Navigating for the 1st time

[Scott M]

I had the opportunity to do some of my first navigating where the dive was reliant on me. I made it pretty simple on myself by anchoring at 90 degree angle to a mooring I was going to use for a turn point. We dropped down the vis was about 10' so this would be a good test for me. Following a route I mapped out on the surface we headed SW on a heading of 210 degrees and ran right into the mooring chain, leg one accomplished. This area has a bunch of moorings so I marked the chain by scraping the zebra muscles off and took another bearing heading north, swam for 7 minutes, turned 180 degrees and came back heading south, we hit the mooring line right on. That was a nice surprise. I took another bearing heading back to the boat heading 30 degrees and surfaced about 40' from the boat which was dead ahead. I could have stayed down a little longer and swam right up under it but I was not sure at that point if we had passed it or not. Over-all it was not a bad practice run, I learned a lot about how much pressure it is on the navigator and have a new found appreciation for them. I did all this while towing the dive flag. My buddy was following me and scavenging the area. He found an old Canadian flag and a really nice beach towel.

I want to continue working on this skill but I also want to get one of the Desertstar trackers. My dive buddies have one of these and really only use it at the very end if a current has pushed them away from where they are suppose to surface or in case they have to get back to the boat before planned. I can see the value of this gear.

Anyone got one for sale or know of a dive shop that stocks one?

 

[CaseyJr]

We're still very new divers, but have done a couple of point A to point B runs that worked out well. Just curious, though (remember, I said we're new at this), how do you keep up with the bearings? Do you use a slate or do you rely on memory?

Oh, and where was the ski photo taken? (sorry, I know, OFF TOPIC)

 

[Scott M]

We're still very new divers, but have done a couple of point A to point B runs that worked out well. Just curious, though (remember, I said we're new at this), how do you keep up with the bearings? Do you use a slate or do you rely on memory?

Oh, and where was the ski photo taken? (sorry, I know, OFF TOPIC)

Very good question because I relied on memory and wished the whole time I had a slate to put it on. I spent a good portion of the dive thinking was that 210 or 230? lol. I would recommend a slate unless you have a very good memory. My buddies never use one and can do almost any pattern they want from memory but they also dive 100-150 dives a year in this cold dark lake so they are very experienced. It is actually a lot of fun and very gratifying when it comes out right.

That was at the peak of Mont Tremblant. I typically ski Whiteface though.

Good Luck

 

[redacted]

Following a route I mapped out on the surface we headed SW on a heading of 210 degrees and ran right into the mooring chain, leg one accomplished.... I took another bearing heading back to the boat heading 30 degrees and surfaced about 40' from the boat which was dead ahead.

You found your way so you probably followed correct headings other than these you reported. Another good reason for writing them down (or correctly memorizing them.

 

[Scott M]

You found your way so you probably followed correct headings other than these you reported. Another good reason for writing them down (or correctly memorizing them.

I could have sworn that was the heading. Wouldn't NE30 be the reciprical of SW210? No?

 

[don Francisco]

Another way to bring a map of a site with you is by drawing it on Tyvek, or similar waterproof paper. (make sure you're using waterproof pen or pencil---duh). The map can be drawn in far more detail this way, since you can use a finer point & and it's easier to write numbers and text notes.

Also you might add this to your navigation toolbox-- When leaving a mooring at the bottom, make a note of the depth. (I note my depth about 4' above the bottom). If you miss your target when you return, you can swim in a line until you come to the same depth and follow that contour line until you find the mooring. You'll have to decide which way to swim along the line at the depth, but hopefully will have some feeling for which side of the mooring you're on, possibly based on current, or some other landmark you remember.

This contour line navigation method only works on sloping bottoms, and works best if the slope is fairly steep compared to the viz. The beauty of contour line navigation is that it's immune to the problems caused by drift, or misjudging distance.

 

[Scott M]

Don, Good tip. I remember from my OW class if your on a sandy bottom with not a lot of depth change you can also use the ripples in the sand to orient yourself to shore. We were on a pretty flat none descript bottom so I feel pretty lucky getting back to the mooring line and blessed to get anywhere near the boat for a first attempt.

 

[mwilding]

I have always had success navigating direction in the past. Navigating distance... not so much.

Counting kicks just doesn't seem really effective, although I haven't practiced it a whole lot.

 

[Scott M]

I have always had success navigating direction in the past. Navigating distance... not so much.

Counting kicks just doesn't seem really effective, although I haven't practiced it a whole lot.

I could count kicks as long as it was under ten then I run out of fingers I an add 2 fins and get to 12 but that still only gets me barely out of site.



I used time instead of kicks which is not really accurate either because that would depend on a steady pace.

 

[spectrum]

Scott M

Great gob!

The toughest part of navigating is learning to trust yourself.

Don't underestimate the task loading of anything like that.

Next time put your buddy to work dragging the flag. If you were in a significant surface current or breeze the flag could pull you sideways as you swim dead ahead and throw you way off. You can control this to some extent by looking ahead and swimming point to point but if the vis is low or features are scarce that can break down too.

Pete