Training on the calendar! Tips?

[uncfnp]

Hi Aotus. I'm not as far along as you, I will not have cavern until August, but ahead in experience. You are a little unique in that you have a definite goal of cave verses general diving and so have focused your energies toward that end. But in doing so you have omitted much of the typical pre cave diving preliminaries. And so they are a little concerned but I think their intentions are good. Each time you change kit configuration, you change buoyancy, trim, etc. An experienced diver can often adapt quickly. You do not have that experience. The best you can do while pursuing your dream is dive, dive, dive. That's the only way to gain the basic dive skills needed for any truly advanced diving. And that is what you are after.

I assume Edd knows your history and expectations. Ask his opinion. If possible, maybe you can go ahead and start working on your planned kit and get in a few dives before the course.

My opinion FWIW.

 

[mk706]

Aotus, I would assume you're buying a new BCD from Edd. Would assume that it will be a heavily modified Hollis SMS75. At this point I'm going to assume Edd is familiar with your diving history. I wouldn't buy new gear until you arrive at Cave Adventurers. They'll ensure you get the right size BCD, as well as go over the how and why for gear modifications. Lots of assumptions here. I would recommend buying your new side mount kit from CA. They have a fantastic selection, and knowledgeable, patient staff. You may consider arriving a day or two early to go over gear.

I would recommend buying and reading the PSAI Overhead Side Mount Diver book. It's a 90 minute read. Very informative. It's written exactly like Edd teaches the class.

Having done cavern and intro in BM, I'm very much looking forward to finishing up full cave in side mount. I did have prior tech training in BM. Many of those skills translate to SM. Starting from block zero will be a challenge. I would recommend finding a competent cave/tech diver to mentor you on fundamentals in advance of the course. You should be capable of executing the frog kick, modified frog kick, modified flutter kick, pull and glide, and at least have a passable back kick and helicopter turn. You should know how to run and recover a reel. These skills can all be learned in open water, and translate from BM to SM.

I did not fly through cavern and intro. The days started at eight, and ran until 6:30pm all but the last day that ended at 5:30pm. Pack a cooler with cold drinks, lunch and snacks. Know that Edd will put in the time to ensure you are competent.

 

[mselenaous]

Go diving as much as you can. Practice holding perfectly still and horizontal maintaining your position while task loading like practicing with spools and reels, or other tasks like knot tying.
If you can't hit the ocean, hit the pool. Practice being neutral and horizontal, being blindfolded and orienting yourself in the dark while feeling your way around slowly inching along.

We have our students practice being horizontal & neutral mid-water and closing their eyes for the count of 10, then seeing if they are in the same place within a foot. Students are surprised how much they move just breathing in and out with no visual reference. Keep doing this increasing your count each time until you can hold it for a couple of minutes.

When you can do this easily one type of gear set-up, you will be able to pick it up relatively quickly in any gear setup.

 

[Aotus]

I assume Edd knows your history and expectations.

Aotus, I would assume you're buying a new BCD from Edd. Would assume that it will be a heavily modified Hollis SMS75. At this point I'm going to assume Edd is familiar with your diving history. I wouldn't buy new gear until you arrive at Cave Adventurers. They'll ensure you get the right size BCD, as well as go over the how and why for gear modifications. Lots of assumptions here.

All correct assumptions, thank you for giving me the benefit of the doubt on those points.

I think you're right, some practice in the water will be good, I'll schedule some pool time with the rental gear and work on my finning techniques, maybe try out that buoyancy drill too (never heard of it before). A point I think is overlooked by some who commented, I cannot workout my trim and buoyancy with a rig I've never used...that's kinda' why I'm taking the SM class, to learn SM. Nonetheless, some practice with the preferred kicks is a good thought and surely any buoyancy practice has got to be a good thing, even in the wrong kit.

 

[Aotus]

UPDATE:

I had to put off the training by a month when a conflict came up, but I finished my first round of training at Cave Adventurers - Overhead Sidemount, Cavern, and Intro Cave - this last weekend. It was a blast! As a small note, learning side mount with a dynamite instructor and excellent equipment was so great, and so different from using a jacket style BC and single tank, I really don't think my practice with the latter actually benefitted me at all. The one thing it did do, was made me EXTREMELY appreciative of side mount diving! I hated fighting the equipment so much, then Edd put me in the water and it all just suddenly worked! A little bit of minor tweaking and I'm a new diver. If I have a choice, I will set for sidemount, wearing my SMS 75 with CA mods, for every dive from here on out.

For those interested, here's a link to some of the training notes I posted at CDF as I fought sleep after long training days: CDF Thread

Cheers

 

[TracyN]

I still can't believe that you were able to be successful with so little dives under your belt. Most divers with the amount of dives you have can barely keep themselves alive let alone have good enough buoyancy and trim skills to pass a cave class. You must have had some natural diving talent. Congrats and get out and dive as much as you can and don't be in a hurry to get apprentice and full cave. Experience goes a long way in being able to handle the "oh S**t" moments that will happen in cave diving and trust me they will happen, it's just a matter of time.

 

[syntaxerrorsix]

I still can't believe that you were able to be successful with so little dives under your belt. Most divers with the amount of dives you have can barely keep themselves alive let alone have good enough buoyancy and trim skills to pass a cave class. You must have had some natural diving talent. Congrats and get out and dive as much as you can and don't be in a hurry to get apprentice and full cave. Experience goes a long way in being able to handle the "oh S**t" moments that will happen in cave diving and trust me they will happen, it's just a matter of time.

Me either. Especially taking all three classes in one weekend.

 

[Aotus]

Me either. Especially taking all three classes in one weekend.

took 6 (long) days actually.

I'm glad that I've managed to surprise you all. Maybe one day we'll have a chance to cross paths some weekend and we can talk about our favorite sites. Until then, I will endeavor to continue to defy your expectations.

Cheers,
Zach

 

[syntaxerrorsix]

took 6 days actually.

I'm glad that I've managed to surprise you all. Maybe one day we'll have a chance to cross paths some weekend and we can talk about our favorite sites. Until then, I will endeavor to continue to defy your expectations.

Cheers,
Zach

I started the cave curriculum as an active NAUI Divemaster and a TDI Normoxic Trimix diver and ~350 dives. I visited more than a half dozen systems with close to 50 training dives over the period of about two years.

When I say you completed 3 classes very quickly you can be assured that I've had plenty of experience and real world diving to be accurate.

 

[Aotus]

When I say you completed 3 classes very quickly you can be assured that I've had plenty of experience and real world diving to be accurate.

I have no idea why my words inspire such vitriol from you. I have never intended to demean you in any way, and there is nothing that I've said that would warrant the tone that you've consistently used on this thread. I'm sure your skills are great, and I acknowledge that I'm a novice on this topic. I would bet that I know a few things that you don't on some topics too. So what!? You are killing the fun of this forum for me. I don't know what your issue is, but it's not mine, so please keep it to yourself.