Failed Open Water Dive

[spectrum]

Thanks for your encouragement.

The dive was not called; only my part in it. I don't think the conditions were all that unusual for OW for this shop or this area.

I will have a talk with my instructor as the January date for the first pool session gets a little closer. We will definitely talk about doing the pool sessions in gear, although TSandM may be right that the full kit would be difficult to impossible in a heated pool. I can try it anyway. Even having the gloves on for practice would be an improvement.

When I left the OW, one of the dive masters suggested having my instructor come back to Hoodsport with me for a one-on-one OW weekend. I'm not sure how possible that is, but we will talk about that as well. I was not under any time constraint myself as far as the timing of the OW dives. If I do go back to Hoodsport, it will be Sund Rock and not Octopus Hole, at least for my first few dives.

Thanks again, everyone. You have given me needed encouragement and a lot to think about.

I didn't get to respond when you first posted but since you are stayed with the thread let me add to amplify some of the good advice I know you have received.

Pool sessions in full cold water gear gear will be too hot for a typical diver in typical pool water. This is especially true if they are using a community facility like a YMCA. After our first night were required to be in hoods and gloves the whole time and that did let people get around the dexterity and claustrophobia issue. We had been cold water skin diving for a year so it was nothing new to us and that helped a lot!

The wetsuit is certainly something you want to preflight and and try to get a bonafide weight check. It can be part of a session or a special visit but you should have a suit earmarked that fits and a salt water adjusted weight plan. Taking a wetsuit, mask, fins, snorkel, hood, booties and maybe a little weight to the coat and doing some skin diving along the rocky shoreline can be great fun and will get you acclimated to most of scuba diving very nicely. More here. Skin diving as a foundation has really been sold short in modern classes.

It's common (including our experience) for a dive site to not be novice friendly. Instructors often get potbound to a site or 2. It may be expedient to reach for the shop (time and mileage = $$) or they may know the site very well and like that for safety reasons. Often there are different training objectives and the destination may be selected for deep water access for AOW students perhaps.

Scheduling is another point of conflict. An instructor has X number of students to process and some have a vacation coming, some have only certain weekends off, other were sick last week, some are in college and are going home soon, some are leaving for college soon and the list goes on and on. Individual private outings weren't part of the deal so they will try to push the schedule to meet the needs of those with the restrictions. The more flexible students get swept up in the coat tails and wonder whose stupid idea of fun this is. our instructor handled it well with us. He did have college student to push through in May but had us wait for mid June when the water warmed just a little and there would be a few critters. it was a great experience and I still had time for about 70 dives that season.

We're talking about an Open Water certification. There is no need for any extreme conditions. A little bit of a challenge can be a good thing for the "naturals" but it should never be allowed to be a barrier to the average candidate.

If you want to go back to wrap it up 1:1 there's nothing wrong with that.

I think in your original post you were given the warm water suggestion. This is the doorstep of December and I don't now what your plans are. I am thrilled that you are committed to local diving, that is where you will be come safe & competent. You can have your cake and eat it to as they say. if a dive vacation was contemplated then take a referral and do your checkout dives on your first day or 2 of vacation and go have some fun. Next spring ask your instructor of choice for a cold water orientation. This may just be a dive or 2 one day to let you get comfortable in your heavier gear, acclimate to the visibility and all that we love about local water. It may even include a peak performance buoyancy module from AOW. I will suggest that you let the rest of AOW wait until you have a few dozen dives so you can better absorb and enjoy the experiences and lessons.

You have plenty of options and we look forward to a full report.

Pete

 

[bpotkin]

I also had some problems with my OW training due to a bad fitting wetsuit and a uncomfortable BCD.
However, I was very surprised how much easier it became after some practice getting geared up. Take
your time and figure out the best way to get in and out your wetsuit, hood and gloves and fins.

