What Do You Do When You're a Bit Freaked?

[Picea]

Tervetuloa CDSiin, mitä kuuluu? Kun tulet tänne olisimme sukeltaa yhdessa Ginnissa. Haluaisin elvyttää minun Suomen viittomakieli. Ja sauna sesonki juuri nyt alkoi

Hihii! Vettä tulee taivaan täydeltä, mutta veteen ei ole päässyt viikkoon, muuten menee ihan hyvin. Ginnie ja sauna olisikin varmasti hyvä yhdistelmä.

[OFG-1]

Hihii! Vettä tulee taivaan täydeltä, mutta veteen ei ole päässyt viikkoon, muuten menee ihan hyvin. Ginnie ja sauna olisikin varmasti hyvä yhdistelmä.

You really should get someone to look at your keyboard, it appears to be broken.

[JDostal]

I do not mind silt outs. I do not like zero viz diving though. It is weird.

For some reason in a silt out in a cave I feel safe.

I hate, hate, hate diving in some of our local quarries when they get down to a few feet of viz. Swimming around in a pitch black quarry with nothing to see just gives me the heebie jeebies... especially this one...it is black deep silt bottom, tree branches sticking up from the bottom with black...stuff...hanging off of them. Blech.

I do like "stop think breathe". My first time in a true silt out in a cave raised my heart rate. It really helped to relax and breathe and calm the mind.

[Picea]

Do you ever just play out crazy scenarios in common places? Like the post office... the other day I played out a huge "What would I do if this place had a car drive through the front door" in my head while waiting in line.

Not really crazy scenarios, but often the (at least in theory) possible scenarious may take over my brain and I'll work out a solution. Like what if there was a fire and I'd need to get myself, the dogs and the cat out of the 5th floor. Nice to know that I'm not the only one doing this.

My imagination is a little bit too prone to catastrophy. Sometimes I've tried mental training excercises (don't know if this is the right word in english) before a dive (or a climb), where you're supposed to go through the perfect performance in your head. But often my brain will just turn it into a total disaster. I guess I still need to work with my consentration...

[icestac]

I do not mind silt outs. I do not like zero viz diving though. It is weird.

Not weird, I'm the same way. OK weird

Anyways, this thread made me think of a recent siltout that I had to go through. We probably made it 80% of the way through a silty circuit that should have come out on the mainline and we were expecting NOT to go back through what we just stirred up. Anyways, we ended up turning around and followed the line with touch contact all the way back. There was no real bottom as it was just that fine floaty silt. Anyways after a good 5-8 minutes (I was in the back mind you), I was getting really tired of it and thinking this sucks. A few more minutes and I was a little uneasy (nothing bad, but I was REALLY not enjoying it) -- at that EXACT moment, my hand touched the jump real that we had tied into the line which meant we were back in the main passage. I was clapping in my head YEAH SOME visibility.

[vshearer]

I just worry about putting my hand where it doesn't belong. Like in an Alligators mouth.

http://www.cdnn.info/photo/alligator...ack_500353.jpg

[jj1987]

I hate midwater deco at night in the ocean. Only seeing what's lit by my HID in the vast ocean weirds me out and my mind starts racing.

[cavemark]

There's a HUGE difference between, "I'm doing a zero-vis drill. If it gets to be too much for me I can open my eyes and turn on my light" and "Man, vis just went to zero. I wonder how long and how far I have to swim to be where I can see a darned thing."

Frequently when I'm diving solo I'll do a lights out swim for a few hundred feet. It keeps me remembering what is like in total darkness and how to follow the line when I can't see it. I try to make a conscious effort to be aware of where the line is as I am swimming.

On my last dive I was in a total silt out in Ginnie at the EOL just past the siphon tunnel. I watched the silt out happen as my partner was turning around and was stunned at how fast it got dark. I thought "well, this sucks. I hope 'my partner' isn't freaking out.", and then realized that without thinking I was hovering close to the ceiling okaying the line. I started to move forward slowly and in about 20 feet emerged from the cloud with my partner facing me. He turned around and we exited.

I guess I've spent enough time in the dark practicing that it didn't freak me out at all. I impressed myself that without thinking I was 'on' the line as it happened.

I think that situation would be very difficult to safely simulate in class.

[parabuzzle]

Not really crazy scenarios, but often the (at least in theory) possible scenarious may take over my brain and I'll work out a solution. Like what if there was a fire and I'd need to get myself, the dogs and the cat out of the 5th floor. Nice to know that I'm not the only one doing this.

My imagination is a little bit too prone to catastrophy. Sometimes I've tried mental training excercises (don't know if this is the right word in english) before a dive (or a climb), where you're supposed to go through the perfect performance in your head. But often my brain will just turn it into a total disaster. I guess I still need to work with my consentration...

I'm right there with you. My mind always turns things in to a catastrophic event. I think it actually helps me handle real situations because I probably already had the escape plan or I can maintain a clear head while formulating it. To this day, my fiance marvels at how well I can just "Handle" stressful situations in a clear and quick manner.

[FW]

I was thinking more along the line of encountering a layer of hydrogen sulphide or entering a sump with a goal of reaching onward, so-to-speak to what lies beyond.....

I really like fixxervi6's answer, but I can give you good advice on reaching a goal.

First, wear a helmet, or mask light. It is very rare that the vis gets so bad that you cant see the glow, and for some reason it is reassuring.

Go slow, concentrate on feeling the line, so you don't put any stress on it.

Like Omi... er JDostal said, any vis is better than none. If I can read my gauges, I feel a lot better than true zero viz. If I can see the line from a foot or so, then I am in heaven, since I can also see tie-offs, knots, etc.

When I get in viz so low that I can't even see the glow from a helmet light, then I get really careful. At that point you are probably toast if you break/loose the line. I just concentrate on following the line, and don't worry about possible consequences.

Here are links to IRAPs where I have lost the line, and I am still here typing, so even that isn't insurmountable.

http://www.cavediver.net/forum/showthread.php?t=5516
http://www.cavediver.net/forum/showthread.php?t=5517
http://www.cavediver.net/forum/showthread.php?t=5518