Was my Nav course necessary?

[Doby45]

Yes, you can go to MSD in SDI without knowing anything about navigation.

Never was it said you need to know nothing about navigation. My statement was not a wide spread broad statement, it was directed to a specific individual. For the "majority" of people I could not agree more with you, you need to know how to navigate underwater. I shadowed the class with a good friend that is an instructor and there is not one thing that class taught me that I did not already know. I am a bit of a different case in the fact that I also had significant prior experience with orienteering. A compass is a compass, a bearing is a bearing and adding water did not change one thing for me and evidently the same held true for the OP.

 

[tursiops]

Never was it said you need to know nothing about navigation. My statement was not a wide spread broad statement, it was directed to a specific individual. For the "majority" of people I could not agree more with you, you need to know how to navigate underwater. I shadowed the class with a good friend that is an instructor and there is not one thing that class taught me that I did not already know. I am a bit of a different case in the fact that I also had significant prior experience with orienteering. A compass is a compass, a bearing is a bearing and adding water did not change one thing for me and evidently the same held true for the OP.

Do you know three different ways to account for a cross current?

 

[Doby45]

Nope, and I cant really say I have had to deal with it on my dives.

 

[tursiops]

Nope, and I cant really say I have had to deal with it on my dives.

LOL, I hope you don't have to.....but I'd like think that is one of things a MSD knows how to do. You don't know when you might need it, and then it is too late to learn it.

I didn't need it either, until I got out of quarries and into the ocean.

 

[Bob DBF]

What I do is go to a used book store and/or online and find a good book on the subject, or the actual manual being used, and see if I know as much as I think I do. Then act accordingly.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/193145101X/ref=olp_page_1


Bob

 

[tursiops]

What I do is go to a used book store and/or online and find a good book on the subject, or the actual manual being used, and see if I know as much as I think I do. Then act accordingly.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/193145101X/ref=olp_page_1


Bob

Does that book cover diving in currents?

 

[Steve_C]

Sometimes what you learn is the experience rather than just course materials. I took Nav with a new buddy in a familiar quarry. I was to lead a ways across the quarry using compass and natural nav to traverse several locations. Arriving at X we were to reverse roles and she was to guide me back. Instructor was observing from a high point. We were to swim out and drop and go. I got to thinking about there was an awful lot of stuff to cover and took off as I dropped. Half way to my goal I convinced myself I was on the right side of a submerged road rather than the left, doubted my compass and sailed on. Eventually I saw a landmark that I knew and burst out laughing. I was on the opposite side of the quarry from where I was supposed to be and it was a big quarry.

Lesson almost learned. When you enter, stop and get your bearings and then proceed. Took another screw up in the ocean before it got completely hammered into my thick skull. Now when I drop I very carefully scope out the entry area so that I know where I am starting from and can recognize it when I get back. I think before I go.

 

[richboslice]

Maybe my instructor should have tested my abilities in navigation before he asked me to take it then. He could have taught me everything in the course in an hour.

 

[elgoog]

Sometimes what you learn is the experience rather than just course materials.

Completely agree with this. The manual and class/land drills were only a small part of of what I found useful when I did the PADI navigation class. I found that I got incredibly task fixated when trying to navigate underwater and my breathing rate went through the roof. For me, it was more about finding out the impact it had on my diving and what I should expect or account for in the future.

OP - It sounds like your class was online only with no in-water component. Is this accurate?

 

[lowviz]

...//... Half way to my goal I convinced myself I was on the right side of a submerged road rather than the left, doubted my compass and sailed on. ...//...

That is so "real world" that it is funny! I did a similar thing when I was so fascinated by the critters that I neglected to notice the tide change. OK, gettin low, time to go. Headed right into the ship channel. HUH??? Quick check of my computer told me I was all wet. I don't doubt my compass anymore either. One last thought, a compass becomes the most useless piece of equipment on you if you didn't take a reading before you either splashed or headed away from the downline.

Moving on, currents are a funny thing. I've seen the downline bowed in two different directions at the same time. There are rivers of water in the open ocean that defy prediction. And for bays and inlets, the current is neither time constant in magnitude nor directionally constant. The point made in a previous post about overtasking is spot on. I have never once needed precision nav. IMHO, it is an oxymoron.