sabbath999
Contributor
Do you sin? Do you do something you KNOW you shouldn't on every dive?
I've been thinking about my own SCUBA sins, and my own SCUBA issues.
When boat diving, I always rush into the water on the second dive because I am very prone to sea-sickness and a boat wallowing at anchor just kills me... my diving partner (wife) and I know this, so I bail off the boat after a BRIEF buddy check (air turned on checked by watching the gauge while I breath, air in my BC) and jump in, and go to 15 feet. My rig is neutral so weights are not an issue. She joins me there and we do our COMPLETE buddy check and s-drill that we do on every dive at 15 on the anchor line. Yes, it's a sin but at least we do a buddy check before we start the serious diving.
Another "Sin" is in my gear configuration... I run my SPG on as short of a hose as possible around my left shoulder, and clip it to my D-ring on the right. This is a "sin" because it is an additional item that has to be disconnected in the case of an emergency. The reason I do it this way is because, clipped that way, it doesn't dangle at all, and I can glance down at any time and see my air pressure. My theory is that if I glance down at my gauge while swimming or hovering or whatever, I can see it without disturbing what I am doing therefore I check MUCH more often than somebody who has to go to the effort of pulling out his gauge and looking at it. I don't get "out of sight, out of mind". I am diving a hogarthian single-strap BP/W rig, and part of my pre-dive safety briefing with new divers is to show them how to get it off of me in the case of emergency (my rig you simply cut the straps and let it go, straps are cheap so if in doubt, just cut me out of it... my knife is handy right there on my harness strap.
Are you ready to enter the SCUBA confessional and tell us your sins?
I've been thinking about my own SCUBA sins, and my own SCUBA issues.
When boat diving, I always rush into the water on the second dive because I am very prone to sea-sickness and a boat wallowing at anchor just kills me... my diving partner (wife) and I know this, so I bail off the boat after a BRIEF buddy check (air turned on checked by watching the gauge while I breath, air in my BC) and jump in, and go to 15 feet. My rig is neutral so weights are not an issue. She joins me there and we do our COMPLETE buddy check and s-drill that we do on every dive at 15 on the anchor line. Yes, it's a sin but at least we do a buddy check before we start the serious diving.
Another "Sin" is in my gear configuration... I run my SPG on as short of a hose as possible around my left shoulder, and clip it to my D-ring on the right. This is a "sin" because it is an additional item that has to be disconnected in the case of an emergency. The reason I do it this way is because, clipped that way, it doesn't dangle at all, and I can glance down at any time and see my air pressure. My theory is that if I glance down at my gauge while swimming or hovering or whatever, I can see it without disturbing what I am doing therefore I check MUCH more often than somebody who has to go to the effort of pulling out his gauge and looking at it. I don't get "out of sight, out of mind". I am diving a hogarthian single-strap BP/W rig, and part of my pre-dive safety briefing with new divers is to show them how to get it off of me in the case of emergency (my rig you simply cut the straps and let it go, straps are cheap so if in doubt, just cut me out of it... my knife is handy right there on my harness strap.
Are you ready to enter the SCUBA confessional and tell us your sins?