How often should you dive to maintain your skills?

[Spork]

Hi there!

Like the title says: How often should you dive to maintain your skills?

I don't dive "technical" in the sense that I dive with deco obligation (sometimes a short deco on the back gas, but no accellerated deco at this time).
I dive nitrox on some dives, but on casual dives in the local quarry there's no real need - not deep enough. The depth is not really of importance as the skills can be used at 30 ft as well as on 120 ft dive on a non-penetration wreck-dive in the baltic sea...

Before I got my dry suit I had 30 dives over a period of 10 years, most of them at the beginning of my diving career, but last year I did some 25 dives. No checkup with instructors, just an easy dive at a well known location with competent buddies, but I feel comfortable in the water after many hours of freediving and UW rugby in my younger years.

During the cold season it's harder to find boat trips due to the weather conditions with poor vis./strong winds so interesting divespots is harder to find...

 

[battles2a5]

Well since this is the tech diving section I feel obligated to give a technical diving answer. You need to dive a lot to keep the skills fresh and to develop muscle memory with all the routine things you need to do: clipping/unclipping bottles & regs. Gas switching and deploying/stowing regs, valve and safetly drills, shooting bags, propulsion, running line, trim and bouyancy, and the myriad of combinations of all these things. I try to hit the quary for at least 6-8 dives a month just to stay fresh. If I have a big dive coming up I may do a couple of dry runs to make sure I am squared away. I'm relatively new at the tech game so although I feel good with my skills I know I have a lot to learn and want my skills and responses to be as automatic as possible so I can be better prepared for the unknown. If you are just doing recreational diving and not going into the overhead and doing light deco on back gas, you probably don't have to dive as much but you should still keep your skills fresh as often as possible.

 

[Pearldiver07]

I second battles2a5's answer. Having been out of the water for a few months for minor surgery, I am now considering myself a newly trained tech diver. That means before I incur deco obligations again I will be drilling on skills that we covered in training, plus a few more I have decided are necessary for me.

Bottom line: I don't think it is wise to consider technically challenging dives while only diving occasionally. The often imperceptable decrease in skills and reaction time can prove disasterous in the wrong situation.

 

[Bismark]

I second battles2a5's answer. Having been out of the water for a few months for minor surgery, I am now considering myself a newly trained tech diver. That means before I incur deco obligations again I will be drilling on skills that we covered in training, plus a few more I have decided are necessary for me.

Bottom line: I don't think it is wise to consider technically challenging dives while only diving occasionally. The often imperceptable decrease in skills and reaction time can prove disasterous in the wrong situation.

Exactly. Couldn't have said it better myself. Fight like you train and train like you fight.....

 

[texdiveguy]

This should go without saying......often.

 

[rjack321]

I back off on my diving if I have a laspe of more than a few weeks/month.

 

[Flightlead]

... after many hours of freediving and UW rugby in my younger years....

underwater rugby? As an ex-rugger myself (I acutaly grew up just a few miles from the Rugby public school where the game evolved) I am convinced there is a SIGNIFICANT amount of beer drinking that goes along with this sport !

 

[ucfdiver]

I must admit, I'm too addicted to diving to have to ask this question.

 

[Spork]

Well, I don't have the luxury of diving every day or even every week. Work, family, house and other spare time acitvities must all fit within the 24 hours of the day... Then there is a thing called buddies... And finally there is the weather, the only place that's not affected by weather is a 35 feet deep (or shallow) quarry, or we have a 120 mile drive to the nearest quarry that has some depth to talk about.

I have been thinking of expanding my diving by adding accelerated deco or adv rec trimix to be able to get more bottom time in the 35-40 meter (115-130 feet) range and perhaps eliminate narcosis, but I'm afraid that I dive to little for me to motivate such a course. However, I believe that my skills need more attention.

 

[Hoosier]

Don't underestimate a practice at 10 meter depth quarry. You can practice all skill even at 8 meter depth.