Pool training ideas

[gwolbrink]

Hello everyone. I am a volunteer on a small (8 divers) psd team in South Dakota. We are always looking for ideas on winter training activities. Most of our training is in the pool during the winter. We do some ice dives, but the time and man power need to do that is restricting. Most of us have been through Dive Rescue 1 and Dive Rescue Ice training. I am looking for ideas on training activities in the pool. What are some of the things everyone else is doing? Thanks for the help.

 

[El Orans]

What you could try is what our club is going to do next sunday: Net Training.

Meaning that there will be an obstacle course of several types of fishing nets some of which are easy to get out of, some of them are just impossible. For the real diehards a couple of blacked out masks are available so simulate no vis.

Organized by Get Wet (http://www.getwet.nl/nettraining.htm).

Though the page is in Dutch you can use http://world.altavista.com/ to translate the webpage into English. It's far from perfect but it will give you a better idea of the text.

I'll try to post a report (with photos) next week.

Laurens

 

[El Orans]

SB Net Training (january 23, 2005)

Pre-dive briefing

* Safety first.
* Time-out sign ends the exercise.
Line cutters available at the now-net only to be used in an emergency. These nets are clearly visible but consist of almost invisible fishing lines. Do not try to turn around to look where you're stuck in the net. You'll probably only get stuck more. Just try to feel on what part of of your equipment the net is stuck.
If you can't do it with your gear on, just remove it. Integrated weights really make life interesting here. When you've freed yourself of the net do not attempt to put your gear back on while syill in the net! By the time you've donned your gear, you'll probably stuck in six or seven other places. Make a bundle of your gear, exit the net and only put it back on when you've the cuttercleared the net.

A line cutter is better than a knife. There's a bigger chance of cutting your buddy When you use a knife than when using a line cutter. Even if your're cutting away from him, you still need to get the knife close to him thereby increasing the chance to cut him. The cutting edge of the line cutter is inside and thus kept away. A knife can also be equipped with a line cutter but a knife is still a trade-off between resistance to rust and keeping an sharp edge. Where as a line cutter is cheap enough to replace if it has rusted after two years.

Exercises performed:
1. Bow-net
2. Detached net
3. Vertical net
On the North Sea there's a significant chance of of finding vertical nets around wrecks.
4. Horizontal net

Laurens

 

[theskull]

1. Remove and replace all gear and accessories with eyes closed. Improves familiarity and touch memory.

2. The Divemaster test: 2 divers exchange all items of gear (except exposure protection) with each other while buddy breathing from 1 reg. A stupid-sounding exercise, but great training for breathing rhythm, cooperation, and problem-solving.

And have fun!

theskull

 

[gwolbrink]

Keep the ideas rolling guys. This is what I a looking for.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

There's no need to actually paint a mask as temporarily blacking out a mask is easy to do, all you have to do is wrap the outside in tin foil.

 

[Poogweese]

Hello everyone. I am a volunteer on a small (8 divers) psd team in South Dakota. We are always looking for ideas on winter training activities. Most of our training is in the pool during the winter. We do some ice dives, but the time and man power need to do that is restricting. Most of us have been through Dive Rescue 1 and Dive Rescue Ice training. I am looking for ideas on training activities in the pool. What are some of the things everyone else is doing? Thanks for the help.

A task our team enjoys is the "obstacle course" which involves swimming through, but not touching hoola-hoops suspended at different depths with ankle weights and string. Good practice for buoyancy skills.

Poog

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

Even better, make them hover in each hoop for 15 seconds, with the plane of the hoop
between their armpits and their crotch. For extra credit: BACKWARDS through the hoop.

You can do it with two hoops: one at the bottom of the deep end, the other with it's top
1 foot below the surface. Make them do N laps, where N is a function of the time
available and number of divers.