Buoyancy

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Swim throughs also require some compromise on my part.

I would think so!

Seriously, if you want to dive vertically and you don't damage the environment and you are happy, then have at it. But please understand that many divers in that position have issues with being overweighted/damaging the environment/continuously finning/etc., and that is what "we" try to address.

 

[MichaelMc]

Well, sometimes I dive sideways, and sometimes upside down. Never use my fins to maintain depth in my vertical position. This is a matter of buoyancy control, not trim.To me always diving in horizontal trim is like viewing the dry world from face down on the floor.
I admit that drift diving works best for my vertical trim. Swim throughs also require some compromise on my part.
Essentially, I adjust my orientation as conditions demand. People who maintain horizontal trim at safety stop and descent leave me scratching my head.

Dive and let dive. Join the revolution.

How do you move about the dive site?
Do you go horizontal, swim to new spot, then go back to vertical?
Repeating for each new move?

 

[scrane]

So what you're saying is that you've given up the quickest and most useful tool to position yourself in the water column, your fins. Any movement of your feet is only going to send you in one direction, up.

I hardly ever use my fins for vertical movement. Sometimes fins are useful to maintain position when I'm upside down. Of course to get from point A to point B I use the fins.

 

[The Chairman]

Well, sometimes I dive sideways, and sometimes upside down.

Who doesn't? I often break trim to get a better look at something.

I admit that drift diving works best for my vertical trim.

If you don't kick, you don't have to worry about the resultant upward thrust. If you have to kick, then flat is where it's at.

People who maintain horizontal trim at safety stop and descent leave me scratching my head.

As I pointed out, I am vertical during my safety stop, but I do go down flat on pretty much everything but a hot drop. I feel like I'm sky diving down to the bottom and I like it. On a hot drop, where it's essential to reach the bottom quickly, I am head down and kicking. I never understood people who descend feet first.

Dive and let dive. Join the revolution.

By all means. However, considering our widely disparate diving philosophies, we would probably be horrible buddies.

 

[scrane]

How do you move about the dive site?
Do you go horizontal, swim to new spot, then go back to vertical?
And then repeat if you want to move again?

Ya know, I do whatever I feel like. Whatever gets me the best view of what interests me. Sometimes that's a panorama of the reef and sometimes it's skimming the coral as fast as I can and sometimes it's upside down peering under a ledge..
My point is that If you spend all your time on your belly you're missing a lot. The beauty of being underwater is escaping the law of gravity. Why substitute other rules that restrict your movements and outlook.

 

[scrane]

I always descend feet first. I can see up, down, and all around. I love to feed a little air into my bag and stop within a couple of feet from the bottom!

Yeah, I am a crappy buddy.

 

[The Chairman]

I love to feed a little air into my bag and stop within a couple of feet from the bottom!

I just take a breath and save that air for later. Less put in the BC means more for me.

That's another other great benefit of being in trim and neutral: you use far less gas. The combination of reducing drag through superior trim, and being in full control of your dive, which reduces your SAC, will allow you to stay down longer. I'm almost always the biggest guy on the boat, and quite often the last one who needs to surface. I also seem to find the most critters on top of that.

 

[MichaelMc]

I feel freer to move about if my paused or contemplative state is horizontal. It just takes a kick to move. Going from vertical to horizontal to move adds an extra impediment to my freedom underwater. It makes me feel not a fish.

Taking prudent note that I'm not free to zip as far up and down as some of the aquatic inhabitants due to DCS risk. Nor am I as agile as the sea lions.

I'm all for a good roll or vertical 360 pan. But mostly horizontal is the more useful orientation. Especially if I'm interested in stuff amongst the bottom. I don't see how vertical would work at all for that.

I do dive sidemount these days, so there's no first stage encroaching my head tilting up, and I can arch my back about freely to look around. But for freedom to change location, horizontal wins for me with either setup. Just in sidemount you have more visibility by being able to twist/arch no matter your general orientation.

 

[scrane]

The amount of air in your bag is not a function of how you get down. It's a matter of equilibrium.
Although I drop like a stone my bag is always empty at the safety stop.
It's been a long time since I had a problem with air consumption. I'm not the biggest guy on the boat, but more often than not the last to board.
It's interesting how often buoyancy and trim are used in the same sentence. They are two different things.

 

[The Chairman]

I'm all for a good roll or vertical 360 pan.

I have learned over the years to take a peak behind me through my fins, especially when I want to see my buddy. It takes so little energy to dip my head and arch my back to do this and it's near impossible if you're vertical. Of course, I only have to look if I don't hear my buddy. If I can hear their breathing, they are close enough.