Scuba
Certifications
| Name | Agency | Date | Number |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Water | PADI | 07/02/2011 | 1102AW8443 |
| Enriched Air | PADI | 03/07/2015 | 1507AK1321 |
| Advanced Open Water | PADI | 25/09/2022 | 2209AZ7412 |
| Advanced Adventurer | SSI | 06/03/2011 | 353028 |
Gear
BCD
Standard Backplate 2.22kg Weight for single tankd adaptor 2.35kg 4.5kg total Dive in 7mm wetsuit: 6kg in pockets So about 10.5 total seemed about right - may need a bit more with a hood.
Regulator
Dive Computer
Mask
Prescription Mask from Tulsa, ordered from EyeSports
LogBook
| Number | Date | Depth | Bottom Time | Gas | Country | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 04/02/2011 | 14.6 | 50 | Air | Fiji | Savusavu |
| 2 | 05/02/2011 | 12.5 | 43 | Air | Fiji | Savusavu |
| 3 | 05/02/2011 | 12 | 43 | Air | Fiji | Savusavu |
| 4 | 07/02/2011 | 12.3 | 50 | Air | Fiji | Savusavu |
| 5 | 08/02/2011 | 28 | 41 | Air | Fiji | Savusavu |
| 6 | 08/02/2011 | 16.7 | 45 | Air | Fiji | Savusavu |
| 7 | 08/02/2011 | 34 | 40 | Air | Fiji | Savusavu |
| 8 | 05/03/2011 | 5 | 55 | Air | Australia | Victoria |
| 9 | 05/03/2011 | 5 | 40 | Air | Australia | Victoria |
| 10 | 05/03/2011 | 5 | 26 | Air | Australia | Victoria |
| 11 | 06/03/2011 | 25 | 30 | Air | Australia | Victoria |
| 12 | 06/03/2011 | 29.8 | 31 | Air | Australia | Victoria |
| 13 | 11/07/2011 | 13.3 | 41 | Air | Australia | GBR, Opal |
| 14 | 11/07/2011 | 18.3 | 42 | Air | Australia | GBR, Opal |
| 15 | 11/07/2011 | 9.8 | 44 | Air | Australia | GBR, Opal |
| 16 | 23/05/2012 | 21 | 46 | Air | Thailand | Racha Yai |
| 17 | 23/05/2012 | 25 | 47 | Air | Thailand | Racha Yai |
| 18 | 23/05/2012 | 21.3 | 46 | Air | Thailand | Racha Yai |
| 19 | 24/05/2012 | 26.2 | 35 | Air | Thailand | Racha Yai |
| 20 | 24/05/2012 | 16.2 | 51 | Air | Thailand | Racha Yai |
| 21 | 24/05/2012 | 22 | 47 | Air | Thailand | Racha Yai |
| 22 | 06/09/2012 | 21.6 | 50 | Air | Australia | GBR, Agincourt |
| 23 | 06/09/2012 | 18.6 | 48 | Air | Australia | GBR, Nursery |
| 24 | 06/09/2012 | 12.6 | 51 | Air | Australia | GBR, Turtle Bay |
| 25 | 30/04/2015 | 32.1 | 12 | Air | Australia | Victoria |
| 26 | 30/06/2015 | 15.1 | 41 | Air | Fiji | Savusavu |
| 27 | 01/07/2015 | 16.7 | 45 | Air | Fiji | Savusavu |
| 28 | 01/07/2015 | 18 | 43 | Air | Fiji | Savusavu |
| 29 | 02/07/2015 | 16.2 | 44 | Air | Fiji | Savusavu |
| 30 | 02/07/2015 | 19.2 | 41 | Air | Fiji | Savusavu |
| 31 | 03/07/2015 | 30.6 | 34 | Air | Fiji | Savusavu |
| 32 | 04/07/2015 | 27.8 | 37 | EAN32 | Fiji | Savusavu |
| 33 | 04/07/2015 | 26.8 | 29 | Air | Fiji | Savusavu |
| 34 | 05/07/2015 | 23.3 | 44 | EAN32 | Fiji | Savusavu |
| 35 | 05/07/2015 | 29.1 | 28 | EAN32 | Fiji | Savusavu |
| 36 | 06/07/2015 | 29.9 | 30 | EAN32 | Fiji | Savusavu |
| 37 | 25/06/2016 | 18.4 | 56 | Air | nan | nan |
| 38 | 26/06/2016 | 19.2 | 58 | Air | nan | nan |
| 39 | 27/06/2016 | 17.4 | 49 | Air | nan | nan |
| 40 | 01/07/2016 | 17.7 | 42 | Air | nan | nan |
| 41 | 01/07/2016 | 20.2 | 41 | Air | nan | nan |
| 42 | 24/09/2022 | 13 | 34 | Air | Australia | GBR |
| 43 | 24/09/2022 | 16.4 | 35 | Air | Australia | GBR |
| 44 | 24/09/2022 | 8.7 | 37 | Air | Australia | GBR |
| 45 | 24/09/2022 | 13.3 | 28 | Air | Australia | GBR |
| 46 | 25/09/2022 | 13.3 | 30 | Air | Australia | GBR |
| 47 | 25/09/2022 | 10.8 | 35 | Air | Australia | GBR |
| 48 | 25/09/2022 | 17.5 | 30 | Air | Australia | GBR |
| 49 | 25/09/2022 | 27.2 | 30 | Air | Australia | GBR |
| 50 | 26/09/2022 | 13.1 | 31 | Air | Australia | GBR |
| 51 | 26/09/2022 | 18.3 | 27 | Air | Australia | GBR |
| 52 | 26/09/2022 | 16.9 | 32 | Air | Australia | GBR |
| 53 | 30/06/2023 | 13.6 | 45 | Air | Australia | GBR |
| 54 | 30/06/2023 | 15 | 48 | Air | Australia | GBR |
| 55 | 8/9/2023 | 13 | 48 | Air | Australia | Exmouth |
| 56 | 08/09/2023 | 13 | 47 | Air | Australia | Exmouth |
| 57 | 09/09/2023 | 13 | 50 | Air | Australia | Exmouth |
| 58 | 09/09/2023 | 13 | 52 | Air | Australia | Exmouth |
Scuba Physiology
Weighting
Weighting
Weighting, buoyancy and trim are all separate but interrelated issues.
