Got a gear and wish to re-familiarize myself with standard skills

[Michael.52]

Hi
Me and a friend are experienced recreational divers; Master Diver and Divecon. We recently got ourselves a back plate and harness style BC, in order to use with singles, in future I probably will do tech also.
Since the BC hose is a different length, I got a different shape/sized bladder, new weight location, I believe it's smart to re-familiarize oneself with all the basic drills, so we plan to dive the new gear for the first time in two weeks.

We plan to go over all the drills of a refresh dive, practice them on each other a couple of times, then swim around a bit, adapting to the feel of the new BCs, and finally to confirm weights by leaving 30 bars of air in out tank and making sure we can still maintain depth and control.
What specific drills would you recommend us to put extra emphasis on? does anyone perhaps already have a "adapting to new gear" checklist they wish to share? what additional things would I want to do before/during this dive?

Drill list:
weight check before ascent (empty bladdar, only breathing), controlled decent, regulator purge&location (two methods), mask clearing (static and swimming), air sharing+ascent, taking off and putting on weight belt, emergency ascent (with and without releasing weight belt), taking off and putting on BC, buoyancy (static and swimming).

 

[dbulmer]

As a buddy pair, diver A puts up a DSMB while dver B watches. Diver B then puts up a DSMB while diver A watches.

Plan to do this when one of you hits about 70 bar at a shallow depth.

Both buddies ascend together to the surface.

The idea here is for each diver to stay at the same depth during deployment and to remain together as they ascend.

This tests: buoyancy control, trim, buddy communication and situational awareness. This is what I feel you should be testing - gear is a small part of this. The task loading required will test you

While doing this, it will also reveal how well your gear is configured - ie your weighting, where your drings , pockets, dsmb are.

Since the deployment starts at 70bar (assuming a shallow depth of 6 to 9m metres) you have to unclip your contents gauge and then clip it back on.

You have to deploy a spool/reel etc.

At the end of the dive, your gas will have reduced and assuming you have sufficient gas you should be able to do some weight checks.

 

[Steve50]

Hi


Drill list:
weight check before ascent (empty bladdar, only breathing), controlled decent, regulator purge&location (two methods), mask clearing (static and swimming), air sharing+ascent, taking off and putting on weight belt, emergency ascent (with and without releasing weight belt), taking off and putting on BC, buoyancy (static and swimming).

I'd suggest not practicing this one.

 

[Michael.52]

As a buddy pair, diver A puts up a DSMB while dver B watches. Diver B then puts up a DSMB while diver A watches.
Plan to do this when one of you hits about 70 bar at a shallow depth.
Both buddies ascend together to the surface.
The idea here is for each diver to stay at the same depth during deployment and to remain together as they ascend.
This tests: buoyancy control, trim, buddy communication and situational awareness. This is what I feel you should be testing - gear is a small part of this. The task loading required will test you
While doing this, it will also reveal how well your gear is configured - ie your weighting, where your drings , pockets, dsmb are.
Since the deployment starts at 70bar (assuming a shallow depth of 6 to 9m metres) you have to unclip your contents gauge and then clip it back on.
You have to deploy a spool/reel etc.
At the end of the dive, your gas will have reduced and assuming you have sufficient gas you should be able to do some weight checks.

We do not do dives that require SMBs, so that would be a bit less relevant to us, however the principal of task-loading is just the direction I was thinking of also; you just put the name to it! excellent.
Is there anything else that might come to mind? we'll probably do all the basic drills twice, once without the mask on.

Steve50, why wouldn't you suggest those two drills? they are almost the most relevant due the completely new weight configuration.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

If it's task-loading you want to practice ... which is an excellent way to improve both skills and awareness, by the way ... I can suggest a dive that's part of my AOW curriculum.

Anchor a buoy in about 10 meters of water, and perform a dive where the objective is to navigate a course in a pattern that begins and ends at the buoy ... I use square patterns of two minutes per side and triangular patterns of three minutes a side. Do the entire dive at a depth of 5 meters ... enough off the bottom that you have to stay focused on buoyancy control while managing the compass work. And share responsibilities ... one diver monitors the heading, while the other monitors depth and elapsed time. So in order to achieve the objective of the dive you have to work together.

What this dive teaches you isn't navigation (presumably, you already know that). The purpose of the dive is to help you learn how to position yourself to be seen, how to communicate, how to work together to achieve a desired objective, and how to manage all of that without losing buoyancy control.

It's a challenging dive ... but one that very effectively helps you learn how to "compartmentalize" multiple tasks and manage them in real time.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Steve50]

Dropping the weightlbelt puts you into an uncontrolled ascent rate.

 

[TSandM]

To me, the single biggest skill is to practice hovering completely motionless. That will tell you if you have your gear and weights distributed well for stability.

The other skills are all good ones, especially the gear remove at the surface, since that's one of the skills I have actually had occasion to use fairly frequently in various parts of the world.

 

[dbulmer]

We do not do dives that require SMBs, so that would be a bit less relevant to us, however the principal of task-loading is just the direction I was thinking of also; you just put the name to it! excellent.
Is there anything else that might come to mind? we'll probably do all the basic drills twice, once without the mask on.

Steve50, why wouldn't you suggest those two drills? they are almost the most relevant due the completely new weight configuration.

A simple alternative without DSMbs.
Noughts and Crosses (Tic Tac Toe for North Americans).

With a slate or wetnotes, pick an agreed depth between buddies.

Play a game of tic tac toe - you pass the slate to each other in turn keeping an eye out for depth changes and alterations in trim.

One point about the DSMB - it's a good skill to acquire and one in my opinion which needs to be practiced frequently.

