Tec solo training

[Celt]

How would boat drift diving and drift deco diving be any different? You launch an DSMB, boat comes picks you up..

My boat is empty, we’re talking solo diving.

 

[Celt]

Imagine that you go to a bar by yourself. You get served and after a quiet pint, you pick up your tab and leave. There is a bartender and other patrons, but you spent your time alone at a table. Were you drinking with a buddy or solo?

I’m drinking with a bar full of people, if I was drinking alone I’d be on my own.

 

[Celt]

That is a brilliant metaphor and describes 'individuals' boat diving perfectly.

Just imagine you choked on a peanut -- rare but possible -- you'd need to try to clear it yourself but maybe nobody notices. That's the risk you take drinking alone.

Silly comparison, and very bad description of Irish pubs. Sure everyone knows your never solo in an Irish pub.

 

[sheeper]

You can’t do drift deco solo, there’s no one to pick you up. In 30 minutes you could be half a mile down stream from the boat.

we don't moor here. it's drift diving. so deco is done drifting. Boat follows the drift. And watches for surface markers (BIG dSMBs are the order of the day).

 

[sheeper]

Can you learn these skills in two days? Or should you have those skills and review them in the two days?

Of course there's some things you learn on the course as you go through the lectures. There's not enough time to learn new "core" skills such as using a twinset/sidemount/backup along with the other failures that your instructor's going to cause.


Question: do you really get people on that course who've never used a Pony/stage bottle backup before? Do you get them to properly monitor the gas left as they're using it?

can you "learn" those skills in 2 days? YES. Can you "master" them. NO. mastery takes practice. Like any advanced dive skillset, you need to rinse and repeat to become proficient.
And yes...i do (sometimes) get people who never used a pony/stage before. It's the minority of students but we get it. For someone going tech who has not done doubles and a stage before it starts with "Intro to Tech". And that is not just 2 days. generally a minimum of a week worth of class and dives (and often a couple of days more than a week).

 

[Celt]

we don't moor here. it's drift diving. so deco is done drifting. Boat follows the drift. And watches for surface markers (BIG dSMBs are the order of the day).

I couldn’t carry out a deco dive solo without anchoring my boat, I have to get back directly to my boat. A shore dive would be no problem I’d use my scooter.

 

[NW Dive Dawg]

You said you’re drifting during the deco. When the deco is finished how are you getting to the boat? I thought the question was simply. If I had even 30 minutes of deco to do I could be half a mile and out of sight of my boat. Which is why I can’t drift during deco.

Simple and done many times.. Do my solo dive, fire my DSMB at first deco stop, and wife follows the DSMB with the boat. In a pinch I also have my Nautilus Lifeline (old version with VHF).

 

[Celt]

People obviously have different definitions of solo, that’s another discussion.

 

[jborg]

Yeah, it's a broad spectrum from the "every dive is a solo dive" people to your "I must be the only one in the sea or on the sea". I think most people are somewhere in between, meaning simply "a dive without a buddy".

 

[plaamook]

You can hem and haw all you like about what ‘solo’ means but really…as long as I can’t hear anyone else’s bubble I’m solo. If a boat wants to pick me up. Great.
If you had to do deco…I hope you planned it and told the skipper.
Which is why we discuss whether different dive ops allow solo diving on their boat.
It’s diving w out buddies.