Just completed PADI Open Water but still don't feel ready?

[BRT]

I saved this for myself, thank you! I've done this process but in a much less streamlined way, so I liked your writeup.

I have a question for "enlightened" Open Water instructors who try to target proper weighting: would you consider knowingly overweighting someone by 2 pounds -- and telling them so? The reason why I ask: I have found that until I get familiar with a set of gear (especially a new BC but also an exposure suit) I can have a hard time getting all of the air out of me on a safety stop. In that case, the extra 2 pounds allows me to not put myself in an awkward spot on a safety stop because I can't seem to get the last bit of air out of my BC.

Once I get to the point where I empty my BC and find that I have to add a bit of gas back in to hold the stop, I know I can now remove those two extra pounds. But I'd prefer to be 2 pounds heavy than two pounds light.

Please note: I'm literally talking 2 pounds. No, 6 pounds (or 10 or 12 or whatever insane overweights I've seen before) is NOT the same, and using my logic to justify that is NOT what I'm going for.

As a tech diver, it's never an issue: we have so much extra weight in redundant gas alone that you're bound to be overweighted on any ascent anyway. But for open water, I have found accurate weighting to be a problem under those circumstances.

I honestly think that the combination of comfort of being dragged down and lack of experience getting all gas out of their equipment are the biggest reasons why so many new divers claim that they "absolutely need" all of the lead they're carrying. You literally have to re-train an overweighted diver what diving is supposed to feel like. I'm sure it's a huge advantage for them not to learn that wrong feeling in the beginning.

2 lb is within variances in tank buoyancy and the gas in your gut. Cutting it too close is a problem too.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

I saved this for myself, thank you! I've done this process but in a much less streamlined way, so I liked your writeup.

I have a question for "enlightened" Open Water instructors who try to target proper weighting: would you consider knowingly overweighting someone by 2 pounds -- and telling them so? The reason why I ask: I have found that until I get familiar with a set of gear (especially a new BC but also an exposure suit) I can have a hard time getting all of the air out of me on a safety stop. In that case, the extra 2 pounds allows me to not put myself in an awkward spot on a safety stop because I can't seem to get the last bit of air out of my BC.

Once I get to the point where I empty my BC and find that I have to add a bit of gas back in to hold the stop, I know I can now remove those two extra pounds. But I'd prefer to be 2 pounds heavy than two pounds light.

Please note: I'm literally talking 2 pounds. No, 6 pounds (or 10 or 12 or whatever insane overweights I've seen before) is NOT the same, and using my logic to justify that is NOT what I'm going for.

As a tech diver, it's never an issue: we have so much extra weight in redundant gas alone that you're bound to be overweighted on any ascent anyway. But for open water, I have found accurate weighting to be a problem under those circumstances.

I honestly think that the combination of comfort of being dragged down and lack of experience getting all gas out of their equipment are the biggest reasons why so many new divers claim that they "absolutely need" all of the lead they're carrying. You literally have to re-train an overweighted diver what diving is supposed to feel like. I'm sure it's a huge advantage for them not to learn that wrong feeling in the beginning.

Please note that for students in a wetsuit, using the method in my link, I'm already going to be slightly overweighting them as a wetsuit worn is less buoyant due to stretching than one floating in the water. In addition, when they start out a dive, they are going to be negative due to the weight in the tank.

I'm against overweighting for the reasons here: Why overweighting is such a problem, especially for open water students | Facebook. It just makes it harder for students to control their depth.

So, I'd try to avoid adding an additional 2 lbs as they are already overweighted. I do understand that many students are nervous when they get in the water and tend to be more buoyant than they should be due to holding more gas in their lungs and not exhaling completely. My personal take is that overweighting should be avoided.

If students are first made comfortable in the water, learn to be neutrally buoyant and get comfortable finning, then performing skills that way isn't so problematic.

Mind you, I teach 1:2 as I have only 2 hands and I want to be able to intervene if my entire class has problems at the same time. This has never happened, but you always prepare for worst case scenarios.

 

[Darcimus]

I was pretty overweighted in my OW and Ice classes and I was less concerned about that than I was more overwhelmed with the experience of it all. Maybe this is how the OP feels. It took me a full 15 minutes to descend on the first open water dive, and I sucked a ton of air on that one, shortening the dive to 25 minutes. I just wasn't prepared for it. I had good, one-on-one instruction (language barrier aside, she tried....really.) I still suck air. It's worse with my FFM, and I'm getting better, but when everyone else is diving an 80, I'm usually taking a 100 out and we're finishing around the same time.

For my OW it was just being out in the ocean for the first time, at 35 feet deep, knowing there was a long swim up to where I could take my poorly-fitting mask off and breathe normally. Maybe equipment was a minor issue. Maybe I was just scared that as soon as I took my mask off for a swim, I was gonna breathe in through my nose and choke and die at 35 feet deep. It's a lot to go through for a first timer, and I was scared as hell. I still get scared every time something new comes up. There's nothing wrong with that. Fear motivates you to succeed. For diving, I think everyone needs a little fear in the back of their mind to motivate them to compete the tasks necessary to finish the dive on their feet, whether it's climbing up a ladder at the end of the dive or walking up the shore out of the lake. When you get complacent, bad things can happen.

