5/24/09 - Tech 1, Day 3

This morning began with me rummaging around the basement for various things. Peter said, "I suppose you are looking for your fun?" From deep inside the downstairs refrigerator, I muttered, "No, my buoyancy control."

Well, it must have been in the frig, because I certainly had it back with me today, which was an ENORMOUS relief.

We were back at O. O. Denny Park, but it was a bit of a different lake today. A stiff breeze was blowing, and moving a suprising amount of water. Viz had deteriorated from the day before as well. Descents were challenging, as one had to swim steadily forward to maintain any contact with the upline at all -- it would disappear if you got more than maybe two feet from it. This presented a constant challenge, and we didn't handle it all that well. Jeanna says to us at the end, "One of the things that worries me about you guys is that you don't seem to be able to get 30 feet down the upline without losing it." I looked at her and said, "If I got in the water with this much current and this crummy viz and that sad excuse for an upline, I'd thumb the dive!" I meant it, too.

Lots of things went better, which shows the virtue of practice.

Low point: Having Brian tell me I'm still way too passive when I ought to be taking charge.

High point: I hate to admit it, but I actually enjoyed the ascent from the critical skills dive. I got the team together, ran the deco, got an OOA Scott onto his deco bottle, and we all held buoyancy well and controlled the ascent and stayed on schedule (if you don't count about five minutes to get all three of us on our deco gas) and it was a sick kind of fun. Me, enjoying an ascent (instead of my usual "Ohmigod, I'm positive -- no, negative -- no positive -- and where's the line? Where's Peter?). Pigs do fly.

We did toxing diver, and although I found getting Brian off the bottom without me ending up with my feet above me to be a challenge, the ascent was controlled and the video doesn't look horrible.

Today, I felt quite a bit more as though I belonged in the class -- which is not to say that I don't have a lot to learn, just that yesterday, Essentials sounded like a better option. :-)

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Comment by Lynne Flaherty on May 28, 2009 at 9:03pm: Brian went to all the work both days to run line to define a "wreck", and I think we got there ONCE!

Comment by Lynne Flaherty on May 28, 2009 at 9:01pm: Hopefully, the MV Tala will be a bit more substantial . . . :-)

Comment by Brian Wiederspan on May 28, 2009 at 8:01pm: "No S.S. Spool for the T1 class?"

Nah. Last weekend was the MV Denny

Comment by Jake Virnig on May 28, 2009 at 7:42pm: No S.S. Spool for the T1 class?

Comment by Richard on May 28, 2009 at 4:31pm: Oh roger. You need a ship on the end of that line.

Comment by Lynne Flaherty on May 28, 2009 at 3:44pm: Richard, the problem with our upline was that it was tied to a stake that was barely stuck in the bottom -- you couldn't touch the line AT ALL. I'm happy descending while keyholing the line, or swimming while keyholing the line, but lousy viz and strong current and a line you can't touch AT ALL is too much of a combination for me.

Comment by Richard on May 28, 2009 at 2:04pm: ""If I got in the water with this much current and this crummy viz and that sad excuse for an upline, I'd thumb the dive!" I meant it, too."

Really? I would not bag a dive in Nanaimo (6+hrs from here) if the surface vis was crap. I would definitely be taking a peek below to see if it opened up. Horrid vis may only be on the surface or only at depth or only later in the dive - all sorts of combinations. I am sure that the vis in Chac Mool was dreadful when the cavern ceiling collapsed 2 yrs ago. At least that happened at night and nobody was in there. But odds are something like that could just as easily happen when someone is in the cave and forced to follow a thin little line out or else. Line awareness in tech diving can be just as important, but sometimes even more difficult than in a cave so I hope you can treat it as a new challenge moreso than something to be avoided.

"Me, enjoying an ascent (instead of my usual "Ohmigod, I'm positive -- no, negative -- no positive -- and where's the line? Where's Peter?). " Peter's above and slightly behind you, remember? :p Glad to hear the midwater stuff is going so well, it looked good on video.

Comment by Jake Virnig on May 28, 2009 at 6:18am: "I know how to practice skills. I don't have a clue how to remold my mind :) "

Lynne, I think I'm gonna steal that for my signature line. I've haven't written any type of report for R3 yet, I think mainly because I haven't been able to figure out a concrete way to put what I came out of the 1st two days with. Really nothing we did was new, a few small procedural things, but nothing major. The key is thinking about what you're doing, asking internal questions. Am I where the team expects me to be? What's the role I should be taking right now? What's the most efficient use of whatever resources the team has left. I think thinking about these types of things during the dive, followed by good dive debriefs is probably the best way to "remold" your mind. At least that's my plan. :)

Comment by Lynne Flaherty on May 27, 2009 at 11:30pm: Well, it won't be until July, because I have not a single weekend day free in June.

And I need the time to mull things over. I know how to practice skills. I don't have a clue how to remold my mind :)

Comment by Chris Finley on May 27, 2009 at 8:43pm: Way to go Lynne!! You know as well as anyone, sometimes learning can be painful but it is always rewarding. When does the next round of fun begin?