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I need a lot of 'Help'

11K views 55 replies 20 participants last post by  pete75 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hello all divers
i recently started diving. Bought all the gear from my local dive shop. I had just over a thousand pounds in my budget, but this didn't allow for training so i'm a little snookered on that front. So decided to train myself, managed to buy a padi booklet from a charity shop and have begun training in my local river and reservoir. Things are going fine but the main problem i have had is being able to sink. I have bcd & bottle, i'm wearing 5mm wetsuit then boots & fins, but just can't sink. When i breath in or out i anage to go down a little but for the majority struggle to get under. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
#2 ·
.

Rob, you have done it the wrong way.

No one can stop you from diving but you might find people
are a bit reluctant to help you sink in water..................

If we helped you and you went and hurt yourself, how do you think we would feel?

Save up and have some lessons, either in a diving club or professionally
from a diving instructor.

taz

.
 
#6 ·
I appreciate the above advise.
I realised today what the extra hose on my pressure reducer regulator was for; to plug into bcd, i thought it was just inflated manually from mouth. Anyway today i filled my bcd pockets with stones and began to gain some ground. Went to 8metres today in reservoir althoogh i had to walk along the bottom to get that depth, quite scary when water turned mucky and i ended up having to ascend straight to surface and swim back, instead of bottom walking the way i came.
 
#8 ·
Rob you are an accident waiting to happen. If it's only yourself then that is up to you but just in case someone else gets hurt, leave your gear in a box until you get proper training. Local club easy way to go. If can't afford to pay in one go then pack gear away until you can.
 
#9 ·
Good idea filling your pockets with stones - those are advanced skills. Once you're happy with your buoyancy, you can work on your trim. Most people tend to use a big bag of gravel and pour a bit into either your wetsuit boots or your hood, depending on whether you're swimming too head-up or head-down. You can get a decent sized bag of pea-gravel from a builders merchants for a few quid - or just use cat-litter.
 
#13 ·
I'm all for DIY. Books are great for learning. I remember reading about a medical student who set about giving himself a vasectomy guided only by his trusted copy of Grays Anatomy. Luckily he managed to phone for an ambulance before passing out. Imagine waking up to find the dog enjoying a rare delicacy?

Anyway, do let people know where and when you are going and what you are doing. And take one of them Surface Marker Buoy jobbies along with you.

It gets your funeral sorted much quicker and your family can get on with their lives sooner.
 
#14 ·
personally, I think its a great idea and am kicking myself for not thinking of it myself. the amount of money we have all pissed away on training and kit gets highlighted when a free thinker like Trolly here comes a long and points out you can just use stones for ballast and don't need all those hose things.
I salute you Terry Troll :)
 
#17 ·
The Somerset Levels?

Carry a couple of extra handfuls of that lead in the water with you so if you start feeling a bit floaty during the dive you can pop a bit more on your weight belt.
 
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#21 ·
I bought a boxset of jaques cousteur diving films this wk end. The footage is very inspiring. I really liked the footage of them diving the holes in the bahamas, verry inspiring. Are there any places in the uk where similar sites exist? I think they are called cenotes. Sounds more up my street to me. Beats following the popular crowd like u bunch of advertisement slaves.
 
#22 ·
I've dived the Cenotes, but until you get there the nearest you'll find in England is a bit of potholeing.
I think you are probably ready for some solo pot holing by the sounds of.

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#24 ·
Does anyone else out there use a aeris a2 regulator? I got it real cheap and so far all is fine, some of the reviews i see say it is a warm water reg. im diving in uk in cold water but does the warm water mean everything apart from ice diving and stuff. Trying to do more looking on online internet but if one of you can help with this question then thx.
 
#26 ·
It's probably ok and saves the expense of buying another regulator to put on your big pony.
Why bother, it's just redundant anyway.

I think you could probably breath straight off the tank valve anyway. Just make sure you get a good seal with your lips.

Maybe lash some garden hose to it so your arms don't get tired of holding the tank in front of you and you can breath through the hose.

Other wise it could make a 2 hour penetration into a deep cave very hard work. Just leave it dangling from the hose. Make sure you grip it tight with your teeth.

Take a camera too.

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#28 ·
Not been for years. You'll love it. It's full of wannabe explorers with all the kit and a fundamental diving knowledge but never been out the shallows.

They tend to have two buddies so I'm sure they'll not notice another tagging along. Some kind of spare buddy system they use so if one shoots up with nitrogen oozing out of their pours or disappears into the abyss the remaining two can carry on without having their dive spoiled.

They'll show you how to route your garden hose to avoid it getting bent.



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