Cold water diving is a PITA

[billt4sf]

With respect to the back pain, don't arch your back! Use your buttock muscles to bring your knees up. I like to think of trying to make myself as LONG as I can, from shoulders to knees -- that gets me stretched out and flat, without the low back arching that causes the pain.

What do you mean by "bring your knees up" ? To me, that phrase means "knees to chest".

 

[TSandM]

By "bring the knees up", I mean to fight the tendency to flex the hip joint and allow the knees to fall below the line of the torso.

If you look at the picture below, you'll see that the diver closer to the wreck has a nice, straight line from his shoulders to his knees. The diver closer to the photographer (me) has a mild flex in the hip joint, allowing the knees to fall below that line. Allowing the knees to drop that much isn't a big deal in open water, but allowing them to drop more can cause the diver to tend to rotate head up, and also encourages a "bicycling" type of kick.

BTW, the diver with good form was on about his eight or ninth lifetime dive . . .

 

[Peter_C]

Ready for the Ocean!

Yay!

Emily’s rig worked very well with the webbing run through the plate (not just the wing), and she immediately enjoyed her rig and swam without much problem for over an hour in the pool.

See no need for an STA. Plus happy wife means you get to continue diving.

She did have a giant leak in her drysuit – well not actually a leak – it turned out that “someone” failed to zip the suit all the way!

Another good reason for self donning suits (Zipper on the front). Then you have no one to blame but yourself.

On my rig, I had tightened the straps a few inches and it seemed to me the whole night that the plate was riding too high on my back. I could easily touch the top of the plate by reaching my hand back, and the bottom of the plate was in the middle of the small of my back. It just seemed too high to me. I don’t want to loosen the straps again but I would love to find another set of slots to run the webbing through.

Loosen the straps again and tighten the crotch strap. Remember to have a small V in the waist harness caused by the crotch strap. We won't listen to you complain about the straps being too tight

Another issue I had was that I constantly felt that my feet were riding higher than my torso. Both Doug and Emily said that was not so -- or very minimally so.

Video is the end all for training purposes, but listen to them that you are doing it correctly.

But I really felt uncomfortable about this and I think I need to use heavier fins, more weight on the weight belt, some air in the wing, or (God forbid) ankle weights. My back is hurting today from all the arching of my back I had to do last night.

I take it you weren't using your Hollis F1 fins then? I have to change my posture between a single tank and double tanks. For doubles I have to stretch my feet out more or I go head down.

We are both unlearning some things we learned during our drysuit course – specifically, we now use the wing to control buoyancy rather than only the drysuit. This helped both of us to feel more comfortable.

Now you are learning how to actually dive by an experienced diver(s). The difference in training is why I only recommend a few select instructors.

We ended the evening by practicing sharing air with the long hoses. It’s muscle memory now – we have to keep practicing it though.

Hopefully you can see the benefits now and understand I really was trying to help, not cause you grief

Fixed it for you!

We feel ready for the ocean, but we would be more comfortable if an experienced diver – esp. an experienced Hogarthian type of diver – joined us.

I got my hands full with a freshly certified diver doing his first drysuit dive. We also only get to do one dive due to time constraints.

 

[ScubaSteve]

My back is hurting today from all the arching of my back I had to do last night.

It is great to hear that things have turned around for you and your wife. Did you find you were using your body a lot to stay on plane (left to right rolling and head heavy or foot heavy)? I have had dives where something went wrong and I was constantly tweaking muscles trying to keep myself in trim and the next day the small of my back killed. This has happened a couple of times. Once I got all of my weight distributed properly, it kept me in trim for the most part, allowing me to focus on the dive rather than constantly tweaking my position. Another cause for this I found was a poorly fitting BC. If the tank on your back is secure in the cambands but the BC is slightly loose fitting, then the tank can roll left to right forcing you to be constantly compensating. This is just another possible cause of the sore back.

 

[billt4sf]

Yay!

Plus happy wife means you get to continue diving.

Another good reason for self donning suits (Zipper on the front). Then you have no one to blame but yourself. .

The first thing there is *the* most critical point!

I did point out #2 to my wife, which did not help with #1, since according to her recollection, I was the one that zipped the suit.

But on the way out of the store, she saw a brochure on cave diving and wanted to go! (I mean really, honey .... geez....)

- Bill

---------- Post added May 3rd, 2013 at 04:14 PM ----------

Loosen the straps again and tighten the crotch strap. Remember to have a small V in the waist harness caused by the crotch strap. We won't listen to you complain about the straps being too tight

I am going to try this.

Hopefully you can see the benefits now and understand I really was trying to help, not cause you grief

There was never any question in my mind.

I take it you weren't using your Hollis F1 fins then? I have to change my posture between a single tank and double tanks. For doubles I have to stretch my feet out more or I go head down.

Correct. The foot pocket is too large for the DUI boots. They should work fine with the Whites Fusion, where I wear my own wet boots.

I think I understand now some of the things that Doug said and what Lynne said -- to wit, if I stretch out more and do not flex my hips, I should lie flatter and my feet should go down. I'll keep trying that.

 

[al248005]

Correct. The foot pocket is too large for the DUI boots. They should work fine with the Whites Fusion, where I wear my own wet boots.

I think I understand now some of the things that Doug said and what Lynne said -- to wit, if I stretch out more and do not flex my hips, I should lie flatter and my feet should go down. I'll keep trying that.

Did you try to re-adjust the spring straps on the F1's? They were too big initially with my rockboots but once I moved to the post closest to the toes they fit perfect.

 

[billt4sf]

Did you try to re-adjust the spring straps on the F1's? They were too big initially with my rockboots but once I moved to the post closest to the toes they fit perfect.

I have not figured out how to adjust them.

 

[al248005]

I have not figured out how to adjust them.

There is a post on the side of the heel part of the fin where the strap connects to the fin itself. All you need to do is remove the nut on the bottom/top side of the post and pull the pin out. With the pin being out it allows you to slide the post to the forward position. I had a tough time getting up to the forward position so I put some soap on it and it slide right into place. Then you reinstall the pin and the nut and your good to go. You have to do this on both sides of the fin. I have a sixe XL fin with DUI rock boots and with the post being in the forward position; it made the fin tight enough where the boot don't slide around inside the fin.

 

[Peter_C]

Then you reinstall the pin and the nut and your good to go. You have to do this on both sides of the fin.

Why? Wouldn't it be like half the tension adjustment if one so desired?

 

[al248005]

Why? Wouldn't it be like half the tension adjustment if one so desired?

I tried it with only doing one side but found it to be very uncomfortable.