Skills worth practicing during dives?

[lamont]

I have to agree completely with the concerns . . . The place to do your FIRST practices of air-sharing and mask removal and such is NOT the safety stop at the end of a deepish dive. The safety stop is a great place to practice stuff that you're already pretty comfortable doing, but midwater skills are a challenge (especially in limited visibility). That's why we do skills dives, which are completely given over to such practice. Those dives are deliberately shallow, and the time at even shallow depth is limited, because we know that people learning these things are going to have buoyancy issues. How many times did people end up on the surface during my Fundies class? I can't even remember.

When you can run a green water ascent and handle an air-share popped on you by your buddy at 20 feet and stay at your depth and do a competent drill, you've accomplished something. It took me quite a while to learn to do that.

And when we were in the VI, I did notice that my companions who decided to practice things like air-shares tended to decide to do it at the end of a dive . . . And when we had been to 90 feet on a wreck, that made me really nervous.

you can do drills after you have completed your stops. at that point the risk is if you pop from 10 fsw to the surface and then go back down again and immediately pop again after shunting bubbles arterially. after a deepish dive, if you hit the surface the dive is over and you get out.

 

[Quarrior]

With all this talk about skills, there one very important one that has been missed and I find critical.

Relax, relax, relax. It will help with your breathing and ability to handle any task loading that may come up.

 

[TSandM]

Lamont, you're right, but given the proportional pressure changes in the last 30 feet, and the fact that especially recreational divers who've done deeper dives are absolutely offgassing in that phase, I still don't relish the thought of people deliberately running a significant risk of a very rapid ascent from 15 feet after such a dive. Better to do the first practices in a pool, or on a very shallow dive and at the beginning, until one has some confidence that the drill in question can be managed with a reasonable degree of buoyancy control. Just my opinion, anyway.

With enough practice, you can do anything, anywhere, and should be able to, but it takes work to be that together!

 

[lamont]

Lamont, you're right, but given the proportional pressure changes in the last 30 feet, and the fact that especially recreational divers who've done deeper dives are absolutely offgassing in that phase, I still don't relish the thought of people deliberately running a significant risk of a very rapid ascent from 15 feet after such a dive. Better to do the first practices in a pool, or on a very shallow dive and at the beginning, until one has some confidence that the drill in question can be managed with a reasonable degree of buoyancy control. Just my opinion, anyway.

With enough practice, you can do anything, anywhere, and should be able to, but it takes work to be that together!

yeah... i could argue that you're just not going to get much velocity going from 10 fsw to the surface, but i see your point...

 

[TSandM]

I don't know, you saw me Wednesday night . . .

 

[lamont]

I don't know, you saw me Wednesday night . . .

i lost buoyancy control first...

 

[Bigcape]

Originally Posted by Bigcape
Practicing skills at a saftey stop when the dive is next to OVER makes no sense to me either.

If you are gonna need those skills during a dive it is gonna be DURING the dive on the way down or while you are at depth. Why do this at 10ft when "if I freak out and bolt to the surface I will be okay"? Pfzzzzzt!

Well, for one thing, you don't know when those skills are going to be needed. It can make sense to practice skills at the end of a dive. For example, most of the people were I dive hang out between 10-25 feet, and it can get very crowded, so at the end of the dive, when I am spending the most time at those depths, is when I am far more likely to have my mask kicked off than any other time of the dive. It could be said that at the end of the dive someone could be more likely to be low on air or go OOA. If the only time you have praticed this with your buddy is when you are on the bottom or descending, how do you know if you will be able to handle an OOA ascent, should you ever have to do one? I can see quite a use for being able to share air and hold a safety stop. Of course drills should be done at the start of a dive to verify that everything is functioning, but that doesn't mean that drills performed at other times are not also useful.
To me the more important issue is to make sure that you and your buddy are on the same page, and that you signal that you are going to drill, so they do not respond to an "emergency" that doesn't exsist, and are ready to assist you should you need it. The way I look at it is that you will not get to choose when and how a real problem occurs, so practicing skills at all points in a dive only helps to stack the deck in your favor.

Practice, Practice, Practice......

Before during after WHATEVER Just keep on your toes.

I was responding to a comment that was made about someone making reference as to being petrified about doing a skill, so they wait untill they feel "safe", at the END of a dive when they think they can just pop out of the water.

My point is to do them at the beginning so one is prepared when you need them for to safe your life, not practice

 

[dbulmer]

HAppyFunBoater,
Reason I asked is that in the UK, divers will typically be holding on to a DSMB and at times there might be a little current running and poor vis (It is common practice here to launch a DSMB for the ascent or any time you come off a wreck or shotline. It is rare that you would come up a shotline here ).

At this point the buddy pair need to be keeping an eye on each other to avoid separation and to ensure all is well above, below and around you- doing skills practice at this point can be risky because of our conditions.

Typically divers would arrange skills practice in quarries typically in the winter when it's unlikely you'll be able to dive in the sea due to wind, swell etc.

 

[HappyFunBoater]

HAppyFunBoater,
Reason I asked is that in the UK, divers will typically be holding on to a DSMB and at times there might be a little current running and poor vis (It is common practice here to launch a DSMB for the ascent or any time you come off a wreck or shotline. It is rare that you would come up a shotline here ).

At this point the buddy pair need to be keeping an eye on each other to avoid separation and to ensure all is well above, below and around you- doing skills practice at this point can be risky because of our conditions.

Typically divers would arrange skills practice in quarries typically in the winter when it's unlikely you'll be able to dive in the sea due to wind, swell etc.

Yeah, I agree. Doing skills practice in heavy current, low vis, heavy chop, etc., while messing around with a DSMB is a recipe for disaster - especially if the person is not good with those skills. Your diving is very different from mine. I rarely have current, the vis is usually >50ft, and we're just in swim trunks. For me, skills practice is just a way to kill time with a skill that I'm already proficient at. I certainly don't plan to try it while hanging from a line and flying like a flag in 5knot current.