I just finished my AOW in PDC this past December. I was nervous as hell for the first few dives, even though I had been out to the dive site (Jardines) before. This was the PPB dive, so I got through the descent, did the hover, and after a few minutes, I was care free. I saw my first shark on this dive and I didn't even freak out. In fact, I signed up for two shark dives in the next few days.

For my AOW deep dive, I was crazy nervous because I had never gone deeper than 45 feet and the plan was for a 100 foot drift dive at Moc-Che. We back-rolled in and descended quickly, and all I remember was concentrating on checking my air and depth every few seconds, and thinking "if stuff goes pear-shaped, what am I gonna do?" I remember looking up and thinking "that's a lot of water between me and safety" but I trusted my gear, and I trusted my training, and I kept my mind on the task at hand. After a few minutes of worrying (checking depth and air every 30 seconds) I just sat back and enjoyed the ride and everything just clicked. I still checked my gauges once in a while, probably more often than anybody else, but for the most part, I just sat back and enjoyed the dive. The shark dives over the next two days were a piece of cake.

Doing the nav dive, search and recovery and a few fun dives before that helped as I was able to get used to how things worked on the boat again, and I was less concerned about doing something stupid. It gave me time to get properly weighted, and the PPB dive really nailed things down for me. Maybe it'll take a few more dives just to get used to it, OP, but keep diving. Again, do a few pool sessions just to get used to the fact that you're breathing under water. In a few pool sessions I went from 26 lbs of lead to 10 lbs, and I can probably shed some more and dive on 8 lbs if I really wanted to, and I wear a 2.5 mm full suit and do pool sessions in an AL80.

It doesn't take a ton of diving to get used to this. I've done 25 dives and about 10 pool sessions. I've progressed from panicking in a pool to panicking in 3-foot vis water....and now I've decided that I love cave diving and I'm waiting for spring so I can take a sidemount course (partially to help my back........old people problems........partially so I can dive more caves). I actually look forward to diving in limited visibility now because I can challenge myself a little more.

 

[mac66]

I recently completed OW cert and felt the same way as the OP. Kind of unsure of myself at first. I did the book work/confined dives in a pool back home and my 4 OW dives as referrals in two different ports with two different instructors on a Caribbean cruise in two days.

I was really nervous doing referral dives on two different islands with two different instructors. The first two OW dives were shore dives in relatively shallow water. The third dive was off a boat in 60 feet of water. It was basically a regular dive in that we had two certified divers on the boat and two other students.

The instructor/DM said he wanted to check our buoyancy control. I suspect however he wanted to give the two certified divers their monies worth and do the deeper dive first. We actually had two guides in the water with us on that dive, the instructor and another DM.

The other two students had done the complete OW course with him and I had signed off most of the skills tests on the first two dives so dive #3 was like a real dive on a shipwreck. After dive #3 my fears and anxiety went away. It was so cool. It was the reason I got certified.

Dive #4 was a piece of cake after that. He basically rechecked a few skills and then we dove on another shipwreck in shallower water.

I had done the pool part back in November and the cruise OW part was in February. Fortunately for me the instructor I did the pool part allows student to come back any time to refresh their skills as no cost other than the (public) pool usage fee. I went back the weekend before my cruise and he went through all the skills with me to pass OW.

I have another cruise booked this year and plan on diving. I will go back before that cruise and refresh again. It's a way to refresh your skills but also a way to get some time to hang out with and get to know other divers. There is a whole group of them who come back just to get some water time and hang out.

I should mention that I'm 64 years old. I always wanted to dive but never got around to it until now. Even this old dog can learn a new trick or two.

 

[TMHeimer]

I was pretty overweighted in my OW and Ice classes and I was less concerned about that than I was more overwhelmed with the experience of it all. Maybe this is how the OP feels. It took me a full 15 minutes to descend on the first open water dive, and I sucked a ton of air on that one, shortening the dive to 25 minutes. I just wasn't prepared for it. I had good, one-on-one instruction (language barrier aside, she tried....really.) I still suck air. It's worse with my FFM, and I'm getting better, but when everyone else is diving an 80, I'm usually taking a 100 out and we're finishing around the same time.

For my OW it was just being out in the ocean for the first time, at 35 feet deep, knowing there was a long swim up to where I could take my poorly-fitting mask off and breathe normally. Maybe equipment was a minor issue. Maybe I was just scared that as soon as I took my mask off for a swim, I was gonna breathe in through my nose and choke and die at 35 feet deep. It's a lot to go through for a first timer, and I was scared as hell. I still get scared every time something new comes up. There's nothing wrong with that. Fear motivates you to succeed. For diving, I think everyone needs a little fear in the back of their mind to motivate them to compete the tasks necessary to finish the dive on their feet, whether it's climbing up a ladder at the end of the dive or walking up the shore out of the lake. When you get complacent, bad things can happen.

I just finished my AOW in PDC this past December. I was nervous as hell for the first few dives, even though I had been out to the dive site (Jardines) before. This was the PPB dive, so I got through the descent, did the hover, and after a few minutes, I was care free. I saw my first shark on this dive and I didn't even freak out. In fact, I signed up for two shark dives in the next few days.