 

[BoltSnap]

When I taught in NY and MA, I "eased" my students into training with full cold water setup. We started with training with boots and gloves and added more pieces as the course progressed. The last 2 sessions in the pool were with full cold water thermal protection including the appropriate thickness wetsuit or even a drysuit. We had a lot less issues during openwater training after we adopted this policy in the confined water part.

 

[avengerki]

Just another tip for wearing the thick wetsuit in the pool, aside from leaving the zipper down some breaking the seal around the neck and wrists to let some cooler water in helps to cool you down. I did all my pool sessions in a 7mil I had purchased and at times got quite toasty. My instructor while not insisting we wear what we would be doing the open water in the pool for the pool session insisted we have at least one practice session where we wear everything we are planning to wear. Aside from the 3 pool sessions we had he insisted we come in for 4 practice session with more being the better.

Also don't forget if you start to overheat before you get your gear on you can jump into the pool in just your wetsuit to cool down.

 

[lsorenson]

I think the main problem here is the dive shop not making the new diver's first open water dive experience as easy as possible. I continually see in Sydney at one site dive shops who take divers on their OW course to the unprotected side of an island when they could easily take them to the protected side. We have seen them battered and rolled around as they enter or exit the water. Do they have a great dive experience? I think not. Will they become regular divers? Probably not.

Why not take divers to a very easy spot where they will have no environmental issues? Lazy? Stupid? Cheapskates? Only the second one applies in the cases in Sydney.

Do not give up, insist on more dives in the pool with full gear. Then redo the open water dives at a very easy site. If you need to carry gear in parts to the water's edge, you should not be diving there (in fact I, with 3290 dives should also not be diving there).

I agree with you... I can understand having AOW a little more challenging and increased difficulty but OW needs to be a positive experience! PADI's AOW really has very little meaning since you can accomplish it with as little as what; 9 or 10 dives but I don't want to veer off into which agency is better, just wish AOW meant more than what it really does! FYI; I qualified PADI. Just my thoughts... lee

 

[LowDrag]

Part of the problem was my gear. I bought a weight-integrated BC at the shop. The shop insisted on using a weight belt for instruction and the certification dive anyway because the belt would be easier to ditch in an emergency, I think. With the amount of weight I needed in the pool, this worked okay. The BC fit over the weight belt there. In the cold salt water with the added buoyancy of the wetsuit, where I needed more weight, my BC would not fit over the belt at all. The instructor suggested I could go to the local dive shop in Hoodsport to rent another BC. When I nixed that idea, the instructors worked with my integrated weight pouches on my BC, but this was kind of a last minute fix, not what was planned.

I had 20lbs in the front pouches and 10lbs in my trim weight pouches in the back of the BC.When I got in the water, the instructor added four of those clip-on weights to the D-rings on the front of the BC. I could barely move, but I know it's usual to be overweighted on your first dives. Unfortunately, the weights hanging made it difficult for me to access the i3 inflator on the BC, which was what finally ended the dive.

Not sure what I'm going to end up doing, but I really appreciate all the good advice and kindness.

I get the over weight thing for OW dives but HOLY CRAP!!! That is just a crazy amount of weight. This is an area where opinions will vary greatly I am sure but here is what I have been taught...16 - 20 lb weight belt and the difference in my integrated BC ditchable/trim pockets. Personally, I like this scenario because I can balance my weights how I want to, my BC is not hauling the entire load (which it is not supposed to I believe), and if I have to ditch any weight I can drop either my belt or my ditch pockets giving me an option. During my OW dives I ended up wearing 50 lbs total, now after doing a few dives after OW I only use 34 - 36 lbs in salt and 32 lbs in fresh. As my comfort in the water increases I am hoping to drop a few more pounds. As others have suggested a proper weight check will do wonders for you.


11/26/12


Another thing that I have found works good having both weight pockets and a belt is doing certain boat dives. I assisted a buddy on one of his dives and I have also dove off of his boat. He has a 24' fishing boat that we dive off of that has a platform on the back to crawl out of the water onto. We hand up our weight belts first then the guy on the boat grabs our BC's and hauls them in the boat. It makes it a lot easier on the guy in the boat to not have all the weight in the BC.

