Vertical vs horizontal ascent/descents

[RadRob]

they teach vertical for a few reasons.

ascents, they teach you to have a hand raised above your head while rotating to 1. keep from bumping your head on overhead objects such as a boat and 2. to see what is around you.

descent, vertical so you don't sink like a rock, you can use your kick to control the speed if you are overweighted, which new students may not have figured out yet.

controlling ascent/descent with your lungs is dangerous for new divers because they tend to hold their breath too long. maintaining your same depth and buoyancy with lungs is one thing, but ascent and descent is another.

equalizing in vertical tends to be easier for some, using positive buoyancy of air in the eustachian tubes.

as far as jackets are concerned, they are made to trim almost horizontal as well as wings. if they were meant to keep you vertical the bladder would be at the top rather than the length of the bc.

once you get more than 50 dives and are comfortable, use the technique you like best

 

[TSandM]

The biggest thing for me that comes with doing descents and ascents horizontally, is that it is FAR easier to maintain team cohesion in a horizontal position. Horizontal, I can kick forward if I'm slipping away from my buddy, or back up if I'm getting too close. Vertical, I have no way of closing the gap if we are getting separated. Since descents and ascents are times when things are changing and people are most likely to have problems, they're the times when I want to be most available to my buddies (and have them most available to me). The last few feet of an ascent, in an area where there are boats, I'll go vertical to look and raise an arm if I feel it's a good idea to do so. But the majority of the ascent is horizontal, because it's strategically better.

 

[m.hamner]

I have a sherwood avid and just completed my peak performance bouyancy course. I trim out the same in that thing as I would in a Back inflated style.

I like to be prone when descending. and vertical when ascending TO THE SURFACE. Otherwise I rise and sink by using breath control when moving to different depths within a dive.

 

[Blackwood]

The biggest thing for me that comes with doing descents and ascents horizontally, is that it is FAR easier to maintain team cohesion in a horizontal position. Horizontal, I can kick forward if I'm slipping away from my buddy, or back up if I'm getting too close. Vertical, I have no way of closing the gap if we are getting separated. Since descents and ascents are times when things are changing and people are most likely to have problems, they're the times when I want to be most available to my buddies (and have them most available to me). The last few feet of an ascent, in an area where there are boats, I'll go vertical to look and raise an arm if I feel it's a good idea to do so. But the majority of the ascent is horizontal, because it's strategically better.

You always gotta come and say what I meant, but better.:mooner:

 

[S. starfish]

In addition to what TSandM said, descending/ascending horizontally offers more control, especially in a drysuit as the air bubble is more evenly distributed along the length of your body (or BCD if you don't have a suit).

I am a big advocate of horizontal descents and ascents and while I think that descending horizontally should be done from the get go I really think that horizontal ascents should not be done by new divers until they are more comfortable in the water and have gotten a better grip on their buoyancy control. Don't get me wrong, I think that all new divers should be made aware of how to ascend horizontally - I get my students to practice this in the pool - but since new divers, still mastering their skills, tend to be quite focused on themselves and what they are doing rather than the world around them I can see new divers getting so focused on the ascent that they don't look up and end up getting stuck under a tree (seriously, that can happen here), losing their buddy or absentmindedly finning and ending up a million miles away from where they wanted to be. Losing the buddy is a bit of a concern as as TSandM said, ascents and descents are where people are most likely to encounter problems. Additionally, in OW courses, while some students can handle a horizontal ascent, not all people have equal ability so you really have to cater to the lowest ability, which means vertical ascents. Having some people ascend one way and others another is just asking for trouble. I don't see new divers suffering lung over expansion injuries due to horizontal ascents as a real concern as anybody with half decent training and a quarter of a brain should be able to avoid that.

Once divers become less focused on themselves and more on their surroundings and have more natural control of their buoyancy I think that horizontal ascents are the best way to go.

Vertical descents are just lame, and a good way to make a giant silt cloud or kick a reef, depending on where you are.

 

[Nemrod]

I decend in a vertical position head down and I ascend in a more or less vertical postion head up so I might see where it is I am going--all the while--I have excellent horozontal trim. I swim down, I swim around and then I swim back up. N