March | 2012 | Chanb77's Weblog

Practice Certainly Does Make Something Something…

22 03 2012

Sunday, March 18th, 2012 ~

Steve and I decided to sign up for a DPV Cave Workshop, with Danny Riordan. In preparation for the course, we went out to practice, at the quarry. Eric was also a witness…er… along with us.

I had only towed another scooter once or twice, and it had been quite a while since I had done it. Today’s drills were three bottles and two scooters. We had laid “permanent” line in the quarry, for our winter dives, where we tie in with our primary reels. We practiced doing bottle drops, and continued along until the end of the line. All was fine until I went to pick up one of my bottles. Yeah.. the whole “stopping” thing. That second scooter, behind me, just completely threw me off, and made me feel completely unbalanced. I felt like a total newbie. I’m sure Eric was laughing at me, and pretty close to positive, that Steve was facepalming. I could just hear him… “Great… I have to do the course with this???” 😛

I took myself to the point of frustration, and wondered if I should even bother with this course. I was no stranger to scooters or bottles, but having multiple of each seemed to be quite a task!

We finished the dive, with Steve taking my second scooter, and me questioning myself. Ohhhh boy!

Bottom Time: 45 mins.
Max Depth: 70′
Water Temp: 44F
Vis.: Not bad at all

After e-mailing Danny, and reassuring me that I would be fine, I felt a little better about the whole thing.

Next stop, Mexico! 😛

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Categories : Twenty 12

Free-Z-Dive 2012 – The Free Divers

11 03 2012

Saturday, March 10th, 2012 ~

Since our Free Diving friends were not able to come out last year, it has been two years since we have seen them. We were happy that they were able to come out this year, and we were able to “shoot” them! Mike Grebler was also along for some Picture-Taking Goodness.

François Leduc is the current president of AIDA Canada, that the group is all a part of. They train in Quebec, and travel the world for competitions. It is a real treat to be able to share this with them!

The hole was nice an open, and the beach entry was the easiest it has been all winter.

Steve, Eric, and I timed our entry for when the Free Divers were ready, and were on our way.

Steve brought his scooter along, so that his video camera had more stability, and handed it off to Eric, while he took Serge’s for a test run. They would interchange, throughout the dive. 🙂

We made our way over to the plane, which would be our post, for the dive.

They started coming down, from one of their three entry points. Eric gets a Dive-By buzz from Philippe Beauchamp…

I find it absolutely amazing that these people are able to do this, and it still gives me the “heebeejeebees,” when I watch them swim from hole to hole. They are incredible to watch!

Warwick Long flies by for a pose!