Are my Fins too heavy for me?

[Eskasi]

Hi there, got a newb question I am hoping someone can help answer....

My gear has been evolving rather quickly over the 40 or so dives I have made. I have changed various masks, moved from a weightbelt to integrated weights, reduced the amount of weights I am using, moved from a Jacket BC to BP and Harness, used both 5 and 3 mil suits, and finally, changed my Cressi Fins to the Apollo Biofins with Spring straps.

It was this last moved that kinda "threw" me off a bit, together with the move to a travel BP. I now find myself constantly rotating into a vertical position slowly! It is quite annoying. I do agree that the Biofins are quite negatively buoyant. Is there anything I can do to fix this? I really like those fins. Perhaps I need to adjust my weights and how they are placed? I thought that my BP harness setup would allow me to achieve a more "horizontal position". This has not really happened for me. I have also heard of people who need ankle weights but not really anyone with my kind of problem...

Please help this newbie!

 

[olmic]

If you raise your knees and bend them, you will be moving your center of gravity forwards. When you stretch your legs, your center of gravity will move backwards. Swimming with your knees bent requires you to use frogkicks instead of normal flutter kicks, of course. But that's a good thing.

 

[RJP]

You can also try sliding your tank up a bit, to move your center of gravity towards your head a bit.

 

[do it easy]

I have the same "problem"- usually just inflate my drysuit feet a little more to trim out. In a wetsuit, I have to move weight up to balance.

 

[Scubakevdm]

Hi there, got a newb question I am hoping someone can help answer....

My gear has been evolving rather quickly over the 40 or so dives I have made. I have changed various masks, moved from a weightbelt to integrated weights, reduced the amount of weights I am using, moved from a Jacket BC to BP and Harness, used both 5 and 3 mil suits, and finally, changed my Cressi Fins to the Apollo Biofins with Spring straps.

It was this last moved that kinda "threw" me off a bit, together with the move to a travel BP. I now find myself constantly rotating into a vertical position slowly! It is quite annoying. I do agree that the Biofins are quite negatively buoyant. Is there anything I can do to fix this? I really like those fins. Perhaps I need to adjust my weights and how they are placed? I thought that my BP harness setup would allow me to achieve a more "horizontal position". This has not really happened for me. I have also heard of people who need ankle weights but not really anyone with my kind of problem...

Please help this newbie!

Yes. Move weight towards your head, whether it is by moving your feet towards your head by bending your knees more, as the first guy pointed out, or by moving your tank up as RJP suggested, or by clasping your hands in front of you (I guess that is technically moving weight away from your head, but hopefully you understand what I mean). Also, make sure your harness is adjusted correctly, and that the plate and the tank are not hanging low on your back.

Imagine that you are a teeter-totter. All of these changes serve to adjust the fulcrum.

 

[Eskasi]

If you raise your knees and bend them, you will be moving your center of gravity forwards. When you stretch your legs, your center of gravity will move backwards. Swimming with your knees bent requires you to use frogkicks instead of normal flutter kicks, of course. But that's a good thing.

Ive tried that unfortunately.....its the funniest sight....watching me in full bent posotion and slowly rotating.....my eyes tell of the frustration.....I swear my buddy almost choked when he saw it happen....

I do like the "moving the tank higher up" idea though....I must try it. ever since the first time I used the new setup and banged my head on the 1st stage a couple of times, I have set it as low as possible.....perhaps this could be the reason.....pity I can't just go out and try a new configuration. I only get to do travel dives....hoping to go again next month.....

 

[Eskasi]

Yes. Move weight towards your head, whether it is by moving your feet towards your head by bending your knees more, as the first guy pointed out, or by moving your tank up as RJP suggested, or by clasping your hands in front of you (I guess that is technically moving weight away from your head, but hopefully you understand what I mean). Also, make sure your harness is adjusted correctly, and that the plate and the tank are not hanging low on your back.

Imagine that you are a teeter-totter. All of these changes serve to adjust the fulcrum.

Thanks for the advice! I will try out the ideas....as for proper harness adjustment, I only wish I could go on a dive where people/DMs could take the time out to help me with such nagging issues.....man, I would of course happily pay for the help. Unfortunately I usually end up at places which cater to tourists and have no time for people like me who need help fine tuning......the kind of places which tells you to carry 4 lbs more than you really need....

 

[wreckchick]

Another thing to try is to use trim pockets on the upper cam band. These are all things you can play with in a swimming pool. You can try a lot of things there and figure out what works!

Rachel

 

[S. starfish]

Since it seems that you're having trouble getting help with setting your harness size, here are a few tips. First off, remove the plate/harness from the wing (way easier to adjust this way) and put on all you exposure gear. This should get you nice and toasty. You want your shoulder straps to be a sung fit, but not too snug, a good indicator is that you should be able to fit about three fingers, layed flat, between the strap and your chest and you should be able to grab the plate while bending over. Setting up a harness can be a fairly lengthy process so don't get mad if it takes a few attempts. A good way to assure that the the shoulder straps are of equal length is to lift the harness with your index fingers while staning on the crotch strap. After the shoulder straps are taken care of set your crotch strap to that it is a loose fit but not dangly. You'll have to fine tune the adjustments afterwards so don't trim off to much excess webbing until you've been on a few dives and are happy with the harness size.

Attempting to shift your center of gravity is the key, as many have stated already. One method I haven't seen mentioned is arching your back, the more you arch it the farther forward your center of gravity will go. Additionaly, check to see if you are dropping your knees (or humping the dog as I've heard it called - I used to do it a lot). If you are dropping your knees this will shift your center of gravity back towards your feet, which wil make the techniques suggested by olmic considerably less effective.

Are you diving with a belt? You mentioned switching to integrated weghts, but I"m not sure if that was a past weight integrated BC thing or if you have weight pockets for the bp/w. If you're diving with a belt this can drag your hips down, move as much weight as you can to your back and dive with a lighter belt. Do retain at least some weight on the belt so that you can ditch enough to be able to swim to the surface in the event of some castastrophic event.

If you have the option to, try and get in some pool time or shore dives with a buddy. Getting some video footage or pictures of yourself underwater can also help. Water gives terrible feed back and quite often we're not actually doing what we think we're doing in the water.

Hope this helps

 

[S. starfish]

Oh... and don't worry about those DMs at the touristy places not helping you out, chances are a lot of them wouldn't know how to adjust a harness etc. anyway.