New Divers - training out of the water - suggestions?

[Lizard Leg]

The frog kick is an issue for me to say the least. With a prosthetic dive leg, with an ankle that switches between walking to diving and that locks into a 70º plantar flexed angle (normal kicking angle), it's really hard to do a frog kick. Fixed angle ankle, no rotation in or out... it was funny watching my try judging by the look on my wifes face though...

 

[rongoodman]

I wonder how the modified flutter would work out for you?

 

[Lizard Leg]

Just watched a video of it on YouTube - that's a lot of ankle movement. Mine doesn't move at all so not sure.

[video=youtube_share;J42y0hxVd1s]http://youtu.be/J42y0hxVd1s[/video]

 

[TSandM]

No, you can't frog kick. But my guess is that you could come up with a reasonable facsimile of the modified flutter. Of course, the full-leg flutter kick is just fine, so long as a) you are in horizontal trim, and b) you are not too close to a fine, silty or clay sediment bottom. But the horizontal trim that the divers in the videos show IS a laudable goal for anyone.

 

[Lizard Leg]

Yeah that was some great control he had. My issue with that is being still. If I move forward, even very slow, I can stay nice and trim. But with a stainless, titanium and carbon fiber anchor off one side, that leg wants to sink and I tend to roll some. LDS has a 15' pool and use is free if I rent a tank - need to go jump in with some corks or somethign and try to get the leg as neutral as I can. Just got it last month so trying to work out all of the kinks.

Some pics of the angle of the leg etc.

 

[TSandM]

Well, you are pretty darned horizontal in those pictures!

You have some challenges that those of us who are diving with our original body parts don't face. One resource is HSA (I think it's Handicapped Scuba of America) that works with handicapped divers -- they may have some tips.

But the physics is straightforward. If the prosthesis is negative, you'll need something further up your body and on the other side, to balance it. That kind of solution is easy to work on in any source of water, because even if you do it in a pool, you can figure the total weight to add, and it's not that much.

 

[knotical]

... some corks or something and try to get the leg as neutral as I can...

The problem with using most buoyant material is compression. If you get the leg neutral in a pool, it will go negative again at depth as the cork compresses. Thus TSandM's recommendation for counterbalancing weights.
I'm not aware of a readily available non-compressible material that floats like cork, but if you had some, it could be another story. Perhaps certain woods?

 

[Lizard Leg]

Just wanted to throw this out there - first, if you're landlocked like we are, having a LDS that uses a local pool you can tag along with can go a long way to getting comfortable with your gear! We went with one of the LDS's last night asn spent 1:45 minutes down at 14-18' (Olympic diving pool). Played with weights, equipment clip off points and configurations - buoyancy, etc.

Here is my questions - need your opinions on this matter. We practiced through a lot of the skills - removing/replacing BC and tank at depth (did this to change trim weights on back as well), mask removal, flood, buddy breathing, buddy breathing ascent, share air, unresponsive diver at depth, hand signals, etc. One of the other things we do only in shallaw water, and to date only in confined water is...

When the other person is looking the other way or seems to be engrossed in something like concentrating on buoyancy or adjusting something, etc - we swim up in a frenzy, such as a panicked diver might, and yank the others person reg out, pop it in our mouth, start breathing, THEN give the out of air, share air signs To my mind, if you can't control that scenario at 15' in a pool, then what are you going to do in 80' when someone does it for real? It seems like a simple thing for those of you who have hundreds of dives, but for newbies, this really seems like a great thing to know and practice ahead of time. My SS is HERE, it takes THIS much pressure to break loose, and takes THIS long to get it in my mouth, purge and start breathing - then we grab each others BC as trained, give the Okay signs back and forth and swap back to our primaries. Of course my son loved this - after he drained his tank, he was exercising by snorkeling around with a weight belt loaded with 15lbs of lead - and swimming down and grabbing our fins, taking our masks off, etc. All in all great practice for the unexpected and of course, how often does a teenage son get to do things like that to his parents?

Am I taking this a little too far? We actually find it kind of amusing and seems to be great practice for getting your reg kicked out, an OOA diver, etc.

 

[knotical]

Just wanted to throw this out there - first, if you're landlocked like we are, having a LDS that uses a local pool you can tag along with can go a long way to getting comfortable with your gear! We went with one of the LDS's last night asn spent 1:45 minutes down at 14-18' (Olympic diving pool). Played with weights, equipment clip off points and configurations - buoyancy, etc.

Here is my questions - need your opinions on this matter. We practiced through a lot of the skills - removing/replacing BC and tank at depth (did this to change trim weights on back as well), mask removal, flood, buddy breathing, buddy breathing ascent, share air, unresponsive diver at depth, hand signals, etc. One of the other things we do only in shallaw water, and to date only in confined water is...

When the other person is looking the other way or seems to be engrossed in something like concentrating on buoyancy or adjusting something, etc - we swim up in a frenzy, such as a panicked diver might, and yank the others person reg out, pop it in our mouth, start breathing, THEN give the out of air, share air signs To my mind, if you can't control that scenario at 15' in a pool, then what are you going to do in 80' when someone does it for real? It seems like a simple thing for those of you who have hundreds of dives, but for newbies, this really seems like a great thing to know and practice ahead of time. My SS is HERE, it takes THIS much pressure to break loose, and takes THIS long to get it in my mouth, purge and start breathing - then we grab each others BC as trained, give the Okay signs back and forth and swap back to our primaries. Of course my son loved this - after he drained his tank, he was exercising by snorkeling around with a weight belt loaded with 15lbs of lead - and swimming down and grabbing our fins, taking our masks off, etc. All in all great practice for the unexpected and of course, how often does a teenage son get to do things like that to his parents?

Am I taking this a little too far? We actually find it kind of amusing and seems to be great practice for getting your reg kicked out, an OOA diver, etc.

Some of that type of activity used to be standard fare during open water training. It was labelled harassment and abandoned by most training agencies, perhaps because of liability concerns. Personally, I found it quite valuable when it was done to me. I caution you to be careful, and think the scenarios through, but otherwise ...

 

[Lizard Leg]

We are careful, and if I thought any of us couldn't/shouldn't be doing it, it would be over. The other thing we are trying to learn with this is don't bite to the point your teeth get ripped out - if your hose is getting yanked out - let it go. You have air right there on your BC, which is another great teaching tool - this goes here EVERY time, this goes here EVERY time, etc. Muscle memory and knowing where your stuff is when the fit hits the shan

I do have to admit, that other than the great "WTH??" training as your reg is yanked out of your mouth from behind with no warning, well, my son really enjoyed it, and you know, I've been married 20 years come Oct. - how often am I EVER going to get away with something like that with my wife otherwise?