My Zellet is now Scared to dive.....

[Fishkiller]

it was a way to get attention,

When we were on our way to the Dive shop to get out equipment for his second round of check out dives he mentioned to me that " I am Scared something will happen and I will not know what to do" He mentioned the dreaded free flow and along the same lines he asked me what was to worst thing to happen to me, I told him that on my over 70 dives the worst thing to happen was that I was stung by a Jelly fish. I told him to ask other divers and his instructors how many dives they have been on and what was the worst thing to have happen and if they died or seen anyone die, I also asked him what a buddy was for...
he asked me how many dive he has been on and to the best of my knowledge he has dove over 50 times in a pool, and I asked what was the worst thing that happend to him in that time he said I don't know, I also think that going from the pool to the big water has something to do with it...

I asked him to submit a thread to this board but asked that I type it as I can type faster...

at the dive shop we signed up for a Scuba Review class in two weeks, something that will increase his confidence, but am appealing the the Board for stories and Ideas for Zellet he was impressed that I saw someone vomit in his regulator and simple switched to his safe second OCTO while he washed the main reg out...

Thanks

 

[metridium]

I'll probably regret asking this...

but what's a "Zellet"?

 

[GreenDiverDown]

metridium once bubbled...
I'll probably regret asking this...

but what's a "Zellet"?

Fishkiller junior!

SA

 

[metridium]

Oh. Oops.

Sorry.

 

[Fishkiller]

in this instance it is my son's profile name on this Scubaboard.

I 'll get him to explain it later when he is here.

 

[wreckchick]

Fishkiller,

I remember reading about Zellet's OW dives and the maturity he showed in not finishing the dives because he wasn't comfortable. I also understand that you want to share your love of diving with your son, but it might be that he's not ready to embrace diving the way you have. I started diving because I loved to snorkel and found myself increasingly jealous that I couldn't do anything more exciting that bob around looking down on the cool stuff.

Without knowing the specific circumstances that motivated him to start diving I can't give any great advice as to how to encourage him to get excited about diving the way the rest of us are, but maybe a trip to a great snorkeling destination might pique his interest enough to finish up the certification either there or when you get home.

Regards,

Rachel

 

[Uncle Pug]

Fishkiller once bubbled...
...am appealing the the Board for stories and Ideas for Zellet

I don't think my sharing the worse things that have happened on a dive will help Zellet.... and I'm with Rachel.... if he is fearful maybe he isn't ready... yet.

 

[Zept]

...I was very fearful. One of the things I did was read all the accident reports I could find. I figured that if I was going to be afraid (I am naturally a nervous person), it was better to be afraid of things that might actually happen. I tried to train myself to think about solutions rather than wallow in non-specific angst. It helped me, but I am not sure it would help Zellet.

I am more confident now, mostly because I have been through lots of screw-ups and managed to do more-or-less the right thing. There's no substitute for experience.

If he is fearful about specific situations (eg freeflow), maybe practising them in the pool will help.

Zept

 

[jbd]

and nothing really bad has happened to me. I have been in some situations that scared me in the early days of my diving. Most of these situations involved very low to actual zero viz and poor bouyancy control while solo diving. The most memorable was when I was descending but lost my inflator and sank quickly into a hole and the viz ended up being zero and it was pitch black. As I was sinking and couldn't stop I suddenly felt all these little things creepy crawling up my body and then they were try to rip my regulator out of my mouth and tear my mask off my face. Suddenly I stopped sinking and these things were all over me.:wacko:

When I finally got to the surface I found that my max depth was only 27 feet. Much of what I do diving now is based on that dive.

I have gotten choked while underwater and was easily able to cough through the regulator. On my first ocean dive I got sea sick while hanging on the tag line waiting for my turn to reboard the boat. No problem did the same as you mentioned in your post Fishkiller.

More recently I have had divers land on my back while I was diving at the bottom of the quarry. I like to swim 6 to 12 inches above the bottom. When divers have landed on me like this I get pushed done into the mud and have to stay there until they regain control and get off of me.

So Zellet, things can go wrong or be spooky or scary but if you practice the things you learned during your training you should be able to handle them or even prevent them from happening in the first place. Remember that anyone can call the dive at any time--even before the dive has started.

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

How old is Zellet?

I have two sons, one dives and does great. The other has done a couple of demos and since he was very nervous each time I haven't pushed it with him. In fact I've told him his nervousness makes me nervous and so I won't encourage him to dive. It isn't for everyone

But if your son is young he may have some really unreasonable fears. Well I guess you don't need to be young to have those, but I think it's more apt to happen to younger people.

If he really wants to dive as much as you want him to dive then that refresher course is a good idea. Maybe some pool time, maybe pick a favorite place of his. Hey wait a second, get all of us tickets to Maui and I'll help out :wacko:

I would tell him that his nervousness is also a sign of caution. That's a good thing.

Worst thing I've seen isn't so bad. I have seen a diver get bent. He was a hurting unit for sure. He got some chamber time and when he climbed out his wife forced him to take her to dinner. Guess he wasn't that bad. But he whined like an ex-wife on the first of the month.

What things does Zellet like about diving? I see a vacation bribe in his future