Scooter 1 - June 4-6

Just got done doing the DPV class with AG, Erik Sandvik, and Dave Harris. We did it over three days and I had a great time.

Friday we meet at the Breakwater in Monterey, went through the lecture and dry runs. Then we did a simple dive doing a few skills and just practicing turning with the scooter. It was a nice dive to have as none of us had dove with each other before (well perhaps AG and Dave have, but none of the students). It was great seeing us working together as a team and even handling a calf cramp on my legs. Friday also served as a feeler for how much out of water communication to expect. I really think Friday at BW make the rest of the weekend smoother.

Saturday and Sunday we did at Point Lobos State Reserve. This is a place made for scooters.

On Saturday we did the safety stuff: towing scooter, towing diver, S-drill + tow, and S-drill + side-by-side scooter. I was surprised by how much easier, comfortable, and effective the side-by-side air share was verses towing. I think Saturday was the most testing of days as none of us are perfect at the S-drill so we had some interesting outcomes. But again we stayed together as a team.

On Sunday we did crash avoidance and run away control. On the top side we agreed to transition right from the end of skills to a fun dive. So in the water we just jammed through the skills and then got to see more of park.

The feedback from AG was helpful and his constant assurance that he wasn't looking for perfection in the skills helped relieve some of the stress and made it a fun class. On Friday we were discussion the range of the scooter and AG points out two buoys and asks us to guess the distances. After the guesses he tells us the distance and we realize exactly how much trouble the scooter can get us in if we aren't careful.

I really believe I can now go out and do safe and fun scooter dives as I build up my skill and knowledge of the area.

It was a great weekend and a very worthwhile class.

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Permalink Reply by Jamie Astorino on June 7, 2010 at 10:58am

Great report, Mike! I'm glad you had a great time and a fun class!

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Permalink Reply by Andrew Georgitsis on June 7, 2010 at 12:34pm

Mike

Thanks for the report. It was a fun class to teach and most importantly a great final dive :) Here are some pictures from the weekend

http://www.unifiedteamdiving.com/photo/albums/utd-scooter-1

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Permalink Reply by Dave Harris on June 7, 2010 at 12:41pm

It was great diving with you guys, nice how easy it is to integrate being on the same page regardless of having never met. Hopefully I'll see you guys around there again in the coming months.

Dave

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Permalink Reply by Erik Sandvik on June 7, 2010 at 6:32pm

I agree Mike great class.

Although there's a ton of stuff to work on skill wise (isn't there always) I feel much more comfortable about using the scooter after the class than before. The emergency stopping, towing and air sharing were all great information and good stuff to be formally exposed to.

Another thing I didn't fully realize was that these scooters are pretty robust and really well thought out/ designed. Seeing AG breakdown the tail section makes me feel more comfortable about performing maintenance myself, if I should need to.

Nice diving with everyone as well. I had a really good time.

Thanks again,
Erik