Island Girl,
The Buoyancy Compensator is the foundation which hold all of your important life support gear in place. The B.C. holds your cylinder in place which in turn your regulators and computer is attached to. When the right B.C. is chosen, it allows you to be one with your gear, and therefore allows you to be more graceful, comfortable and more efficient in the water. As a future instructor, it's very important that you grasp all of those things, hopefully early on.
A good fitting B.C. will stay off of your hips and not cause any discomfort, not slide around on your back in the water, and therefore not 'torque' your back. And it will offer good weight distribution out of the water which will save you a few trips to the Chiropractor down the road. The B.C. is much more important than most people give it credit for.
The Buoyancy Compensator is the foundation which hold all of your important life support gear in place. The B.C. holds your cylinder in place which in turn your regulators and computer is attached to. When the right B.C. is chosen, it allows you to be one with your gear, and therefore allows you to be more graceful, comfortable and more efficient in the water. As a future instructor, it's very important that you grasp all of those things, hopefully early on.
A good fitting B.C. will stay off of your hips and not cause any discomfort, not slide around on your back in the water, and therefore not 'torque' your back. And it will offer good weight distribution out of the water which will save you a few trips to the Chiropractor down the road. The B.C. is much more important than most people give it credit for.