A.S.H.
Contributor
I agree
When/where to practice solo skills? And what to practice?
- Thread starter Aloha Joe
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AbnSwmr
Registered
I learn about proper equipment and practiced these skills in the SDI Solo Diver course. Probably a good place to start.
Frontpointer1000
Contributor
Just food for thought.
To answer the OPs original question, this is what works for me.
My son is a big diver and if I am diving with a partner, he is almost always my partner. Otherwise I am driving alone. This is mostly simply because I prefer to either drive alone or with him. It’s more fun, and more peaceful. It’s peaceful because I know his skills, however there is a level of anxiety because it’s my son and I’m constantly watching him. He is 16 and has been diving for 4 years.
We have access to a pool and will get into the pool maybe once every other month strictly to practice drills. These drills are often complicated and made up of contrived situations.
We might pull off a fin and tie line around the diver to simulate fishing line or net on a Wreck and tie the line all around the other diver. We almost certainly tie some of the line on to the mask which necessitates removal of the mask. Then the diaper has to get out of the mess. We might turn off the back gas While the mask is removed and the diver has to go to the redundant air source.
Or we say a tear in the wing necessitates staying horizontal on one side or upside down during ascent and safety stop. We come up with whatever scenarios seem fun. And appropriate for the context of diving we are planning to do.
When actually diving, we generally will perform several drills at the safety stop. Always indicating drill time with the “drill sign” and then switch back-and-forth doing drills.
To answer the OPs original question, this is what works for me.
My son is a big diver and if I am diving with a partner, he is almost always my partner. Otherwise I am driving alone. This is mostly simply because I prefer to either drive alone or with him. It’s more fun, and more peaceful. It’s peaceful because I know his skills, however there is a level of anxiety because it’s my son and I’m constantly watching him. He is 16 and has been diving for 4 years.
We have access to a pool and will get into the pool maybe once every other month strictly to practice drills. These drills are often complicated and made up of contrived situations.
We might pull off a fin and tie line around the diver to simulate fishing line or net on a Wreck and tie the line all around the other diver. We almost certainly tie some of the line on to the mask which necessitates removal of the mask. Then the diaper has to get out of the mess. We might turn off the back gas While the mask is removed and the diver has to go to the redundant air source.
Or we say a tear in the wing necessitates staying horizontal on one side or upside down during ascent and safety stop. We come up with whatever scenarios seem fun. And appropriate for the context of diving we are planning to do.
When actually diving, we generally will perform several drills at the safety stop. Always indicating drill time with the “drill sign” and then switch back-and-forth doing drills.
I have been reading this thread with amusement as I started diving in 1959, got certified LA County in 1963, and went on for further certifications later. I won't bore you with a lot, but I was diving mostly solo for the first several years of my diving experience, before even being certified. I was a teenage diver, and dove in rivers and lakes in Oregon, again mostly solo while my family was fishing. My water skills were very good, as I was on. The high school swim team, and had undergone YMCA Lifesaving classes, a bit later becoming a WSI (Water Safety Instructor). On one of my first lake dives, in Elk Lake, Oregon off my Dad's 7-man life raft, we had my Grandmother out with us in the raft, and I went down with m y 38 cubic foot tank and Healthways Scuba double hose regulator, playing around in 30-40 feet of water, watching fish navigate through the water weeds which reached up toward the surface, watching small bibles emulate off the plants, seeing those very trout my family was fishing for ignore their bait, and enjoying the feeling of weightlessness.
My Grandmother became increasingly agitated when after over five minutes I did not surface, and exclaimed to my Dad, "Tell him to come up, tell him to come up!" According to my brother, who witnessed this, my Dad simply looked at her and said, "How?" I surfaced after a thrilling 20-minute dive.
Later I went through the. U.S. Naval School for Underwater Swimmers in Key West, Florida where the buddy system was impressed upon us, but followed that with U.S. Air Force Pararescue Transition School, where independence was encouraged (it's damned near impossible to "buddy dive" off a parascuba jump).
I have continued diving continuously since those first, mostly solo dives in the beginning, and most often now solo dive (the last being last Monday). I do underwater photography, observation, and dive a lot of vintage gear. Since I dive shallow, I rarely have an alternate air supply, but in many configurations dive with an octopus. If I am diving a very old regulator, I have a twin-post manifold where I set up the double hose regulator and a reliable single hose regulator on the same set (usually my Scubapro Mk V first stage with my AIR I second stage. I have also played around with independent doubles, and with the Dacor Nautilus CVS. I have been doing this for decades, though I have no solo dive certification.
In the 1970s and 1980s I was a NAUI Instructor. During that time, there were articles describing virtually all instructors as being solo divers, as with students you have no reliable buddy. So I guess I have a rather different view of solo diving, in that I simply go out and dive with an objective in mind, be it underwater observation, video work on underwater life, underwater photography, or testing vintage gear.
This video will give you a taste for some of my solo dives.
SeaRat
My Grandmother became increasingly agitated when after over five minutes I did not surface, and exclaimed to my Dad, "Tell him to come up, tell him to come up!" According to my brother, who witnessed this, my Dad simply looked at her and said, "How?" I surfaced after a thrilling 20-minute dive.
Later I went through the. U.S. Naval School for Underwater Swimmers in Key West, Florida where the buddy system was impressed upon us, but followed that with U.S. Air Force Pararescue Transition School, where independence was encouraged (it's damned near impossible to "buddy dive" off a parascuba jump).
I have continued diving continuously since those first, mostly solo dives in the beginning, and most often now solo dive (the last being last Monday). I do underwater photography, observation, and dive a lot of vintage gear. Since I dive shallow, I rarely have an alternate air supply, but in many configurations dive with an octopus. If I am diving a very old regulator, I have a twin-post manifold where I set up the double hose regulator and a reliable single hose regulator on the same set (usually my Scubapro Mk V first stage with my AIR I second stage. I have also played around with independent doubles, and with the Dacor Nautilus CVS. I have been doing this for decades, though I have no solo dive certification.
In the 1970s and 1980s I was a NAUI Instructor. During that time, there were articles describing virtually all instructors as being solo divers, as with students you have no reliable buddy. So I guess I have a rather different view of solo diving, in that I simply go out and dive with an objective in mind, be it underwater observation, video work on underwater life, underwater photography, or testing vintage gear.
This video will give you a taste for some of my solo dives.
SeaRat
Attachments
After several ocean dives with “buddies” who were not reliable, I took the SDI Solo Diver course and it helped me prepare mentally and gear wise to be self reliant for rescue in most situations. The mental part is about dealing with the stress that unexpected emergencies can put on you. Stress that can cause panic and get you killed. Learning how to head off panic is a big plus when underwater no matter if you’re in a group or find yourself alone. The gear part is mostly redundancy. The sudden loss of air, vision, or entanglement are reasons for carrying a minimum 19L pony bottle, a spare mask, and multiple placement of cutting tools and dive lights. I never choose to dive alone, but having the skills and gear to get myself out of a jamb is what any Diver supposed to do... be responsible for myself without putting others at unnecessary risk. Having proper training is important. Muscle memory and quick reaction under pressure comes with practice, lots of practice. I wish you well.
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