I do this with unknown buddies to see what they do

 

[DevonDiver]

..the single biggest skill is to practice hovering completely motionless.

Having achieved a good hover, the diver should then transition the hover into a stable horizontal position. This should be followed by achieving controlled ascent and descent in proper trim, using effective buoyancy control. When these are perfected statically, they should be combined with propulsion skills (fining) to permit forwards, backwards and circular movement without deviation from desired trim/buoyancy.

> I class buoyancy control (hover, ascent and descent), proper trim and effective propulsion as Tier 1 'core' competencies.

Most people can hover (even in trim) if they focus 100% upon it. However, their hover/trim tends to significantly deteriorate when other factors become prioritized in their task-loading. True acquisition of skill only exists when a function becomes autonomic (Adj - Involuntary/unconscious) - when it happens automatically without draining upon the divers' capacity for task loading and permits full attention to other necessary skills and functions.

Once core open water skills can be completed with autonomic control in the water, you can start to develop team skills and situational awareness. Whilst applying Tier 1 (core) competencies, undertake exercises to develop and assess your ability to communicate and monitor yourself (gas/bottom time/depth/NDL remaining/stress levels/breathing rate/physical and physiological state), your team (their location and their situation; gas/bottom time/depth/NDL remaining/stress levels/breathing rate/physical and physiological state) and your surroundings (location, navigation, conditions, hazards). Situation awareness should also include the awareness of forthcoming demands in the dive (i.e. pre-planning 'one or more steps ahead'). There are drills and practice games that can helps develop these capabilities.

> I class situational awareness and team protocols as Tier 2 'foundational' competencies.

Tier 2 'foundational' competencies tend to suffer proportionally to the level of task loading and/or stress to which the diver is subjected. With experience and practice, the diver should aim to always 'reserve' some focus (mental operating capacity) for foundational awareness and team skills. These skills should not be diminished when other demands are placed on the diver.

A good test for autonomic Tier 1 and Tier 2 competencies is to increase task loading and stress by practicing critical emergency skills and other diving procedures. For the recreational diver, these skills reflect the exercises and performance requirements on the Open Water course. Practice and assess your capability to hover completely motionless whilst retaining 'big picture' situational/team awareness and then begin carrying out critical emergency management skills (air-sharing, mask remove/replace, LPI remove/replace etc)

> I class open water contingency/emergency protocols as Tier 3 'critical' competencies.

Tier 3 competencies need to developed to an autonomic level, which does not degrade performance of Tier 1 and 2 competencies. If Tier1/2 competencies fail during the performance of a critical Tier 3 competency, then it can lead to a severe worsening of an emergency incident and cause excessive stress to the divers involved. In the event that a diver changes their equipment configuration, or dives with team members who have an unfamiliar configuration, the diver should assume that their Tier3 competency is significantly reduced. They must resolve that deficiency and limit diving until it is returned to an autonomic, timely and reliable performance.

Only when Tier 1-3 competencies are reliably developed to an autonomic and un-intrusive level, should the diver seek to introduce further task-loading. This supplementary task-loading may be activity based (i.e. the use of underwater cameras) or induced by increasingly challenging dives (such as complex navigation or guideline deployment in an overhead environment).

> I class supplementary activity/location induced skills as Tier 4 'functional' competencies.

Again, it should be anticipated that introduction of a further tier of competencies will cause a degradation to the performance of underlying competency tiers. The diver should seek to practice and ingrain Tier 4 competencies to a level where they do not cause task loading and reduce performance of Tier 1-3 competencies. Until Tier 4 competencies have been autonomically mastered, without any impact on core, foundational and critical competencies, then the diver should limit the scope and challenge of the dives they undertake using new functional competencies.

I've expanded this into a full article: A Guide To Expert Scuba Diving Skills Development

 

[Michael Guerrero]

I don't think just going to a wing changes that much. I made this switch recently, and didn't find much difference with it.

You will need to know where your inflator sits, and be comfortable reaching for it. Mine sits up higher on my shoulder now.

You need to get your weighting correct because the plate (if it's steel) adds 5 - 6 lbs, and your trim will be different with more weight on your back so you need to check each other's trim and possibly use trim weights.

You need to be able to remove a weight belt if you are using one, and if it's under your harness waist/crotch strap, like mine is, then it will be a little more difficult. I would do this in very shallow water where you can retrieve it easily and are not rocketing to the surface, or maybe just do it on the surface in 5' of water. I wouldn't worry much about putting it on in the water. Your weight belt should be put on first (IMO), then wing, all on dry land, then dive. If you have to take it off in the water it's for a bad reason. Unlikely I think that you'd have to take it off and put it back on in water.

Your gear is going to be in different places, so I would practice getting to your shears/knives, using them and replacing them. Clipping and unclipping your lights to make sure the shoulder D-rings are in the right place. Basically there will be some new muscle memory you need to develop as your stuff will likely be in a slightly different place than you are used to grabbing it.

Make sure there's not excess play in the shoulder straps.

Know where the dump valve is and practice using it if it's in a different spot than your BC.

If you didn't move to a long hose the buddy drills (sharing air, mask clearing, etc.) should be the same.

I'm with Steve50 on the rapid ascent thing. I think they're dangerous, and don't like doing them. If you're not kidding having to do one, there's little you can do to make it safe.

But I would try swimming up your rig. If your wing pops you need to be able to swim up your rig. I would practice in shallow water of course.

Buoyancy is going to be impacted significantly by weight so if you get that down it should be just like your normal diving. If you use different kinds of exposure suits (drysuit, heavy wet suit, and skins) then you want to get your weights right for each.

Honestly, I found it a very easy transition to a BP/W. Mainly just needed to figure out where to put all my crap and learn to reach for the new places.