When Does Your Dive Count Start?

[Squid]

Squid, if you really want to get a good idea of you weighting and bouyancy, try taking the Peak performance bouancy class. The class is designed to work on those very skills you say you want to tweak.

Sharon ... are you talking about the Peak Performance Bouyancy Class that is part of the Advanced OW class or is there a Specialty Class that is a stand alone class you can take (like the ones you take for getting Master Diver, etc)?

I know the AOW this weekend will include PPBC and I am really looking forward to i.

 

[Cave Diver]

It's not the quantity of the dives, it is the quality of the dives

I can certainly relate to what Thermo described about people who say they have hundreds of dives yet display a lack of even basic skills.

Log your dives as a personal record so you can refer back to it as needed. Some courses have prerequisites which include having a minimum number of dives to qualify you to take or complete the course. Some agencies have forms of recognition as you achieve landmark numbers of dives (100, 500, 1000, etc.).

 

[outback]

Da Word

If you want an actual definition, the PADI instructor manual defines an open water dive as....

....a dive during which a student diver spends the majority of time at a depth of at least 15 feet and

a. breathes at least 50 cu ft of compressed gas

or

b. remains submerged for at least 20 minutes.

Afraid I gave up on logging dives a long time ago, the memories live in my fevered brain and to a certain extent in my computer.

Also, if you're looking for buoyancy check info - there's some good stuff here
http://www.scubadiving.com/200609_training_buoyancy

 

[Captain HardHead]

Log your dives as a personal record so you can refer back to it as needed.

This is one of the best reason to log your dives and put down water temp, exposure suit, and weight. Also put whether you were comfortable with that protection at that temp or not.

I'm always referring back to my log book when going to dive, even if it is in the "lake". I'll find a similar situation as far as water temp and have a good idea of what exposure protection to bring along with a good place to start with weight. Notice I said start with weight. You will find as your body size/condition changes over time, so will will your weight requirements.

..

 

[Redeye]

Thermo -- you raise an awesome point that I picked up already in my SEVEN dives. Weight is a big deal!

I am going to the Clear Spring Scuba Park event to work on bouyancy, descending and ascending skills.

I hate to tie a buddy up with this, unless there is someone who just wants to practice going down --- then getting negative --- then coming back up. Of course I will also explore and do fun stuff.

In the classroom setting you don't want to waste a lot of people's time so I just overweighted so I wouldn't be the guy who holds people up.

Now my Advance Class is this weekend and I will work with the instructor and get more tips.

I did experiment in my OW Class with tanks weights and ankle weight to try and see how those affected me. But I never did really throw some weight up on the platform and add and take away to really tweak it.

I want to learn how to go down with the least amount of weight possible and still be able to have a decent controllable and restfull Safety Stop.

I have caught on that everything affects the weight choice from wetsuit thickness, salt water, etc. I just need these lake dives to practice where I can feel it out so when I am on a big dollar dive I get my money's worth.

But so far it seems simple ... get to where you float with a full breath at mask level - let out your breath and sink and then add 5 for the empty tank (80 size).

I know me - I will add 7 instead of the 5 just in case, but that defeats the purpose.

You do not need to waste a lot of time or effort. Take a weight belt and fill it with the same amount of weight you are diving with in 2# or 4# weights. Leave it on-shore and make your dive. Quit dive and come out with ~800# in tank. Take weight belt and buddy down to training platform ~20feet. Hold one end of weight belt as buddy removes your weights. Breathe normally and see how much weight you lift off platform. Have buddy put your weights back in and return to shore to get new tank and dive with the weight you just determined is the correct weight on a safety stop with the gear (wetsuit) you currently have on.

 

[AVID]

I hate to tie a buddy up with this, unless there is someone who just wants to practice going down --- then getting negative --- then coming back up. Of course I will also explore and do fun stuff.

Hey Squid, I'll buddy up with you to work on it. Neutral is something I need to practice on anyway. And Sharon made a good suggestion. Take the PPB class. Yes, it is part of your AOW specialties. It will definitely help you gain more control, dial in your weight requirements, and keep you and your buddy safer.

 

[texdiveguy]

Sharon ... are you talking about the Peak Performance Bouyancy Class that is part of the Advanced OW class or is there a Specialty Class that is a stand alone class you can take (like the ones you take for getting Master Diver, etc)?

