Current SCUBA Instruction Techniques

[Paladin]

Coldwater Canuck,

The procedure Slonda828 was describing worked well and provided excellent results for more than three decades before BCs came onto the scene. It seems to me that modern divers are being indoctrinated into believing that buoyancy control is impossible without a piece of equipment that is a relative newcomer to the SCUBA scene. The truth is, the BC was intended to be used as a convenience, not a necessity.

My basic procedure goes something like this:

My long sleeved Henderson shorty has about +4 pounds of buoyancy in fresh water and +5 pounds in sea water. My AL80 weighs about -1.5 lbs full and about +3 at 500 psi. In swim trunks, I have about +3 lbs of buoyancy with my lungs full.

At the surface (salt water) a put 5 lbs on my belt to compensate for the wetsuit and 5 lbs for the tank. 10 lbs of weight plus 1.5 lbs for the full tank = 11.5 lbs total ballast. +5 lbs for the wetsuit and +3 lbs for me makes +8 pounds of buoyancy. That gives me -3.5 pounds at the beginning of the dive, easily controlled by breathing.

At the end of the dive, the AL80 is about +3 lbs, which makes me a paltry -.5 lbs which is very easy to control by proper breathing.

When using my old steel 72, everything is the same, except that the tank does not need a compensatory weight and I only need to carry one 5 lb weight on my belt to counteract the wetsuit.

When diving without a wetsuit, I use 4 or 5 lbs to counteract the AL80 and no weight at all for the 72.

Actually, I cannot see why this is such a big deal to some people. It requires nothing more than simple arithmetic and a basic understanding of underwater physics.

By the way, we drove down to a SCUBA shop that a guy told me about and the owner seemed very pleased that my son wants to learn the traditional SCUBA skills. He gave (yes, GAVE) him a manual and CD to study while he is mastering snorkeling techniques and quoted a price of $400 for the entire course, which will stretch over eight weekends starting the first of August. This includes gear and boat time. Except for some preliminary pool work, all of the training will be done in open water. He also is going to give me a refresher course at no charge. I think we have found the shop that will be getting all our business from now on.

 

[Slonda828]

Isn't this a poor way to use air though? From what I've heard the best way to use air is to take deep, slow breaths to make sure you are getting oxygen and not just stale air left in your airways.

I assume if you are trying to make up for the differences in bouyancy, you start the dive with full lungs and just let a little bit of air out before breathing more in (never let your lungs empty), and then at the end when you're more bouyant just take small breaths (never let your lungs get full)?


I thought your point was that you didn't need to overweight yourself at all, if you could do it all with breathing why not start just very slightly negative?

Well, my SAC rate is about .6 cubic feet per minute, and I'm usually cold because I hate wetsuits. You do not use more air this way, it's more minute than just arbitrarily blowing air in or out of your lungs or shorting yourself on volume. When most of us refer to over weighting divers, we mean past the capacity of your lungs. If you have a BC on, and you dive without any air in you BC until you get around 60 feet (AL80), then you are not over weighted. It is honestly not very hard. Everyone I've ever shown started combative about it and ended up swimming around like a shark. My girlfriend learned how to do it during her 5th-8th dives. You don't have to be a stud to do it, or macho, or hairy-chested, or anything of the sort. It is simply fun, streamlined, and it makes you a better diver when you do use a BC because you know how to properly weight yourself.

If it was wasteful on air, or super hard, or a waste of time, why would I do it?

 

[Slonda828]

By the way, we drove down to a SCUBA shop that a guy told me about and the owner seemed very pleased that my son wants to learn the traditional SCUBA skills. He gave (yes, GAVE) him a manual and CD to study while he is mastering snorkeling techniques and quoted a price of $400 for the entire course, which will stretch over eight weekends starting the first of August. This includes gear and boat time. Except for some preliminary pool work, all of the training will be done in open water. He also is going to give me a refresher course at no charge. I think we have found the shop that will be getting all our business from now on.

Where is this shop, and what is the name of it? I want details on this place.

 

[Paladin]

Slonda828,
Sent you a PM.