Mentoring a new diver the minimalist way

[Eric Sedletzky]

Do you ever get that funny feeling on your dives that you are not alone? I am not talking about your buddy either.

Oh yeah.
Once I was diving for halibut in the mouth of Tomales Bay which I found out later is the epicenter of the red triangle. The triangle is from the Farallons down to Monterey and up to Bodega Bay. San Francisco would be in the middle of the mainland section. Anyway, Tomales is where the whites go to breed so there's always white traffic in and out of that narrow corridor at the mouth. We waited for an incoming tide and were taking turns drift diving in along the bottom looking for flatties. We made about 4 runs a piece. We had my boat.
I heard that music a few times and it freaked me out. I won't go back, too risky.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Great Whites live as far south as San Diego.

Further than that. They are all the way down to the Guadalupe Islands.
Actually, whites can be found all over the world

 

[mrabdiver111]

While freediving on the North Coast for ab's, I hear that music ALL the time! And I've been ab diving for 22 years. What kills me is that when Shark Week comes on every year, it just happens to be during ab season, and Im in the water the very next weekend!! I have to watch that program too, cant help it.

Rob

 

[Jim See]

 

[Blackwood]

Further than that. They are all the way down to the Guadalupe Islands.
Actually, whites can be found all over the world

Yah. I should have said "at least as far as"

An extended family member of mine (some form of cousin or another) spent a good part of his career tracking them for Sea World.

 

[gonphishing]

Oh yeah.

I heard that music a few times and it freaked me out. I won't go back, too risky.

dun..dun... dun..dun... dun.dun..dun.dun.dun.dun.dun.dun.dun:shark:

 

[TaoH]

While freediving on the North Coast for ab's, I hear that music ALL the time! And I've been ab diving for 22 years. What kills me is that when Shark Week comes on every year, it just happens to be during ab season, and Im in the water the very next weekend!! I have to watch that program too, cant help it.

Rob

TV is toxic man! Makes you think funny and stuff like that. :shark:
j/k

Anyway, I often don't think about much of anything else other than what I'm trying to do while I'm out there. Just enjoying the moment with me, the ocean and all the other individuals who share the same space.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Well, I finally got out with my buddy and we started our minialist diving / mentoring.
The kid's a natural.
I'm totally impressed. He sometimes has a compusion to argue about stuff wether he knows about the subject or not, but today he was all ears and then performance.

The dive spot:
Gerstle Cove, Sonoma County, California.
Water temp - 52 degrees
Depth for both dives 40 feet max.
Conditions: Primo - 6" ankle slappers in the cove, slight breeze, 40 foot vis in the cove.

First dive we went in with Mach V wings. The kid wasn't completely comortable backpacking out of the gate, so we used wings. I didn't want to push him.
His weighting was exact. He did his math and nailed it right on. We did our entire first dive without putting any air in our wings. After we got back to the beach I told him I needed to do a backpack dive to check the performance of the newest freedom plate He told me he never even put any air in his BC the whole dive. I asked him if he thought he was ready to try just a backpack with no wing and he said yes. So the second dive we went in with no BC's.

The kids a natural. He's in shape, he swims, he does apnea laps underwater with long fins, he was ready. He also did a season of freediving for abalone so he was well primed for this. Remeber I said how valuable skin diving is in preparation for scuba diving?
I watched him glide around. His breathing was good. He did a few barrel rolls and a few summersaults. He get's its, he understands the physics of hydrodynamics. He was steering with his body (skin dive training).

I've created a monster (in a good way). Now he doesn't want to go back!

It was great to see a newbie again with all the excitement, pointing out all the stuff he saw. We saw many very large abs and a few lingcod. The stars were laying eggs; I picked one up and saw it was hoarding a cluster of eggs underneath. I picked up a few more and found the same thing so it must be the season.

I'm still amazed. This is only his 5th dive out of open water and he's backpacking freely and confidently and he loves it!
I so happy!!

My challenge was realized, I saved one new diver from the vortex.

 

[rollerboi]

First dive we went in with Mach V wings. The kid wasn't completely comortable backpacking out of the gate, so we used wings. I didn't want to push him.
His weighting was exact. He did his math and nailed it right on. We did our entire first dive without putting any air in our wings. After we got back to the beach I told him I needed to do a backpack dive to check the performance of the newest freedom plate He told me he never even put any air in his BC the whole dive. I asked him if he thought he was ready to try just a backpack with no wing and he said yes. So the second dive we went in with no BC's.

Nice, I'm jealous. I enjoyed the feeling of not having to inflate my BC at all when doing my specialty checkout dives in a local crater, but I don't think I have any minimalist mentors around. Looking forward to not inflating my wing.

I need to move to the coast and find some of y'all.

 

[Monkey_Gland]

I am a radical of sorts. I, on my own, removed myself from the dogma of what the standard is today. I saw many pitfalls with how it is now. All this was actually way before I was on scubaboard and knew any of the other minimalists here.

Alright Bakunin, calm down...