Why aren’t there “River Diving” classes?

[M DeM]

How bout a "river diving with a chance of getting landed on by a whitewater kayaker" specialty? I just completed my AOW this weekend and we dove at the base of a waterfall that is a popular whitewater kayaking spot when there is enough water in the river. Lucky for me, the river flows don't overlap for the two sports. Dove it with only slight current. Here is a video of the waterfall with a kayaker going over it. *F-Bomb alert*, kayaker swimming waterfall *F-Bomb alert*. Sorry, no photos from diving.

YOU DOVE THERE???

Were the falls as strong when you were diving under them? How did you like diving it? Was it loud? Was the water clear or did the fall churn everything up?

 

[Kayakingphotos]

YOU DOVE THERE??? Is it below a dam, and the water flow strength changes? How in hell's bells did you do that?

Yep, dove there Sunday morning. There was massively less water than what was in the video though. The kayakers were going down springtime flows at about 1,500 CFS or so. We dove it when it was only 50 CFS. Here is a picture of similar flow as to when we dove it:

 

[M DeM]

Yep, dove there Sunday morning. There was massively less water than what was in the video though. The kayakers were going down springtime flows at about 1,500 CFS or so. We dove it when it was only 50 CFS. Here is a picture of similar flow as to when we dove it: View attachment 468755

gotcha. still looks really cool though!

 

[northernone]

Rivers are my homegrown specialty. To this week's students, river diving is standard OW dives in the local water.

It's just drift diving with entanglements, low visibility and learning to read the flow. It's lovely.

Learning how to dive specific environments is important. Huge surf, cold water, or low visibility all come to mind. All require specialized skills, just they are so very normal to the local dive community I think it is difficult to sell a course to learn what is already "normal" diving.

That said, I'll happily locally orient anyone river diving to anyone visiting if I'm familiar with the conditions I'll be introducing.

Cameron

 

[leadduck]

 

[Youngandfree]

And you're in virginia from what it looks like, yes?

Yes. I haven't dove there since I didn't get certified by my LDS, but this is where they go.
Pepper's Ferry Dive Site

 

[shurite7]

This is really interesting! Thanks for taking the time to explain this!

This is the same for NAUI as well. For example, there is a guy in WA that teaches a distinctive specialty for diving in a Titan missile silo. One doesn't need the cert to dive there. If one enjoys taking courses and doesn't have a broad range of experience the silo course is worth taking.