6 Tips to improve Buoyancy & Trim

[boulderjohn]

Students want to dive JUST like their instructors. If you don't kneel: they won't. If you don't lie on the bottom: they won't either. If you show them how to be neutral and use only your fins: they will emulate.

When I was first experimenting with neutrally buoyant/horizontal trim instruction, I did much of my experimentation in refresher classes and pool discover scuba sessions. I discovered that in both cases, once I got the students in the deep end of the pool with a decent idea of buoyancy and trim, I could just get their attention, do something, and signal for them to imitate me. They loved it, and they generally could do whatever I showed them. That included during youth discover scuba birthday parties.

When I saw that discover scuba students at the end of a 2 hour pool session looked more like experienced divers than the OW students going through two days of pool sessions, I decided it was time to go all the way with the OW students.

 

[Wibble]

The 300lb gorilla…

What percentage of Open Water / Advanced OW trainers have “technical” core skills AND experience?

A student needs to be exposed to EXCELLENT skills in order to copy them.

This thread shows that most of the participants have or understand those skills. That’s rather different than the skills seen in the wild.

 

[berndo]

What percentage of Open Water / Advanced OW trainers have “technical” core skills AND experience?

Trim, buoyany and kicking are in no way ''technical' skills. They also doesn't need a lot of experience to learn.

 

[Tribal]

Trim, buoyany and kicking are in no way ''technical' skills. They also doesn't need a lot of experience to learn.

You are right but sadly enough many divers and instructors don’t care.
In belgium 5m visibility is a good day, so we all dive close to the bottom. There is still 90%+ that flutters and leaves more dust then a rally car.

 

[blueskies_up_ahead]

As a rather new diver, I find it a bit annoying that it is generally assumed you're a monkey flapping around underwater. I'm at 40 dives and my trim and buoyancy are good, while certainly not flawless (flat in the water, I can go up and down pool tiles with breath, good finning technique except for back kick that is work in progress). Now figuring out my buoyancy in a drysuit.
I first wrote this reply as a rant, but in the end it is what it is and I've just realized that diving is a bit like medical consults: you better know what you want before going in. Hoping for the right recommendation is a bad idea. The truth is dive shops will assume you're a recreational diver with no ambition to go beyond regular OWD skills and equipment (so to speak), let alone REALLY learning something in your classes. If you want something more, you gotta know that upfront and stand up for yourself. Had I not done my research before, I wouldn't be diving in a bp&w. In my deep course got lucky that I had an instructor who is a tec instructor as well and who saw that I had good gear, good skills, and asked questions that showed I had dug deeper into the topic. He helped me fine tune things, beyond the realm of the deep cert. The last thing I bought where I had to work against some resistance was a long hose reg set. Now I got some more things to practice
The other thing that gets complicated when you're a new but ambitious diver is finding a buddy. You can find a newbie buddy, but chances of that person sharing your ambition are slim.

 

[berndo]

You are right but sadly enough many divers and instructors don’t care.
In belgium 5m visibility is a good day, so we all dive close to the bottom. There is still 90%+ that flutters and leaves more dust then a rally car.

I'm calling BS or your 90% claim. I learned to dive in the 90s in the baltic sea from a PADI instructor and there was lots mud and bad viz too. This was before somebody invented the goofy term 'tec' diving. Nowhere near 90% of people kicked up dirt them. Even in the old black and white PADI book the said not to do that and explained who to properly weight yourself. I also worked full time as a instructor for a few years in different places around the world. I never seen 90% or anywhere close that % that kicked the ground anywhere in the world.
I think a lot of the SB crowd (especially the people that call themselves 'tec' divers) like to think of themselves as better or have special knowlege because they can do a basic skill.

 

[Jake 10]

IMHO, a good trim and good buoyancy can save you 25% air consumption on a dive. In my experience, I have practiced the same dive, at the same depth, under the same conditions, for the same period of time, and improved air consumption by 25%. Basically, ended with +750psi more at the end of the dive. Is a work in progress.

 

[Tribal]

I'm calling BS or your 90% claim. I learned to dive in the 90s in the baltic sea from a PADI instructor and there was lots mud and bad viz too. This was before somebody invented the goofy term 'tec' diving. Nowhere near 90% of people kicked up dirt them. Even in the old black and white PADI book the said not to do that and explained who to properly weight yourself. I also worked full time as a instructor for a few years in different places around the world. I never seen 90% or anywhere close that % that kicked the ground anywhere in the world.
I think a lot of the SB crowd (especially the people that call themselves 'tec' divers) like to think of themselves as better or have special knowlege because they can do a basic skill.

It might be 80 or 75 but it’s way more then 50%. Most divers over here are Nelos (national part of Cmas) and flutter kicking is the way to go. It’s impossible to do that 50cm above the floor without ruining the visibility.
It’s not a skill issue it’s more a “I don’t give a F” issue or like people mentioned before, they are teached that way.

 

[Richardk]

Neat video and follow up tips

 

[boulderjohn]

The 300lb gorilla…

What percentage of Open Water / Advanced OW trainers have “technical” core skills AND experience?

A student needs to be exposed to EXCELLENT skills in order to copy them.

This thread shows that most of the participants have or understand those skills. That’s rather different than the skills seen in the wild.

I believe that if new OW students can learn proper buoyancy and trim quickly, then instructors can, too.

When I posed for the pictures for the first PADI article advocating teaching OW classes while neutrally buoyant from the start, we needed high quality pictures, so we got the instructor for our shop with the best photographic skill to take the photos. He was an absolute died-in-the-wool believer in teaching students on their knees. Even as he took the pictures of me doing the skills, he was skeptical about students being able to do it.

When he heard that I even taught the scuba gear removal and replacement in mid water, he said he could not believe students could do that. In fact, he said he was sure he couldn't do it either, so how could he demonstrate it? I told him to go to the deep end and give it a shot. He did, and he had no trouble doing it, despite never even having seen it done.