enough air in the dry suit to make the squeeze go away. I'm 6' 5" and skinny so the dry suit may fit differently than on other people.

There's two inexpensive pieces of gear that will help a lot with this...

There's these triangular rubber things made by Trident that go on over your feet to keep the air from getting into your boots. They're $15 bucks max and can make a lot of difference. I never dive dry without them.

You can also get some gaiters that go around your calves to compress the suit. Halcyon makes them as do others. They're more in the $50 range. But again, something I never dive dry without.

The combination of the two together, along with as you know minimizing the air in the suit, will probably do it for you. Also make sure you get all the air out of the suit while descending and only add just enough air to minimize squeze. In my opinion, if I don't get some uncomfort going down, I have too much air in the suit. Occasionally, I add too much air. When that happens, I go verticle for a moment to get the air out of my legs and then vent it.

 

[SNorman]

There's two inexpensive pieces of gear that will help a lot with this...

There's these triangular rubber things made by Trident that go on over your feet to keep the air from getting into your boots. They're $15 bucks max and can make a lot of difference. I never dive dry without them.

You can also get some gaiters that go around your calves to compress the suit. Halcyon makes them as do others. They're more in the $50 range. But again, something I never dive dry without.

The combination of the two together, along with as you know minimizing the air in the suit, will probably do it for you. Also make sure you get all the air out of the suit while descending and only add just enough air to minimize squeze. In my opinion, if I don't get some uncomfort going down, I have too much air in the suit. Occasionally, I add too much air. When that happens, I go verticle for a moment to get the air out of my legs and then vent it.

Thanks. I just did a dive last weekend and it was extremely shallow and I believe I was underweighted. Almost the whole dive I had so little air in my suit that I felt a squeeze the entire time and I got water in the vent. Yet, I still had just enough air to pool in my legs and make me float upside down if I didn't fin to correct it .

I will definitely get a hold of some gaiters. The boots are not a problem, the largest size they have to rent is 12, my feet are size 14 . No air was in there, and my toes were freezing when I was done with the dive.

 

[MikeMarlow]

One tip I learned recently is to always practice flooding and clearing your mask in the beginning of the dive, especially in cold water. Last time I went diving, still not sure what happened but I think my strap was knocked loose or moved around to the point where suddenly I started getting a fairly major leak I couldn't stop. Esp with cold water when your face isn't used to the temperature and you start feeling the water flooding in quickly, it can make you feel almost like you're drowning and start to have some mild panic. All of a sudden, I could feel myself start breathing quicker and just had to take my mask off and put it back on and I was good.

If you practice mask recovery in the beginning though, it gives your face a change to adjust to the temperature and if you do start having mask problems it won't be as dramatic when the water hits your face.


Is it just me btw, or does it feel a lot worse when you have a major leak and feel the cold water rushing onto your face versus completely flooding your mask? I've never had much trouble clearing a mask but seems weird how if I flood the mask completely, not a big deal but something about having the water trickling in that I hate.

The only thing I can think of that might cause the difference in feeling is that when you flood the mask, it's normally intentional. If you know it's coming, you are prepared, where a sudden major leak not only has the cold factor, but the surprise factor as well.

Mike

 

[Gombessa]

The fastest way to keep track of buddies that are behind you: Tuck your chin down to your chest and look behind you from underneath your body. Sure beats trying to turn around every minute!

 

[sassyalice]

When feeling a little sick, especially when paired with an insta buddy, give the out of air signal and calmly take the offered octopus.

After you have been sick, give the OK signal and hand back the reg, please remember to give it a little shake to help clean it, it's only fair!

If you don't fancy using Pantyhose, a plastic bag will help you get your leg/arm into wetsuits, or a stocking, unless of course you like the feel of the pantyhose....

Great to get your drysuit on too.

If you are on a dive boat and have long hair after your last dive of the day, put conditioner (better if it's the leave in type) on your hair to help limit those knots/wild child look from the boat ride home..

Be careful. I have heard from many sources that a lot of differant conditioners will breakdown latex on suits. Which products I have no idea........ anyone?

 

[Inalara]

Be careful. I have heard from many sources that a lot of differant conditioners will breakdown latex on suits. Which products I have no idea........ anyone?

Never heard that before, but for the last dive, I've usually got out of my dive suit, it's the boat ride back that's the killer for my hair/tangles, so that's when the conditioner goes on

 

[Thorndowyn]

While we're on the subject of neat little tricks.

1- Cough up a good mucousy blob of flem, the more sound effects the better, and rub it around the inside of your mask and (when boat diving), leave it there until you jump in. Then rinse your mask once you're in the water. Waiting until after you're in the water almost eliminates the possibility of losing it over the side and most divers won't appreciate it if you rinse your muscous filled mask in the rinse bucket. If you have the proper blend of sputum it will work better than anything on the market and you've always got a supply "on hand". Once you've got the attention of everyone on board and a mask full of goopy phlegm, be a good diver and offer some to everyone else on the boat. You will find that some divers are reluctant to take advantage of your offer so take the initiative and spit in their masks anyway. They'll show you how appreciative they are.

2- When shore diving, rather than putting your rig on the old fashioned way by slipping your arms through it while it's behind you and feeling your way around, put your rig in front of you, so the tank is facing you and you're looking at the inside of the BCD. Bend over, reach through the arm holes, grab the tank and flip it onto your back and let it slide down. With practice it's really easy and fast and it's impressive to other divers and bystanders which is the main reason you do it. This is for shore diving ONLY! Most boat captains won't be happy about the procedure being done on their boat.

3- When diving in poor visibility use a 10 foot or so line that you can hook onto one buddy's BCD that has a loop on the other end for the other diver to hold onto. Keep it in your BCD pocket because you don't usually know the vis until you get down there. Having a line can make a nervous less experienced buddy feel less anxious (my girlfriend being the perfect example) and a buddy line avoids you having to constantly turn to check where your buddy is so you can enjoy the diving.

2) When the water is deep enough you can do a full roll, it easier and you don't have the chance to bump your head. Works also good, if you want to put on your gear when it's lying at the bottom of the pool.

3)
Actually, when we have low vis we usually hold hand
Personally I don't like to be bound to someone else. Or you can hook your arms. Physical contact tends to calm down your buddy (or yourself)

 

[Hammerhead]

Ive never heard of dipping the cam band in water before tightening it though mine does have alot of rubber on it so it tends to grip pretty well and i always do it really tight. It probably explains why one of the guys i dive with who also never wets his cam band before tightening it has had his bottle slip out about 4 times since ive known him that i can think of off the top of my head Christ the amount of times ive had to "hump" that damn bottle back up into the band.

A spare rag (think towel / dishcloth material) jammed between band and tank works as a quick fix - the band now has more to "go around", ergo tighter, and the rag provides more friction than the smooth nylon of the band.

Might save you suffering some nasty "humping" injury :blinking:

 

[Slamfire]

If you are short of mask plastic cases, empty plastic cases of baby wipes fit most low volume masks perfectly fine.