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OT - More pool time, in which Miss Annie almost gets her wish
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Jan 29, 2021, 2:57:13 AM1/29/21
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Since there's apparently no news in Barryland, might as well post my latest pool session notes. This time around, Miss Annie almost got her wish!
I'm down to one final skill I have to do in order to finish my course. This skill simulates what happens if either I or my dive buddy runs out of air at depth. While at the bottom of the pool, one of gives the "out of air" signal and switches to the buddy's alternate air line. Then ascend to the surface. The one who's "out of air" then has to inflate their BCD (buoyancy device) by mouth rather than use the inflator button (because if they were really out of air, there's no air in the tank to inflate it.) Kind of like blowing up a balloon.
So... my turn at the surface to do this. My regulator is out of my mouth, since I'm going to be blowing air into my BCD. And, with no air in my BCD, my weights start pulling me towards the bottom of the pool. Turns out, with my mobility issues, I don't have the leg strength to keep kicking and keep my head above water against the force of the weights.
At which point. all my brain is processing is: no air and I'm going DOWN, not up... and I had myself a nice big panic attack. It took two instructors to get me back up to the surface and over to the side of the pool.
While I can look back and analyze... here's what happened, here's what I should have done, etc... it was NOT fun in the moment. OTOH, better I have a panic attack in the pool instead of, say, out in the ocean somewhere.
On the positive side of things, I did my mask remove/replace skill with no problems. (Take mask off my face, leave it off for at least a full minute, then replace it, clear the water out of it, and keep going.)
High demand for pool time but limited access to it means I don't have another session until March. But if I can get past this last skill, my course will be DONE and I can go do my open water checkout dives!
I'm down to one final skill I have to do in order to finish my course. This skill simulates what happens if either I or my dive buddy runs out of air at depth. While at the bottom of the pool, one of gives the "out of air" signal and switches to the buddy's alternate air line. Then ascend to the surface. The one who's "out of air" then has to inflate their BCD (buoyancy device) by mouth rather than use the inflator button (because if they were really out of air, there's no air in the tank to inflate it.) Kind of like blowing up a balloon.
So... my turn at the surface to do this. My regulator is out of my mouth, since I'm going to be blowing air into my BCD. And, with no air in my BCD, my weights start pulling me towards the bottom of the pool. Turns out, with my mobility issues, I don't have the leg strength to keep kicking and keep my head above water against the force of the weights.
At which point. all my brain is processing is: no air and I'm going DOWN, not up... and I had myself a nice big panic attack. It took two instructors to get me back up to the surface and over to the side of the pool.
While I can look back and analyze... here's what happened, here's what I should have done, etc... it was NOT fun in the moment. OTOH, better I have a panic attack in the pool instead of, say, out in the ocean somewhere.
On the positive side of things, I did my mask remove/replace skill with no problems. (Take mask off my face, leave it off for at least a full minute, then replace it, clear the water out of it, and keep going.)
High demand for pool time but limited access to it means I don't have another session until March. But if I can get past this last skill, my course will be DONE and I can go do my open water checkout dives!
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