Peak Performance Buoyancy?

[TSandM]

We have been known to encourage our AOW students to do a photography dive as part of their class. The primary purpose for the dive is for them to see how their buoyancy control and situational awareness come apart when you add the task loading of a camera

PPB is just a couple of dives with an instructor, to polish your weighting and spend a little more time focusing on buoyancy and trim. The class is as good as the person who teaches it. I would try very hard to find an instructor with some technical or cave training. Such a person is likely to be much more motivated to ensure you get a lot out of your class.

 

[tursiops]

PPB is just a couple of dives with an instructor, to polish your weighting and spend a little more time focusing on buoyancy and trim. The class is as good as the person who teaches it. I would try very hard to find an instructor with some technical or cave training. Such a person is likely to be much more motivated to ensure you get a lot out of your class.

Dive 2 of PPB requires, in addition to buoyancy and trim:
• Demonstrate efficient fin kick
• Avoid all contact with bottom
• Practice hovering without kicking or hand movement
• While hovering, practice making minor depth adjustments
• Maneuver close to bottom without touching it and back away using neutral buoyancy

The first, second, and last bullets are perfect for introducing the frog kick, especially if you include your flutter-kick vortices disturbing the bottom as 'contact" with the bottom. so, for the btter students, we don't stop with kick-and-glide using their flutter kick, but move into the frog kick. And the REALLY good students get to try out -- or at least see demonstrated -- a reverse kick and a helicopter turn.

Another good PPB mental-concept is to introducing swimming as just a moving hover. You start with a hover, then a small kick (without a big breath to start!) to move sideways. The goal is for them to stop swimming and not sink or rise. Until they can do that.....NO CAMERA!

 

[freewillie]

There are two things I took away from my PPB class. The first is what proper weighting feels like. It's hard to know if you are over or under weighted unless you know what it feels like to be properly weighted. So a formal weight check before a dive with an full tank and then a formal weight check at the end of a dive with an empty tank. I also learned that I need less weight to dive than what I thought I needed for basic OW training where you tend to be slightly over weighted to begin with.

And when you are properly weighted you go through a series of exercises that make you focus on your buoyancy. My instructor had me swim through one hula hoop without touching the hoop and then swim through two hoops without touching. All the issues of danglies gets compounded since any part of your equipment that touches fails the test and you have to start over. So before you go through the hoop you have to make sure all your hoses, octopus, SPG, etc. are clipped and streamlined. At one point you have to approach the hoop slowly, stop for a few seconds (mimicking hovering for a photo) and then go through the hoop. You have to control your buoyancy with your breathing, no hands, and then you will have a much better sense of your position in the water.

While you don't need to take the class, simply getting more experience is also helpful, I found that by focusing on my weighting and my breathing and the sensation of floating I had a much better sense of buoyancy in the water than before I took the class. And that is what continuing education should be about.

 

[eelnoraa]

Just make sure you take it from a good instructor. Mine PPB sucked

 

[Patoux01]

I wouldn't take it, especially not as PADI advertises it. Just have a look at the presentation video, anyone who then wants to take that course must have terribly poor skills. The video is old? Update it, it takes half a day to do and would maybe make us feel like there's any reason to do the course. But well, anyone that wants to promote diving would make that course as part of its first level certification...

What I would do:
If I have no money to spend, and think I can bring something to others, go do a few training dives with someone that knows. Some of them are out there, many of those who think they are are completely worthless (I've seen hypoxic trimix certified divers unable to do a half-decent frog kick). Not saying in which category I am, I'll sometimes hit the ceiling in a swimthrough, like many. I do my best to not damage anything, but it'll happen sometimes, unexpected surge, ... and then I'll hate myself for the rest of the dive.
If I have money to spend, I'd look up one of the really good instructors in the area (if there's one), look for UTD, GUE, or simply someone that is known to be really good from other agencies (I wouldn't hesitate asking a good cave/wreck diver either), give him a call "Hey, I'd like to book a day or two to get some work on my fundamental skills, would that be possible?". I highly doubt any instructor that is in there for the sake of promoting safe diving would refuse. A day with such an instructor might be as expensive as a full PPB course, but at least it's guaranteed to be good and focused.