Your total weight should be just enough to allow you to sink on exhalation with a near-empty cylinder. Any less than that, and you won't be able to remain submerged on a shallow deco or safety stop while low on gas. Any more than that, and you will be constantly carrying more gas in your BC than is necessary in order to counter the excess weight you are carrying. The more gas in your BC, the greater the relative buoyancy change with depth as you ascend, which is consequently more difficult to manage during ascents. Excess gas in the BC also increases your submerged drag, which increases swimming effort. Get this dialed in. The BC is intended to be a compensation mechanism to account for the weight of gas which will be consumed during your dive, and for the buoyancy loss due to exposure suit compression at depth, if any. Thus, when your weight is dialed in correctly, you will begin your dive with a slightly inflated BC, and end your dive with an empty BC. (Disregarding BC inflation for surface floatation when not actively diving).
Once you have determined your total required weight, the next decision you need to make is to determine how much of that weight needs to be in a ditchable format (e.g. weight belt, pouches, etc.). The worst-case scenario for this exercise is at the beginning of a dive when your cylinder(s) are at their heaviest because you have not yet consumed the gas, and after descending to the initial deepest depth at the beginning of your dive, where buoyancy loss due to exposure suit compression will be most profound. Enough of your total determined weight must be in a ditchable format such that, in the event of a complete BC failure, by ditching some weight you can once again make yourself sufficiently close to neutral to enable an ascent with nothing more than a gentle kick towards the surface.Once you have determined your correct total amount of weight, and have also determined how much of that weight must be ditchable, you can then focus on your trim, or attitude control in the water. Proper diving trim, which is horizontal, prone, with head up / forward and legs up so that the front of your knees are the lowest point of your profile, should require no active finning or hand sculling of any kind. You should be able to hover motionless in the water column, with the ability to make minor subtle adjustments to your fore and aft trim by changing how far your arms are extended in front of you, or how far your knees are bent behind you, without having to expend any energy to do so. This may require experimenting a bit with where both your ditchable and non-ditchable weight is worn on your rig. Your center of mass will always hang directly beneath your center of buoyancy. Wings and drysuits provide a bit more flexibilily to shift the CB than does a jacket style BC and a wetsuit. With the latter, you typically have to spend a bit more time positioning your weight correctly to obtain your desired trim, but it's still possible. The idea is to be able to hang in your desired trim position with no motion whatsoever, and to be able to adjust to a new orientation and similarly hang in that position with no motion whatsoever. This may require a bit of tweaking to move weight higher or lower on the diver, or to adjust harness and cylinder position, etc. Once your total weight, ditchable weight fraction, and trim are sorted out though, actual buoyancy control becomes a piece of cake, because you are not having to manage an excessive gas bubble in the BC, nor having to expend effort to stay in trim with the consequent effects on your breathing. Assuming that you are diving on open circuit as opposed to a rebreather, while weighted correctly, and in trim, you simply dial in your BC volume at your desired depth such that your normal tidal volume during breathing produces changes in buoyancy which average to zero. You will rise slightly on inhalation, and sink slightly on exhalation, but that is precisely what you want, as it is inhalations or exhalations beyond normal tidal volumes that initiate desired changes in depth, as opposed to using the BC for that purpose. Again, the BC is a compensation mechanism - not an elevator. Having that sort of control makes it a no brainer to dial in your buoyancy at a level a couple of feet above the bottom, and then to use breath control to descend within centimetres of the bottom to take a closer look without contacting or disturbing anything (in conjunction with an anti-silting kick technique), and then to return to your reference depth without touching the BC. Also, get accustomed to using the bottom / rear dump on your BC to vent gas instead of the inflator dump. This will allow you to make critical adjustments without moving out of proper trim.
Grumpy German Guy
- No metal to metal connections - How to tie boltsnaps
- Need to be able to turn off your own valve
- Knife/cutting tool reachable with both hands
- Rubber Jet Fins with springs (no plastic connections)