Solo Dive Planning Slates

[Ana]

I live and die with checklist for work, coincidentally right now while I type this, zeros and ones are travelling through the network at work commanding the printer to spit a bunch of hardcopies of checklist to be used next week on a project.

With that said, I'm sure the reaction on this thread came about because 1- is for solo diving, and 2- a slate is usually for underwater use, by the time you are underwater it may be too late to remember to pack a mask.

I have don't follow silly mnemonics to remember my gear, I started with checklists.... no printed slates, I used handwritten sheets of paper, then became printed sheets of paper, they were customized every so often to adapt to my diving,,,, none of the ready made checklists in the back of manuals or given as advertising in shows and charters fit me. My checklist followed a certain order (top to bottom) so I always started with hood -mask - blah blah blah.. One day I was out of printed sheets and felt lazy, so I packed without a checklist, used my body as checklist. After that I have a built in checklist for one day dives, doesn't matter if is solo or with a buddy.

 

[RJP]

2- a slate is usually for underwater use, by the time you are underwater it may be too late to remember to pack a mask.

Slates are useful in all kinds of wet environments - on a boat, at a dive site, in your gear box, etc - where something like a paper checklist ain't worth the paper it's printed on.

 

[tbone1004]

Don't ya think I woulda done that already so I wouldn't have to post it here and read through all the horse-sh*t training wheels posts???

---------- Post added June 2nd, 2015 at 09:21 AM ----------

I appreciate everyone's help in finding a location to get the slates, really I do, turns out if ya e-mail SDI (which I did yesterday) they'll send them to ya

That was the point of RJP's post as well as my initial one. So many people pose manufacture or agency specific questions on here before they have contacted the appropriate people.

The training wheels comments were mainly that you shouldn't need that specific information on a slate at that level of diving. You need checklists, the point isn't to go away from them, but with that information on a slate it is implying you're taking it into the water with you, and at that point you shouldn't need it.

 

[Zieg]

I would think that the time for a check list, like the one in the example, would be more useful prior to the dive. For example, while you're packing your gear, prior to loading the vehicle, be it car, truck or boat. Jumping in the water with sunglasses or forgetting fins is just a simple brain fart. But leaving your fins at home or leaving home with a bad mask strap (or spare) is just plain stupid. A paper list with the items that you feel are necessary is all that is necessary. I thought everyone did a mental checklist before they hit the water.

 

[Ana]

Slates are useful in all kinds of wet environments - on a boat, at a dive site, in your gear box, etc - where something like a paper checklist ain't worth the paper it's printed on.

very true, but is not due to the paper as much as the ink, if you use a pencil it is still readable after the paper dries if you manage to keep the paper from disintegrating.
I remember using a plastic sleeve first, then moved to surveyors field books/sheets that are the equivalent of the modern 'wet notes' type of paper. I have to use paper for work in very wet environments because a slate is not an option, fortunately I found out that ink jet prints are crap, but the laser holds up very well.

Regardless of the material of the checklist, by the time you are underwater the gear better be with you and functional, I'm sure that was behind all the less than kind comments. IJS

 

[RJP]

The training wheels comments were mainly that you shouldn't need that specific information on a slate at that level of diving.

The rocket scientists at NASA are at a pretty high-level... but still use checklists.

The idea that a slate implies that the checklist is to be taken into the water on the dive is just plain silly. The checklist is on a waterproof slate because diving is a sport where most things, and most people, and most activities, in most places, are WET! Accordingly, printing checklists on waterproof slates is standard practice. Yes, many slates are intended to - and do - go on dives But many do not. I've never heard anyone suggest that any agency's dive tables are intended to be taken on a dive much less say something absurd like "I don't know why the dive tables are on plastic slates... I would think the best time to plan a dive is before entering the water."

 

[tbone1004]

Ray, I said I still use checklists. I have many, I use them all the time. It makes sure I don't forget stuff, but you shouldn't need them in/near the water, just print it on paper if you can't remember it.

We make our students carry dive tables with them on all dives.... What happens if they violate their dive plans for whatever reason and need to verify? That's why you take them in the water with you. You mention nasa for pretty high-level, fine. This slate is not high level. SDI solo diving cert is a high level cert, this slate is not. This slate would be PERFECT for open water diving, it has no business being marketed any higher than that because it gives the impression that you don't need it until you're at that level. That is my issue. SDI has no slates with this information on it prior to Solo, that is ridiculous. This slate should be included in every OW diver kit and be incorporated into that class because this type of stuff is very very basic. Teach it in OW, this should be mastered long before the diver is allowed into solo

 

[RJP]

Either way... In a sport where the best and the brightest espouse the virtue of rigor, standardization, attention to detail, and redundancy I think it's absurd to knock the desire for - or availability of - a checklist slate for anything. Let's not be even more ridiculous by getting caught up in the minutiae of the material on which the checklist is printed.

I'm not familiar with SDI, but PADI has various student OW slates, AOW slates, Rescue slates, slates for many/most specialties, all the up to and through tec courses. To save everyone the trouble, I'll flesh out the thread tangent that will be triggered by the mention of PADI:

PADI-basher: "PADI just wants to sell more slates... put another dollar in!"
NAUI Instructor: "I teach for NAUI because we have the freedom to use slates if we want to!"
SSI Instructor: "SSI slates are now available at West Marine... bundled with a Mares mask and snorkel."
SDI Instructor: "Here's a link to An Open Letter To The Dive Industry About Slates."
GUE Diver: "Slates have their place in diving... which we have standardized as being in a bellows pocket on the left thigh."
SEI Instructor: "Our slates have a complete history of our YMCA heritage on the back."
YMCA Diver: "When I got certified... our slates were made of actual slate."
LA County Diver: "When I learned to dive... slate had not yet formed in the Earth's crust."

Hopefully that will allow us to focus on the important debate regarding whether printing a checklist on plastic constitutes specific direction that such a slate is only to be used in/underwater.

.

 

[Pyramid65]

I must be the exception to the rule because I don't use checklists for gear, not when I pack and not on the boat or shore just prior to jumping in and I've not forgotten anything yet, not to say I may in the future but I have a good system in place for that, what I was interested in is the Gas Management Slate, just a handy tool to write down all the numbers and check them when I'm down and when I get out to see how accurate I was as well as the Checkpoints Slate which will go down with me to get into the habit of doing checks at specific times during the dive so it becomes second nature.....someone said "I don't solo because I don't have a redundant brain"...the slates for me at least make a redundancy...I gave up on listening to people tell me how to dive, how to configure my gear, and what I should or shouldn't be doing, you can talk to 5 different divers and get 5 different answers for any question...I go down my way, it's my dive and mine to enjoy

 

[tbone1004]

and that slate SHOULD be used in the water, at the OW level where the divers are supposed to be learning that checklist in order to perform a thorough buddy check to make sure they are prepared to descent and conduct their dive. My point is and will be, that by advocating this is a solo diving slate, they are implying that it isn't necessary at levels below solo. That is bad. At the solo level, this stuff should already be owned by the diver if they started with SDI, or ideally already memorized. The list is simple, the math is simple, this should be mastered before the diver is soloing, and that mastery only comes with starting early.

that list is hilarious btw