What skills do you actually learn in a Solo course?

[MichaelMc]

May want to practice with a rash guard, board shorts and a single 80 in 30' first......

AL plate, AL 80, thin suit, and weight belt might be a good starting practice point as well. The weight belt should let you stay neutral once you leave the rig. Neutral does make swimming about easier.

Edit to add (post tursiops 'it was not a task anyway'...):

This is solo, so we likely need redundant air by standards, so lets go with double AL40s to still have some ballast to put on the weight belt for our no-tank excursion, that and suit compression might keep us neutral...
How would Trace cascade this joy ride....

 

[tursiops]

I'am still baflled how I should do this with steel doubles and drysuit. It don't think I would pass this course.

Once again I'll say it: removing scuba unit, swimminbg away, swimming back and replacing it, is NOT in the course. That is just made-up by some instructor, or a poster,

 

[Soloist]

Once again I'll say it: removing scuba unit, swimminbg away, swimming back and replacing it, is NOT in the course. That is just made-up by some instructor, or a poster,

I posted it. I didn’t make it up. I also clarified my statement by stating “I am referring to recreational warm water diving with a single tank and a pony”, however, some have chosen to ignore it. Move on......

 

[uncfnp]

Once again I'll say it: removing scuba unit, swimminbg away, swimming back and replacing it, is NOT in the course. That is just made-up by some instructor, or a poster,

It was part of our required skill to deal with entanglements. Has that been removed or do you teach it differently?

 

[uncfnp]

I'am still baflled how I should do this with steel doubles and drysuit. It don't think I would pass this course.

The point of the exercise (as I understood it) is ways to deal with entanglements while solo. The solution will depend on the situation and gear configuration. How would you currently deal with an entanglement, assuming simply cutting yourself out was not a viable option?

 

[caruso]

How would you currently deal with an entanglement, assuming simply cutting yourself out was not a viable option?

In that scenario the diver's natural and only viable next step is to write out their will on their slate and not forgetting to sign it.

 

[soggybadger]

AL plate, AL 80, thin suit, and weight belt might be a good starting practice point as well. The weight belt should let you stay neutral once you leave the rig. Neutral does make swimming about easier.

Edit to add (post tursiops 'it was not a task anyway'...):

This is solo, so we likely need redundant air by standards, so lets go with double AL40s to still have some ballast to put on the weight belt for our no-tank excursion, that and suit compression might keep us neutral...
How would Trace cascade this joy ride....

Why would I practice with a different setup to the one I use? What's the point of practicing a skill that I can't use? I dive in cold water with steel tanks so I can't see the point of practicing any other way.

 

[MichaelMc]

Why would I practice with a different setup to the one I use? What's the point of practicing a skill that I can't use? I dive in cold water with steel tanks so I can't see the point of practicing any other way.

There is no point in a setup unsuited for your environment. And while some skill demonstrations -- ditch, swim away, return, don -- may be good demos of comfort, they might not be smart diving or even smart practice depending on circumstances. Apparently this was part of one instructors solo class in the tropics, as part of what would you do if you can not cut the entanglement. As mild devil's advocate, do you have to solo in heavy steel tanks?

A solo question that may remain is what are your escalating steps to deal with entanglement? If you drop your (first) cutter. In low/no vis? No mask? Steel cable? With rig helplessly stuck? Ditching the rig may be part of your response. How do you handle that in your environment. In the tropics, swim off a few feet and reassess is feasible. In a dry suit you may be a balloon without your rig. But if your rig, but not you, are helplessly stuck, how would you respond?

(I have an option in mind, unrelated to tanks, but it is not my environment)

 

[johndiver999]

If a solo diver gets entangled in cable or rope or lines, he may be required to remove the scuba unit and work on the entanglement. If the entanglement is too severe to release the scuba unit (in the limited time provided by the remaining air supply) then possibly the bail out bottle could be removed and used to ascend leaving the main gear on the bottom. This does not seem to be an outrageous problem or solution.

If the bail out bottle could not be removed either, then the diver is swimming up and or floating up until he reaches the surface with one long slow exhalation. I would think these scenarios would be considered by most solo divers and that they might consider their weighting options to make this more feasible, but I doubt many practice swimming up without the scuba unit.

I'm not sure if this is in any textbooks, but if the diver is running short on time and does manage to cut the entire scuba unit out with just a little bit of air left, it might make sense to just hold the tank and BC in your arms, work the BC and ascend - without taking the time on the bottom to put it back on.

In any regard, I think a solo diver should have a good bit of practice removing the scuba unit on the bottom and replacing it.

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

Why would I practice with a different setup to the one I use? What's the point of practicing a skill that I can't use? I dive in cold water with steel tanks so I can't see the point of practicing any other way.

And that means you would have to have enough ditchable weight on your belt so you didn't start heading skyward when you remove your steel tanks because you will lose that negative boyuyancy when you take it off, I normally only dive with four pound of lead in fresh water when I am running a 95 cu/ft steel in no current, I add four more pounds in a current. That is with a 7mm.