Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Whytecliff Park GUE Skills Dive 13/10/2009

Dive number 30! I have been busy! My total time underwater so far was 16 hours.

I had been waiting for my long hose to get set up for a while, and finally the part came in, and Alan could do it. He had offered to take me out and practice the skills needed to properly deploy and use this standard piece of DIR kit, and I jumped at the chance. I was scared and nervous though, because I would be diving with a very accomplished diver and under a lot of scrutiny. Alan is a great guy, and I feel honoured and privileged that he's taking the time out to help me with my skills. I'm committed to going the DIR route, and I want to dive safer, better, and farther. The DIR philosophy and the GUE organization really appeal to me, and I want to be part of what they are building: better divers.

Anyway, I'm so committed that I took half a day off work not for fun, but so Alan could tell me exactly how crap I am :-) It wasn't that bad, seriously, hah.

The day was very rough, with large whitecaps and swells out in the Sound. The bay in Whytecliff wasn't so bad, but we were worried the visibility would be very bad. There was no one in the parking lot at all! Surprise, surprise for a Tuesday morning at 9am! Well, there were a few dog-walkers, but we were the only divers in sight. There were a tonne of leaves and debris that made gearing up and down a bit of a pain, as the fall leaves were getting into everything. I can't wait to dive with snow on the ground.

Alan had brought along his spare undergarment which was great to try out. I'd not dove in a real undergarment yet, and my Saanti had not come in. I was surprised just how bulky it was! My drysuit felt a lot more 'full'. But it sure was warmer. I'm sold on the importance of a real undergarment.

We got geared up, and I was pretty nervous. The length of the new hose was a bit intimidating, as well as being under pressure to remember all the skills and drills we'd be doing. First off, we ran over the basic 5 scuba skills from the GUE, of which we only did the first 3. That was just a regulator removal and replacement (making sure to grip the hose and not the regulator, so that the purge valve is exposed for your buddy), a regulator exchange (switching to your secondary around your neck and clipping off the primary to your right D ring, and back), and a gas-sharing long hose deployment and replacement. I don't think I did too badly on the land practice, but I had some issues with looping and stowing the hose around my neck. Something didn't quite click on that whole procedure.

I was also missing my canister light, so I couldn't route the long hose quite as it should, but it didn't work too badly around my ACB weight pockets. The canister light would add a whole new dimension and complexity with its cord!

We also practised an out-of-gas situation and swim on land, with signals. You remained in touch contact on the arm, pushed forward to go forward, pulled back to go back, and squeezed to stop. You also needed to hold on to the long hose as necessary in your palm depending on which side you were on. On the left side, the buddy was responsible for managing the long hose. On the right, you are.

We hit the water, and descended pretty shallow (8m or so). Alan deployed his SMB and ran a line along the bottom. The idea was that I'd stay on my side of the line, and he'd be on his. Unfortunately, since I couldn't backfin yet, I had real problems staying on my side. But, he'd just push me back over as necessary. I found too that since I was finning some to keep stability, this drove me forward even more. I've got to learn that backfin stuff!

Once the lines were run, Alan demonstrated the skills again. Then, I ran through all three 4 times. The first run went ok, but on the second, I got hung up on looping the long hose around my neck properly. I was trying to sort it without a regulator in my mouth, and I completely forgot that I had a backup around my neck! Still, I didn't panic and did things as slowly and deliberately as possible. Alan commented later that that was a good thing. Clipping off the long hose was one of the hardest things to do right. I'm going to have to put my gloves on and practice that many times.

Finally, we did a gas-sharing exercise and swim. Alan signalled out of gas, and I gave him my long hose and switched to my backup, waited for him to clip off his long hose, and then we went for a small swim. It seemed to go OK. As the last skill, I pulled out and deployed my surface marker buoy. I love my new pockets, but it's hard to get stuff out! In this case, the spool came un-clipped and nearly ended up as a big mess of line. I also got it tangled around my hand briefly which would have been bad if I had let go. I also forgot that when I inflated the SMB, to not take in such a huge breath. I did, and promptly started ascending! I got that under control and shot the SMB alright. Not great, but alright. At the surface, it was pretty limp. Got to get more gas in it next time, otherwise no one will see it!

We retrieved the line and the SMBs and geared down. Alan had some good feedback. I was too high many times, and needed to control my buoyancy more. He recommended to get as close to the bottom as possible as that would really help fine-tune things with a good reference. In mid-water, you can fluctuate many feet without realizing it. Along the bottom, well, you'll crash into it or float away from it. He was pleased that I took my time and thought about things as I was doing them. He was also pleased that I was committed to skills and serious about learning. So, my homework was to practice the 3 skills, get better at clipping stuff off, and work on buoyancy and propulsion. I had tried some frog kicks and felt like I was getting better. But I still have a ways to go!

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