buoyancy test..... HUH ?

[TwoBitTxn]

The more you dive, the better you will become. I'm sure the DM was happy to see you working on it. You will be a much better diver for it.

Congrats on being able to apply what was given successfully.

Happy diving in the future.

TwoBit

 

[Halthron]

Congratulations. It does take several dives to get used to the intricacies of buoyancy control. Once it's become second nature to use breathing for small changes, you'll see your gas utilizatin increase sicne you're not squirting air into your BC as often to compensate.

 

[jbd]

Yazrick,
I would like to add my congratulations to those of TwoBitTxn and Halthron. Very well done indeed!!!

 

[Tassie_Rohan]

Congratulations - and don’t worry about annoying the other divers: at this point the best thing you can do for your diving is spend a few dives nailing your buoyancy. We’ve all had to learn this skill at some point.

Sounds like you're getting close to your ideal weight. Takes a while to get the breathing control nailed.

To fine tune your weight put 2 of your weights in your BC pockets and find a shallow area at the end of the dive - you should be floating at 5 meters/15 feet and have around 50 bar/700 psi in the tank. Completely deflate your BC, stop kicking, breathe normally and see if you sink - if so then off load a weight from your pocket to your buddy, wait a moment, see if you still sink, and if so off load another weight. Do this at the end of a few dives - first with 3 lb weights, then smaller weights if you're finicky. You'll be surprised just how much weight you can take off.

You then have it nailed: and the closer you are to your minimum required weight the easier it will become to use your breathing to control buoyancy.

Cheers,
Rohan.

 

[Yazrick]

Thanks guys

I must admit - it was interesting to see that there were still some divers that were happy to "crawl" on their hands accross the reefs.

I have a slight issue with this as there has been stories of people not looking where they touch and actualy getting stung by harmfull or piosonous urchans.

 

[fyh]

This has been a very helpful thread topic.

I logged my 9th and 10th dives this weekend.

I had still been diving with the amount of weight given to me for my cert class... 16 pounds. I knew I was severely overweighted, so I started cutting down this weekend.

On the first dive, I dropped 2 pounds. At 14, I was still very overweighted.
On the second dive, I dropped another 2 pounds. At 12 pounds the "plummeting" feeling was gone. It was more like 'drifting' to the bottom.

So, I'm a 5'10" guy, average build, about 170 lbs. I dive a 3/2 suit, and a jacket style BC. Can anyone similar post a good guess at what will be my 'ideal' weight?

Thanks!

 

[NadMat]

Yazrick, good to hear you're getting a handle on the bouyancy.

Just remember that practice makes perfect, and lack of practice (as in not diving in a while) will cost you a bit of that control. So dive, dive, dive

Also, remember that weight needed is a changing variable depending on exposure suit you are using (thickness, age, and material used all factor in), whether you are diving salt or fresh, and that your bodies bouyancy can change as your personal fitness level changes (muscle is denser than fat and produces less bouyancy)

So a couple of minutes to do a bouyancy check when diving new or rented equipment and new locations or conditions is a good investment. I find that around January I am likely to find that I need a little more weight if have not been exercising as much and have been enjoying all the great holiday eats for the past few months.

As for annoying others with your bouyancy checks, I find myself to be far more annoyed by the 'yo-yo' divers bouncing off the bottom throughout dive than I would be waiting for someone to get their weight correct at beginning.

 

[methos11299]

forgive me but i'm a new diver but when you mean hover thats kind of like sitting crosslegged in the water or being perpendicular with the water?

 

[scubafool]

While it is entirely possible to hover in a variety of postiions, most of the time when someone talks about hovering, they mean horizontal in the water. By horizontal, I mean facing the bottom, and your back to the surface.

 

[jbd]

methos11299,
The post by scubafool (#39) above is spot on. One can hover in any position even vertical with the head down and the feet straight up. Hovering is remaining at any given or desired depth while motionless. This can be done because the diver is neutrally bouyant. The diver is neutrally bouyant because he or she is displacing an amount of water equal in weight to the diver as equipped.

With a living, breathing human being this is actually a dynamic state since each exhalation makes the diver negatively bouyant and each inhalation makes the diver positively bouyant. The point of actual neutral bouyancy only occurs for a split second.