Those certification cards don't bring anything, so there's no reason to want one. (or do people really care about the "master" scuba diver? )

When I say "training dive", I mean 10-20 minutes working in front of a camera, demonstrating the skills, then going for a shallow dive where you focus mainly on proper diving. Review the videos either by yourself or with your buddy afterwards, look at the issues and try to fix them. You can ask online what people would do to improve it as well...

I personally didn't take the course, doing it with a good instructor would probably make things go faster than learning "by yourself" (as with everything). But if you can only get piss poor training in your area, it is a waste of money to do a course.
I don't think I missed out on anything by not taking the course, at least not in my area...

 

[TMHeimer]

freewillie, Sounds like your course was pretty good, as was mine. We did the hula hoop thing and some other neat stuff as well. Interesting that proper weighting is even part of the PPB course. Proper weighting as far as amount is (or should be) done by doing a formal weight check in OW course. Weight distribution for "perfect" horizontal trim can go to PPB course. I could see this as too time consuming at the ocean here, especially during the colder parts of the season. Sometimes even the weight check means a few more minutes in some pretty nasty cold water.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

I've taken an UW photography class with NWGratefulDiver, and we focused first on trim/buoyancy, then frog/back kicks and helicopter turns. Then the camera finally came out. For anyone in Seattle, I'd strongly recommend taking this class with Bob. He gave me a lot to continue to practice both with and without the camera. It doesn't come instantly.

 

[freewillie]

freewillie, Sounds like your course was pretty good, as was mine. We did the hula hoop thing and some other neat stuff as well. Interesting that proper weighting is even part of the PPB course. Proper weighting as far as amount is (or should be) done by doing a formal weight check in OW course. Weight distribution for "perfect" horizontal trim can go to PPB course. I could see this as too time consuming at the ocean here, especially during the colder parts of the season. Sometimes even the weight check means a few more minutes in some pretty nasty cold water.

Not so much the course but my instructor. More than the weight checks and the hoops it's more about learning to experience what proper weight and buoyancy should feel. It's hard to know unless you've experienced the feeling. You can do it all you like in OW but it's hard to know what it feels like until you know what it feels like.

It's like good wine. You might not know what you're missing until you try a really nice bottle.

 

[Mike126]

I think PPB was one of the most helpful classes that I took. Not only did it teach me proper weighting and trim but also as a result allowed me to be a more relaxed diver. My instructor really focused on trimming through breathing. In the winter when I do a pool session I spend most of my time working on hovers and relaxed movements. It would be nice to have it in the OW class and spend more time actually practicing the skills versus talking about them.

 

[Diver0001]

Hey guys!

I'm relatively new to scuba diving and I did my open water SSI course around last year. Now, I have around 14 logged dives and just came back from Derawan Islands where I saw some really amazing stuff. I'm planning to dive in Manado soon, but I'm thinking about taking a specialty course first. What can I expect from the peak performance buoyancy specialty? I don't consider myself a "good" diver, but I have a sufficient level of neutral buoyancy and etc. Should I take it? Or should I go for photography?

I would say that as a rule no matter how good your buoyancy control is, the bar can always be raised. I've had some students with amazing natural talent for buoyancy control but still none that I didn't think I could challenge. I know there are some instructors out there that say taking PPB is proof that your open water instructor sucked but I would strongly disagree with that. In some cases it can indicate poor training, but like I said, no matter how high the bar, it can always go higher.

As for photography, I can't advise you. I'm not authorized to give it which is a conscious choice because I think there are other instructors who can teach this course 1000 times better than I ever could. That said, I do tend to agree with what a couple of people said. Good buoyancy control is a prerequisite for becoming a good photographer. In fact, good buoyancy control is a prerequisite for being good at almost any additional task under water..... so you can probably read between the lines what my preference would be.

R..