Posted by TDI_2 on July 02, 2002 at 09:19:24:
In Reply to: Breathhold posted by Frank O on July 01, 2002 at 20:03:03:
The NAUI skin diving ditch and recovery of gear drill has been around for longer than I can remember. We did it 27 years ago in the basic scuba class then, and it is in the instructor course now as well, optional for the instructor to use in the basic class, but required in the ITC (or so I am told / I havent had a chance to verify the standards and policies rule on that yet, too busy writing oral presentations right now.)
1) with fins, mask, & snorkel on, swim out to the middle of the deep end of the pool;
2) surface dive to the bottom, then place fins mask & snorkel in a neat stack on the pool bottom;
3) surface, take a few breaths, then surface dive and swim back to the gear stack;
4) don the mask and snorkel, then don the fins, then surface in a controlled fashion, clearing the mask on the way up and purging the snorkel and breathing through it on the surface.
So although D&R stands for Ditch & Recovery, it really means "take off and put in a neat pile" and then "go back down and put back on and clear all."
It sure seems easy, but doing it sure is harder than it seems.
It could be task loading that makes it difficult, it could be lack of confidence, it could be CO2 loading and/or lack of conditioning that makes both consecutive breathhold freedives challenging.
Interesting drill.
NAUI apparently still puts a tremendous emphasis on freediving skills as a facilitation to scuba diving training. In PADI and SSI, based on my own experience, freediving is also taught, but as a separate module unrelated to basic scuba training. I cant speak at all for YMCA scuba or any of the other agency programs because I have no experience with them.