NSS-CDS Full Cave: The Live-Blog

[Doby45]

Now, where should a tech student post such a blog if not here. I think it’s the right place. What’s going on here is the right stuff, same as what goes on after a “this is what happened on my dive report”. Nothing bad... At the same time it’s painful to see the blog getting drowned out as it is. Nature of the beast in an ongoing blog (as supposed to a completed report). I don’t have a better idea than putting that blog here... and maybe being more clear on which critique refers to student, which to instructor and training methodology... Even so it is a “blog” in the tech forum, we mere tech wannabes are reading it too... you’d help us out sorting through it a bit better,,, ya know...

I personally think @dewdropsonrosa did the right thing posting her "blog" here. But once again, when you offer something up for public consumption be prepared for the public reaction. This IS a technical section and as such you DO have a lot of experience from posters in this section. This experience can sometimes come out as harsh depending on how that experience is leveraged to the audience. The saying "You don't know what you don't know" has been said a million times when it comes training. When you come here you will get some of the stuff you don't know shown to you. Depending on how you take this information is how well you are able to leverage it. If you come here openly and provide your story and people have unknown information to offer you or another perspective then you no longer "Don't know". This information can provide you some insight as to what to expect and how to handle certain situations.

As far as naming out people personally, that is not necessary. As I stated before I personally applaud @dewdropsonrosa. I think she bit off a big chunk but her overall mental game is right on and I would dive with her in a heartbeat. She appears to know her limits and she has yet to whine about any of this. Reggie is an excellent instructor and when she finishes her Full Cave with him, regardless of when it is, she will be a bad ass cave diver.

 

[Manatee Diver]

@dewdropsonrosa

In your discussion of your tank sizing, I was wondering what is your RMV or SAC rate in open water vs outbound in the cave? Not a critique, just trying to see if I would be looking at larger tanks, as I was thinking of LP85s for cave, and knowing that most women have better SAC rates than men.

 

[dewdropsonrosa]

Open water SAC is about 0.45 when I'm fully relaxed. I don't have numbers handy (haven't reviewed my dive data yet), but I would imagine that I'm probably at a similar number on outbound. Inbound is where I'm chewing through my tanks.

The LP85 are a bit small for my current consumption, based upon the training locations we want to reach. I tried 108s today (same height, wider diameter), but those felt big and awkward - too much tank. LP95s are the next stop as we work on finding the optimum configuration.

 

[Manatee Diver]

Open water SAC is about 0.45 when I'm fully relaxed. I don't have numbers handy (haven't reviewed my dive data yet), but I would imagine that I'm probably at a similar number on outbound. Inbound is where I'm chewing through my tanks.

The LP85 are a bit small for my current consumption, based upon the training locations we want to reach. I tried 108s today (same height, wider diameter), but those felt big and awkward - too much tank. LP95s are the next stop as we work on finding the optimum configuration.

I'm running about 0.60 for my open water SAC rate with 0.55 when fully relaxed. So I would imagine larger tanks might be in my future. When you get a chance I am curious what your outbound SAC rate was.

 

[PfcAJ]

.5-.7 are totally normal sac rates.

 

[Compressor]

@dewdropsonrosa Thank you for providing so much information to us. Much appreciate it.
When you switched tanks, what did you do to maintain your trim? Maybe nothing as things were just peachy.

 

[Schwob]

.5-.7 are totally normal sac rates.

Oh, gosh, that simple data point is so good to know. I got some relaxing yet to do (and size reduction).

 

[Schwob]

I personally think @dewdropsonrosa did the right thing posting her "blog" here. But once again, when you offer something up for public consumption be prepared for the public reaction. This IS a technical section and as such you DO have a lot of experience from posters in this section. This experience can sometimes come out as harsh depending on how that experience is leveraged to the audience. The saying "You don't know what you don't know" has been said a million times when it comes training. When you come here you will get some of the stuff you don't know shown to you. Depending on how you take this information is how well you are able to leverage it. If you come here openly and provide your story and people have unknown information to offer you or another perspective then you no longer "Don't know". This information can provide you some insight as to what to expect and how to handle certain situations.

As far as naming out people personally, that is not necessary. As I stated before I personally applaud @dewdropsonrosa. I think she bit off a big chunk but her overall mental game is right on and I would dive with her in a heartbeat. She appears to know her limits and she has yet to whine about any of this. Reggie is an excellent instructor and when she finishes her Full Cave with him, regardless of when it is, she will be a bad ass cave diver.

That’s fair!
And I do see that you do take critique well even so you seem to be asking not to be critiqued.

Now, I still need to know if I am the one you speak of that is not taking critique well and where, for if so, I may choose to try to change that...

 

[rddvet]

Well, @Doby45
Ait would appear to me as if inter instructor dirty laundry is being laundered in the back of the student. .

This isn't accurate. There's only 2 instructors that commented in any way: ken and pete. Neither had anything negative to say. None of the commentors I believe you're talking about are instructors, and the ones I know aren't making their comments out of dislike or love for a particular instructor. As I said before, I've heard nothing but good things about Reggie. Some of the things I've read here have surprised me, but again as I said, we're not hearing his perspective. I don't think anyone's said or implied anything negative about him. One thing I will add is that some of the "biggest names" in cave diving are actually some of the worst instructors. One famous, well-liked, explorer-instructors is one of the worst instructors around. He recommends dangerous things, is exceptionally complacent, and most of his students don't leave full cave having basic finning techniques such as a frog kick down to an acceptable level. This isn't hearsay, it's based on 1st hand facts and has become pretty well known and discussed in many circles. The instructor actually had some of his former students intervene and try to talk to him about it.

I'm running about 0.60 for my open water SAC rate with 0.55 when fully relaxed. So I would imagine larger tanks might be in my future. When you get a chance I am curious what your outbound SAC rate was.

Bigger tanks don't necessarily equal further distance or improved sac. I can go much further on 85s than I can 95s. For me 95s are uncomfortable, cumbersome, and increase my sac rate. I like 104s because I can get further than 85s, but don't probably have a worse sac diving them than 85s. I sold all of my 104s though because I hated transporting them from garage to car and car to dive site. They were a pain in the ass.

 

[lv2dive]

As a 5’5” diver, I am much more comfortable with LP104s/130s than LP95s. LP95s can really be head heavy for shorter divers. I’m comfortable with them now, but when I first started diving doubles I really struggled with the LP95s. I actually got better penetration with the 85s than LP95s bc I wasn’t fighting the tanks. Just something to be aware of!

Open water SAC is about 0.45 when I'm fully relaxed. I don't have numbers handy (haven't reviewed my dive data yet), but I would imagine that I'm probably at a similar number on outbound. Inbound is where I'm chewing through my tanks.

The LP85 are a bit small for my current consumption, based upon the training locations we want to reach. I tried 108s today (same height, wider diameter), but those felt big and awkward - too much tank. LP95s are the next stop as we work on finding the optimum configuration.