By Guest Blogger C. David Conner
There are several reasons to keep current on your skills, and one of the most important has nothing to do with your competency when practicing them and everything to do with your state of mind: people tend to get nervous when placed in uncomfortable situations. And while nerves may not be a big deal if, say, you’re out of practice with your bowling game, a severe case of the nerves can lead to any number of dangerous situations when you’re diving. Underwater panic can turn a diving inconvenience, like a flooding mask, into an emergency in seconds. Avoiding panic, no matter how serious the situation, is absolutely vital and could save your life should you ever face a real underwater emergency. A refresher course will do as much to ease your mind as it will to exercise your skills when getting back in the water.
Nerves can also affect air consumption and equalization. The body responds to tense situations with faster breathing in preparation of the “flight or fight” response, which affects scuba divers in two ways. The most obvious effect of heavier breathing is faster air consumption and thus not as much bottom time. A lesser, but also inconvenient, effect is increased buoyancy. This happened when I went night diving for the first time while vacationing on Grand Cayman and didn’t factor in my nervousness while selecting weights. Not long into the dive I noticed I couldn’t maintain neutral buoyancy and kept floating upward. What could have been one of my favorite dives turned into a fight to stay down and remain with the group. To solve my problem I had to invert and kick down just to stay on the bottom.
Refresher dives are also a great opportunity to check your equipment. You don’t want to go on the trip of a lifetime only to watch as your housing floods and that fancy underwater camera is ruined because of a bad O-ring — and yes, I’m speaking from experience. Regulators have O-rings; hoses can rot; BCD bladders can wear out. Scuba gear is designed to be durable, but equipment will wear out, especially if not used in a while. If you’ve got any doubt, take your gear to a qualified professional for service before diving as well. It can be difficult to pick up right where you left off with scuba diving, so keeping those skills current is essential to make for more enjoyable and safe diving.
Do you take a refresher course or go on a refresher dive if you’ve been out of the water for awhile?