I know the AOW this weekend will include PPBC and I am really looking forward to i.

Squid...... there is a stand alone Specialty class//'merit badge' as I call them (shame on me),that will count towards your PADI Master Diver rating. The basic module in the AOW class is pretty good and if properly instructed will give you ample info. and opt. to dial in based on your current configuration of gear.

 

[Squid]

Hey Squid, I'll buddy up with you to work on it. Neutral is something I need to practice on anyway. QUOTE]

Shannon sounds great. We can take these techiniques and try them out.

I know it is easy just to over load and let the BCD do all the work just so there is no problem at the end when you are doing your safety stop and it is not a long struggle.

I am sure I am fairly typical in my newness, eagerness to get things right and other obvious amature enthusiasm.

Six months from now I will get to look back and laugh at it all -- sipping fancy cocktails in foreign lands.

 

[Cave Diver]

Squid,

Don't let anyone or anything diminish your enthusiasm for scuba diving!

 

[Squid]

Squid,

Don't let anyone or anything diminish your enthusiasm for scuba diving!

I think I am safe from that for a while.

I was at my local dive shop earlier (many of you know which one) and the owner and I were joking around. He happened to look down and asked me if I had his store's cool vehicle sticker.

He joked that he designed it so it was easy to see through (about 8 x 10) on the back window, I joked that it was too late he already had me where I can hardly see anything but diving.

I am stacking up a great first year ... that way if I drift away from this in a year or so then I can look back and say I did it like a champion while I did it.

 

[Cave Diver]

He joked that he designed it so it was easy to see through (about 8 x 10) on the back window...

Yeah, he put some thought into it so that it wouldn't cause a crash

 

[AVID]

I'm supposed to do a safety stop?

 

[drcheap]

Logging it is not the same thing as counting it.

Well sometimes it is... My dive log software requires each dive to have a unique dive number as an identifier

I counted my OW certification dives because they were in fact dives by definition. As in I went underwater wearing full gear and stayed down there deeper and longer than I could without SCUBA.

In fact I even logged a 1 minute dive with a max depth of 9ft before . It was aborted due to failure of my buddy's equipment. That's significant, and worth logging, even if it wasn't much of a "dive" per se.

Incidentally, the 1 minute dive was #50 in my log (damn humans and their fascination with nice even round numbers).

 

[Cave Diver]

Well sometimes it is... My dive log software requires each dive to have a unique dive number as an identifier

I counted my OW certification dives because they were in fact dives by definition. As in I went underwater wearing full gear and stayed down there deeper and longer than I could without SCUBA.

In fact I even logged a 1 minute dive with a max depth of 9ft before . It was aborted due to failure of my buddy's equipment. That's significant, and worth logging, even if it wasn't much of a "dive" per se.

Incidentally, the 1 minute dive was #50 in my log (damn humans and their fascination with nice even round numbers).

You actually logged a one minute dive?

 

[AVID]

Should we take a CHUM poll to see if a 1 min. dive counts as an actual logged dive? LOL!
jk. ( I logged a 5 min. dive that I had to abort due to a lost fin!)

 

[ReefHound]

Well sometimes it is... My dive log software requires each dive to have a unique dive number as an identifier

So keep a separate logbook, paper or electronic, for the ones you don't want to count. Or let it have a separate dive number and just don't count it for the total. Either way. What I mean by "counting" it is counting it towards a goal. Just because you have a dive #1 to #100 in your software doesn't mean you have to claim 100 dives when applying for DM.

 

[ReefHound]

Should we take a CHUM poll to see if a 1 min. dive counts as an actual logged dive? LOL!
jk. ( I logged a 5 min. dive that I had to abort due to a lost fin!)

I'm going to start logging the charters that get blown out.

 

[Squid]

My Computer Sports the Following Amazing Stats:

10 Dives
Longest: 33 mins
Shortest: 9 mins
Deepest: 23

Marvel at those amazing stats ...

 

[Cave Diver]

That is exciting!

Even more exciting is the fact that you are going to do more dives!

 

[clayton]

well naui says a dive for it to count as a dive has to be at least 20 feet for at leaast 20 min.