How long does it take you to get ready?

[FredT]

divemistress once bubbled...
what's the hurry?
don't worry,
be happy
dm

Agreed

A diver should NEVER "hurry"! That can precipitate mistakes and/or waste air. I don't even want to mention the hazards of "rushing" to get in the water. :upset:

IME "wasted" time in gear up can cost you time to do the 10th or 17th dive on a day hunting trip hitting small "shallow" dive sites. Minimizing gear prep time will often allow you maximize time underwater. After all you learned to dive to dive, not mess with gear.

OTOH On a head charter if you get your gear together relativly quickly you can get out of the way of those who just HAVE TO spread their gear all over the deck to find something they mispacked. By the same token tear down and repacking in an efficient manner keeps those same divers from "mispacking" your gear into their bag, and makes for a safer stern deck and platform.

Pushing yourself to make things "go faster" is almost always counter-productive in the long run. As new divers gain experience and stable buddies the "time to water" decreases naturally and at a reasonable gradient. As they watch the mossbacks they learn what steps can be combined, what is unnecessary, and what wasted motion they are causing themselves. As this all sorts it's self out they get "better" at making it into the waves in a "reasonable" time and enjoy their diving day more since "gear chores" shrink to a very small part of the day.

FT

 

[d33ps1x]

Getting geared up and off the boat quick means not having to follow the dive herds as they are grain fed and then taken for exercise around the wreck or reef.

Vis is generally better when you stay clear of these herds too... ut:

 

[Charlie99]

Quest once bubbled...
When i shore dive i often find myself waiting out in the water for 15 or 20 min while the people im diving with are still gear up.

If your buddy is waiting with you out in the water for that 15 or 20 minutes, why don't you just go off and dive?

If you made your shore entry solo and are hanging out there solo, why not just complete your solo dive?

Less facetiously, when your are with people that are slower, why not spend some time helping them sort things out, and don't complete your gearing up until they are almost ready.

The ocean will still be there 20 minutes later.

Charlie

 

[IBKuz]

In general it takes me approx. 10 min to prepare/check the equipment I will be using on my dive and about 5 min to actually get suited up. I have found that the factors that affect how long it takes to get into the water is more likely due to how many people I'm diving with, what there experience level is and what the site conditions are like. In general we try and have the faster divers help support the slower one's (dive as a family most of the time) so that we are all ready at the same time.

Getting out and packed/cleaned up is a different story. My diving nickname from my brother-in-law is "Lolly", so draw your own conclusions.

 

[hantzu701]

Charlie 99 and Fred T make good points. Although I'm usually the first person to be ready to dive, it's because I'm focused on the task at hand. I have a ritual of things that I do to prep and then taken apart the gear. A checklist helps, but I find it best to simply take my time. When I'm done and almost ready to go, I help other divers out.

I've learned from my professional work that hurrying through something complicated to save time usually costs me additional time. If I'm thinking about getting out of work early to make a dinner date, I'm not thinking about the work at hand. And when I get done, it probably isn't going to be right, so I'll be stuck doing the rework.

The same thing goes for diving. While I enjoy the pre-diving joking and talking that usually doubles the dive prep time, I don't want to be thinking about a dive trip or someone's plans for Friday night when I'm putting my stuff together. It's not rocket science, but I want to make sure that my buddy and I are going to be ok. In addition, I don't want to hop into the water without my pre-dive check! I want to make sure that my buddy hasn't accidently cranked my air off, or that I've remembered to put air into my BCD.

I remember one newbie who trailed his ow cert group. He hopped into 40 ft of water without a buddy or doing a check. Two things went wrong almost immediately. 1) He went down like a rock because he hadn't partially inflated his vest. 2) He lost a fin on entry. Luckily, his air was turned on.

Needless to say, his 10 minute delay was extended to 30 as we went searching for his fin. At the time, it was very funny, but it was a pretty serious incident. If he had forgotten to turn on his air, he could have went straight down to 40 ft and no one would have known anything was wrong.

 

[IndigoBlue]

The fastest I have ever seen anyone get ready was about 60 seconds. It was a backplate diver rigged for a single tank. Everything was pre-assembled. And he wore his woolies to the dive site. Jumps into his shell drysuit and hood. Fastens on his weight belt. Slips into his harness. Grabs his fins. Mask was already inside the fin foot pocket. Keeps his multi-gas dive computer clipped to a D-ring. Compass and knife in his cargo pocket neither of which he ever uses. Gloves in the other pocket.

Pre-assembly is the key. I learned a lot from watching him. I used to be fast, but now that I dive with my sweetie I spend more time helping her get ready to go as well. (Blame the spouse!)

 

[Uncle Pug]

I'm leary of the slow pokes.

When they spend too much time fiddling around with their gear and talking and dragging their feet getting ready... that is a tip off that they may not be all that comfortable with diving and are postponing getting wet.

Not always... but sometimes.

 

[simbrooks]

I have only had a few rental dives, but even with new equipment it has only taken about 15-20mins max to put it together. Yes i dont have to worry about 1000 fiddly little things that you pick up over the years, but the simple stuff, bc-tank fixing, reg-tank fixing, attaching a few choice items, buddy checking, putting on suit/booties and then donning in water takes 20 mins max, fins, mask and snorkel another 30 secs when in water, maybe another minute buddy checking again. Maybe i am not experienced enough yet, maybe i dont have all the little toys yet, is that why i am not taking 30+ mins. I agree with the "what's the rush?" when safety could be affected, but how long does it take you to get up the morning, this stuff isnt hard to put together or on.

 

[friscuba]

When I first started up, cold water in a 7 mil farmer john and jacket, I suspect it was somewhere in the 25-30 minute range minimum.

Nowadays, in warm water with a 3 mil suit at a familiar dive site, I suspect actual gear set up and checking time is roughly 2-3 minutes max. The rest of the time involved is usually just shooting the breeze, watching what's going on and the walk to the water.

later

Steve

 

[brizzolatti]

I know we're talking about normal relaxed circumstances here which is fine. I agree, it can be more hurry less speed. But it can be important to be able to gear up quickly if an emergency arises. In the rescue class we were timed gearing up (donning drysuits, assembling kit and donning). Basically, if you can't do it within 4-6 minutes, the unconscious victim in the water is likely to be brain damaged. First time timed, it was 9 minutes - got it down to 4.

In normal circumstances, however, at a more relaxed pace, I take around 10-15 minutes.