For my AOW deep dive, I was crazy nervous because I had never gone deeper than 45 feet and the plan was for a 100 foot drift dive at Moc-Che. We back-rolled in and descended quickly, and all I remember was concentrating on checking my air and depth every few seconds, and thinking "if stuff goes pear-shaped, what am I gonna do?" I remember looking up and thinking "that's a lot of water between me and safety" but I trusted my gear, and I trusted my training, and I kept my mind on the task at hand. After a few minutes of worrying (checking depth and air every 30 seconds) I just sat back and enjoyed the ride and everything just clicked. I still checked my gauges once in a while, probably more often than anybody else, but for the most part, I just sat back and enjoyed the dive. The shark dives over the next two days were a piece of cake.

Doing the nav dive, search and recovery and a few fun dives before that helped as I was able to get used to how things worked on the boat again, and I was less concerned about doing something stupid. It gave me time to get properly weighted, and the PPB dive really nailed things down for me. Maybe it'll take a few more dives just to get used to it, OP, but keep diving. Again, do a few pool sessions just to get used to the fact that you're breathing under water. In a few pool sessions I went from 26 lbs of lead to 10 lbs, and I can probably shed some more and dive on 8 lbs if I really wanted to, and I wear a 2.5 mm full suit and do pool sessions in an AL80.

It doesn't take a ton of diving to get used to this. I've done 25 dives and about 10 pool sessions. I've progressed from panicking in a pool to panicking in 3-foot vis water....and now I've decided that I love cave diving and I'm waiting for spring so I can take a sidemount course (partially to help my back........old people problems........partially so I can dive more caves). I actually look forward to diving in limited visibility now because I can challenge myself a little more.

Just curious, where do you ice dive out there? Near Regina?

 

[NAM001]

I just completed my PADI Open Water certification, which tells me I'm now allowed to go dive up to 18 meters anywhere, but I still don't feel remotely ready. In particular, I still struggle to control my position and the angle that I'm facing while underwater. I also don't feel like I'd have any ability to cope with any current at all. I feel like it would be dangerous for me to jump straight into actual diving without having someone quite senior very close by.

Is this normal to feel like this? What can I do to combat it? Am I ready and just need practice, and if so, what can I look for that would allow me to get this practice? Are there things such as 'beginner dive trips', where everyone is certified but noone is very good yet and an instructor hangs around and keeps a closer eye than usual?

Feeling quite conflicted about this. Thanks for you help!

This is just my opinion but here it is. That 18 meter limit has a sound history. first if things go south you can CESA which you cant safely do deeper with your training. Second you can not go into deco on a single dive cause you will run out of air first unlike if you go deeper. Next If yo do some how go into deco you will clear it at the safety stop. Next safety stop is only a RECOMMENDATION and is not REQUIRED, so you dont have to have any mastery of controlling your position in the water. In short you really have to work hard to get hurt above 18M. And even harder above 15 meters. hint hint. 30 ft dives for skills training is perfect.

Your lack of comfort is understandable and quite common. A lot of it is instructor dependant because one may emphasize some skills beyond minimal standards. My suggestion is to practice in some lakes on the skills you learned in OW class until you feel in control of them. every dive work on one or two of them. each time work on hovering. laying horizontal and staying at depth +/- a foot. learn your breathing control and its affect on depth and learn your BCD and that problem should go away. Find a qualified buddy to dive with and have them work with you. He can get you trimmed out. He can see you form a distance and see what you are or are not doing. You probably have but a couple of things that will make you confortable in the water. YOU ARE ONLY AN OW,,,, YOU ARE NOT PERFECT AND NEVER WILL. There is a saying that 10 % of your energy or reasources will fix 90% of your problems. the other 10% of your problems take 90% of your reasources. Think about the first 90% of your problems and the other 10 will probably fall in place. Make every dive a learning dive and log the problem the correction and if it was a fix.

Welcome to diving and GOOD LUCK

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Dive #4 was a piece of cake after that. He basically rechecked a few skills and then we dove on another shipwreck in shallower water.

Just curious, did you do this?

Dive 4 Performance Requirements
At the surface:
1. As a buddy team, plan the dive using the PADI Skill Practice and Dive Planning Slate.

 

[mac66]

Just curious, did you do this?

Dive 4 Performance Requirements
At the surface:
1. As a buddy team, plan the dive using the PADI Skill Practice and Dive Planning Slate.

Yes, I skipped mentioning all the skills he tested us on in the interest of brevity.

I should mention that each of the referral instructors were apprehensive in just signing off on the specific skills I hadn't completed. Both made me go back through most of them to make sure I was competent. I appreciated that.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Yes, I skipped mentioning all the skills he tested us on in the interest of brevity.

Great! I was just a little concerned that the dive planning was skipped as I feel it is quite important in creating confident divers. Welcome to the underwater world!

 

[Esprise Me]

I didn't have a dive planning slate. This is news to me. Is this what you're talking about? https://goo.gl/images/gZDxHa
That would've been helpful!
(Edited to fix link)