LCF(Offline)

Honestly, I'm interested in the observation that #3 shouldn't stop for any reason other than emergency. If that is true, then #3 isn't going to get much of a dive, since he's going to spend his entire time chasing the other two if they decline to stop and look at anything. Obviously, if the stop is going to be prolonged, #3 needs to signal #2 and let him know, so he can pass the signal along. But I think everybody on the team has an equal right to stop if there is something interesting to look at. #1 and #2 may have swum right past it . . .

In a well-trained team, there's little need for frequent "OK" signals. Danny told us he's done 2 1/2 hour dives with only one or two exchanged. For our cave dives last week, we were a little more liberal; I, in particular, okayed the team after we went through tight places or turned sharp corners where we couldn't see behind us, just because I wanted to be extra sure that all three had passed the point and we were regrouped.

In bright, clear water, where lights aren't very useful, you are forced to stay in visual contact with one another, which makes a single file formation difficult unless it's very tight. Diving walls in high ambient light is a challenge, but it's always seemed to go better for me if I swim a short ways, turn face to the wall (giving me the ability to look easily from side to side along it) and then turn and kick forward again. But the bottom line is that team cohesion and communication are something you have to work at, and nobody's particularly good at it at the beginning.

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"So, it's a good thing to always do the drills the same way . . . but in real life you need to act the right way, whatever that happens to be." LauNar