 

[CT-Rich]

the main problem with a wetsuit is it restricts the arms more than anything. all that bulk added to the torso can be hard to get used to. I remember getting used to wearing the wetsuit by putting it on and off at home. Once you are comfortable about gearing up and moving about, getting in the water is a lot easier. The restrictions that the suit puts on your movement can be gotten used to in the safety of your living room. For the pool sessions, consider just wearing the jacket, gloves and hood in the water, this will give you a feel of the restricted movement without the heat stroke.

 

[timakempton]

I have read most of the responses in this thread with interest. But I must say that I think the idea of asking anybody to make their first OW dive without having practiced in the wet suit they will wear on that dive is negligent. When you are doing your OW cert you are learning the most basic skills, you have no experience at all, the whole point of pool sessions is to familiarize the student with the gear that their life depends on and teach them a bare basic level of skills so that they can safely make their first open water dives under supervision. Exposure suits are an essential part of that equipment on which a students life and all divers lives depend. They should always be worn in pool sessions before making your first open water dive. Exposure suits are just as important as your regulators and other equipment. I have seen several divers make the mistake of diving with no suit or a suit that was to thin in the waters of the Whitsundays in Australia the water temperature at the surface is like a warm bath but at 30 feet it's cold enough to give you hypothermia in 15 minutes. I was present when one woman was hospitalised with severe hypothermia after a 35 minute dive a 30 feet when she was wearing 3mm suit. Hypothermia can kill just as quickly as running out of air or an uncontrolled ascent. We all need to remember that and exposure suits are extremely import equipment that we need to learn to use just like any other equipment that our lives depend on. As for comments about it being to warm to wear a heavy suit in a pool session well my response is that it is too dangerous to put somebody in a restrictive exposure suit for the first time and then expect them to make their first OW dive.

 

[LowDrag]

I have read most of the responses in this thread with interest. But I must say that I think the idea of asking anybody to make their first OW dive without having practiced in the wet suit they will wear on that dive is negligent. When you are doing your OW cert you are learning the most basic skills, you have no experience at all, the whole point of pool sessions is to familiarize the student with the gear that their life depends on and teach them a bare basic level of skills so that they can safely make their first open water dives under supervision. Exposure suits are an essential part of that equipment on which a students life and all divers lives depend. They should always be worn in pool sessions before making your first open water dive. Exposure suits are just as important as your regulators and other equipment. I have seen several divers make the mistake of diving with no suit or a suit that was to thin in the waters of the Whitsundays in Australia the water temperature at the surface is like a warm bath but at 30 feet it's cold enough to give you hypothermia in 15 minutes. I was present when one woman was hospitalised with severe hypothermia after a 35 minute dive a 30 feet when she was wearing 3mm suit. Hypothermia can kill just as quickly as running out of air or an uncontrolled ascent. We all need to remember that and exposure suits are extremely import equipment that we need to learn to use just like any other equipment that our lives depend on. As for comments about it being to warm to wear a heavy suit in a pool session well my response is that it is too dangerous to put somebody in a restrictive exposure suit for the first time and then expect them to make their first OW dive.

I understand your point as well as everyone else that has said the same thing about wearing a full suit in the pool except for one thing. I am in the same area as the OP and if I had worn my full 7mm in the pool I would have had heat stroke. As it was I wore only the upper half of the Farmer John and heated up quite a bit. So it is a trade off as to whether to wear it or not depending a person's ability to not heat up. I found that for myself the Farmer John was very restricting so I bought myself a one piece 8mm core/7mm limbs wet suit and certified just fine with that.

 

[avengerki]

And of course I too live in the same area and got hot in my 7mill at the pool but no where near heat stroke, if you are properly hydrated it helps too. It is all in how you manage it while 7mil is overkill for the pool you can leave it partially unzipped or flush fresh water in to help keep you cool.