Dive Training

Disclaimer: I am not your Scuba Instructor! I provide this information for free and it is worth what you paid for it. I am NOT responsible for your actions.

PADI Recreational Diver Training

• PADI Open Water Diver certified diver since February 1998
• PADI Advanced Open Water Diver certified in January 2000
• PADI Emergency First Responce trained in October 2005
• PADI Rescue Diver certified in October 2005
• PADI Master Scuba Diver in progress

PADI Specialty Training

• PADI Nitrox Diver certified in March 2006
• PADI Underwater Navigation Diver in progress
• PADI Peak Boyancy Diver in progress
• PADI Dry Suit Diver in progress
• PADI Natrualist Diver in progress
• PADI Night Diver in not started
• PADI Deep Diver in not started

PADI Professional Diver Training

• PADI Divemaster Candidate started in January 2006
• Academics - finished in May 2006
• Mapping project - finished in Sept 2007
• Internship - finished all in 2006
• Open Water Class (normal)
• Open Water Class (accelerated)
• Advanced Open Water Class
• Rescue Diver Class
• Physical Skill Tests (a total score of 12 is required to pass)
• Tread water - passed with a 5
• 400 yard swim - passed (6/9/2008) with a time of 6:05 (4 points)
• 800 yard snorkel - passed (6/9/2008) with under 19 minutes (2 points)
• 100 yard diver tow - passed with a 3 (time 3:45 2 points?)
• Rescue Skills Evaluation - passed on 2/10/2008 at Breakwater
• Confined water skills (passed in Nov 2007)
• Mask remove and replace demonstration - Scored a 5 out of 5
• 20 basic skills demonstration - Scored 93 out of 100
• Equipment assembly, adjustment, preparation, donning and disassembly
• Predive safety check (BWRAF)
• Deep water entry
• Buoyancy check at surface
• Snorkel-regulator/regulator snorkel exchange
• Five point descent
• Regulator recovery and clearing
• Mask removal, replacement and clearing
• Air depletion exercise and alternate air source use stationary
• Freeflow regulator breathing
• Fin pivot (neutral buoyancy)
• Five point ascent
• Remove and replace weight system on the surface
• Controlled Emergency Swimming Ascent (CESA)
• Hovering motionless
• Underwater swim without a mask
• Remove and replace weight system underwater
• Remove and replace scuba unit underwater
• Remove and replace scuba unit on the surface
• Buddy breathing stationary and swimming (donor and receiver)
• Equipment exchange - passed on 6/9/2008
• Divemaster conducted program - in progress
• PADI Emergency Fisrt Reponce Instructor - not started
• PADI Assistant Instructor - not started
• PADI OW Instructor - not started
• PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer - not started
• PADI IDC Staff Instructor - not started
• PADI Master Instructor - not started

Dive History

I have done all of my scuba diving in Califonia. I have never been diving in warm tropical waters. Where are the hot spots to dive in NorCal? One of the best spots available to me is Monastery (located just south of Carmel and Monterey, on Highway 1). If you need information about Northern California scuba diving or if you are curious to see some pictures, go to my scuba diving page where you will find information about the weather (links to weather updates), dive sites and advisories. Check out my pictures from dives and vacations here

I started training to become a PADI Divemaster and PADI Master Scuba Diver in January 2006. I am a member of the Divers Alert Network (DAN). I recommend that every diver be a member of DAN.

I consider myself to be an intermediate diver (between 50 and 100 dives). I have experience in cool water (between 45°F and 60°F [7°C to 16°C]), heavy surf and surge, kelp, and "low vis" situations (less than 2 feet horizontal). I have no experience in warm tropical water, fresh water or ice diving.

Cycling History

I've been biking for over 25 years around California. When I ride, I like to ride for a purpose. I like riding in the Top Hat to raise money for Multiple Sclerosis. I think of Mountain Biking as a way of life: <MOTTO> you should not ride for exercise; you should ride for fun; get away from your life for a few hours. I have posted pictures from my rides on my Biking Page. Look for the picture links next to the ride discriptions.

Judo History

I started Judo in 2000 at Santa Clara PAL Judo. I worked my way up to green belt by December 2002. I have been out of Judo since the last competition. During the competition, I had a complete ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament) tear in my right knee.

Researching Family History

I am working on my family history. I have grabbed most of the free data available on the internet up to 2004 about Quashnick, Quaschnick, or Quaschnik. Contact me if you want to discuss.

About this Site

In the very beginning of my site (way back in 1997), I discovered that Tripod.com was hosting websites for free. So, I jumped on board and dreamed of a time when the price for a domain name would come down. I called my tripod site quashnick.tripod.com. I kept it there for about two years.

After I got tired of using tripod, I let freeshell.org host my site under the address qball.freeshell.org. Their service was great because I was able to have a free UNIX shell account through telnet://sdf.lonestar.org which included the webspace http://qball.freeshell.org.

Although I was letting freeshell.org host my pages, I kept the tripod pages up for reference. After a while I went back to tripod because they offered more space for images. I kept the site hosted by http://tripod.lycos.com until I knew that having a website was not a passing fancy. I finally got tired of having the advertisements placed on my pages and the constant popups that are used to keep the hosting free plus the cost of domains came down. You can still find the index page at quashnick.tripod.com.

This site is now hosted by Hurricane Electric. I purchased my domain name and moved my website to http://Quashnick.net/ on Feb. 4, 2003. Hurricane Electric offers the right price for what I have now. Every year I pay $35.00 for a one year lease of Quashnick.net and I pay $9.95 per month to have Hurricane Electric host my website.

To my Visitors and Guests

Send an email to me (address found at the bottom of the page) and tell me what you think. I am also available by Yahoo! Instant Message (Yahoo ID: quashnsa).