Trim-wise, I felt leg heavy and tilting to the right side on my last pool session. So I had a hard time remaining motionless at the horizontal. So I guess I need to work on weight distribution a little. And I’m working on the anticipatory exhaling/inhaling to stop vertical motion before getting to the desired depth.
Can a New Diver Develop Buoyancy Skills in a Pool?
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johndiver999
Contributor
If you are not using your normal exposure protection, (wetsuit or dry suit complicate the control issue), then the practice will be less valuable. Also the weight you use in a FW pool will be around 6 lbs less than needed in the ocean if you do wear your normal suit, so keep that in mind.
If the pool is too hot for you to wear the full exposure protection, then you can cheat, wear more lead than you need and practice with carrying a little bigger bubble in your BC. This will somewhat mimic the effects of wearing a suit, will make the whole practice a little more challenging and probably result in your being better able to control buoyancy at the end of your practice session(s). Definitely wear, at a minimum, the hood and gloves that you wear diving, so you can better simulate actual conditions and challenges.
Pretend the pool is bottomless and try to never touch it.
If the pool is too hot for you to wear the full exposure protection, then you can cheat, wear more lead than you need and practice with carrying a little bigger bubble in your BC. This will somewhat mimic the effects of wearing a suit, will make the whole practice a little more challenging and probably result in your being better able to control buoyancy at the end of your practice session(s). Definitely wear, at a minimum, the hood and gloves that you wear diving, so you can better simulate actual conditions and challenges.
Pretend the pool is bottomless and try to never touch it.
Probably the hardest skill in scuba diving is being still in the water.
To help that, it’s good to learn how to fin backwards as almost every move of your feet pushes you forwards. Backfinning is hard to learn too.
Buoyancy soon settles down. The challenge is when you’re task loaded it can fail you.
Those are excellent skills to learn in a pool.
To help that, it’s good to learn how to fin backwards as almost every move of your feet pushes you forwards. Backfinning is hard to learn too.
Buoyancy soon settles down. The challenge is when you’re task loaded it can fail you.
Those are excellent skills to learn in a pool.
One of the things my open water students enjoy is a race where they carry a golf ball on a spoon (if they drop it, they go back to the starting point). It helps with moving smoothly through the water.
There are a number of "games" that you can play, such as using your lungs to compensate for weights you pick up and set down.
Doing things with your eyes closed is another good test to ensure you are breathing consistently. I could dig through the Instructor-to-instructor forum on more ideas if you want.
There are a number of "games" that you can play, such as using your lungs to compensate for weights you pick up and set down.
Doing things with your eyes closed is another good test to ensure you are breathing consistently. I could dig through the Instructor-to-instructor forum on more ideas if you want.
IMHO, a new diver will develop buoyancy skills by doing *real* dives. A lot of them. Dive with experienced, competent divers, watch them, and then do what they do. Chat them up.
You can use your pool sessions to work on surface swimming (for CV fitness and stamina for distance) and skin-diving skills (including surface entries, surface dives, and U/W breath-hold swimming). You'll need only your skin-diving gear (swimsuit, mask and snorkel, fins and booties, and weight belt, and thin wetsuit, too, depending) for this.
If you think you eventually will be taking U/W photos or video, you can use these skin-diving pool sessions to develop these U/W photo/video skills.
rx7diver
Underwater Tourist
Contributor
Excellent point! For example, in my OW classes for navigation instruction we would go out onto the football field next to the high school pool we were using and each student would bring two towels. Stand on the 50 yard line and drop a towel. Then with the other towel over your head so you are basically blind and your reg set draped over your shoulders...... use your compass to walk 50 paces on your selected lubber line direction and then navigate a reciprocal and see how close you end up to your original location... Fun and educational.
At Cove 2, I have students navigate on the small hill to see the impact of going up/down slopes.
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I've done this often in the ocean, but of course it would work in the pool-- Try swimming about 3 feet below the surface . Like maybe doing laps that way, or just stopping & hovering there. The closer you are to the surface the harder buoyancy is because the pressure change is greatest there. If you can do this, buoyancy at depth should be easy.
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