differences in men and women while diving

[leelee]

Hey, I have been diving professionally for years. I have had a great decade of guiding and teaching others on their dive vacations..

a couple main differences i noticed, I wanted to share and see if anyone else is noticing that

1. weight positions. because womens center of gravity is a bit lower than mens, weight positioning is different. I would recommend tank weights low onthe tank, but dont make your back/tank area so heavy that it guides you. IE the faber steel tanks are sometimes so heavy for a lady that it pulls her if she is not exactly trim. If you dont want your weights on your back then around your waist try moving the weights forward a bit.. not so far that the clip cant hold it. nor all of them that your back is pulled down to compensate but having them more infront of your hips helps to get a comfortable trim.

2. Gear up. This is what i love. I am a cold and warm water guide and am here to help. which means i am going to help you. So as you gear up. I am there for you and as a female guide i insist that you use me. wether it is to help put your dry gloves on . to make sure your mask skirt is clear of hair or gear or throwing wuss water on you when you are topside. I am going to help you and female divers are much more acceptant of it.. NOW. when we learn diving we learn to use our resources. it is the smartest way to dive. IE. why would you do a blind decent if there is a decent line there. so why not combine me in your gear up routine instead of showing that you can do it yourself. I know you can do it yourself. You are certified and i am trusting you on the dive. I know you can do it. but I am here to not help but enhance your experience so let me in.. haha Ladies could teach the gentlemen alot in that regard.

what do you notice as the main differences

 

[D_B]

Help me get my neck seal sorted out, make sure my drysuit zipper is seated .. and help anywhere else you see me struggling
... it IS most appreciated and I will thank you

 

[fisheater]

So far, use of punctuation. ;-)

 

[TSandM]

I'm with you on the helping thing. It drives me crazy, on our cave diving trips, to see the guys hauling heavy tanks around by themselves, when I've offered to help them carry them. Yes, they CAN do it, but at age 58, I know the cost of overusing and abusing body parts when you are young and think you're immortal When we do trips that are all women, we do tend to help one another more, I think. (But I'll also admit to having waved off help myself in a mixed group, so as not to be perceived as the weak sister.)

Another thing I see is the relationship between stature and trim. Guys who are six feet tall and wear jet fins can balance head-heavy tanks much easier, because they can get those negative feet a lot further away from their bodies. Women, I think, have to do more with static weighting. I'm basing this on the fact that I've had several instructors (all tall men) insist that I didn't need the weights I had carefully set up for myself, and they have said that I should be able to balance everything out with body posture. It doesn't work very well if you are basically a set of tanks with a head and feet sticking out of them.

 

[tracydr]

Hey, I have been diving professionally for years. I have had a great decade of guiding and teaching others on their dive vacations..

a couple main differences i noticed, I wanted to share and see if anyone else is noticing that

1. weight positions. because womens center of gravity is a bit lower than mens, weight positioning is different. I would recommend tank weights low onthe tank, but dont make your back/tank area so heavy that it guides you. IE the faber steel tanks are sometimes so heavy for a lady that it pulls her if she is not exactly trim. If you dont want your weights on your back then around your waist try moving the weights forward a bit.. not so far that the clip cant hold it. nor all of them that your back is pulled down to compensate but having them more infront of your hips helps to get a comfortable trim.

2. Gear up. This is what i love. I am a cold and warm water guide and am here to help. which means i am going to help you. So as you gear up. I am there for you and as a female guide i insist that you use me. wether it is to help put your dry gloves on . to make sure your mask skirt is clear of hair or gear or throwing wuss water on you when you are topside. I am going to help you and female divers are much more acceptant of it.. NOW. when we learn diving we learn to use our resources. it is the smartest way to dive. IE. why would you do a blind decent if there is a decent line there. so why not combine me in your gear up routine instead of showing that you can do it yourself. I know you can do it yourself. You are certified and i am trusting you on the dive. I know you can do it. but I am here to not help but enhance your experience so let me in.. haha Ladies could teach the gentlemen alot in that regard.

what do you notice as the main differences

I have certainly found that I need to bring my weights forward compared to my husband. Never thought of the differences of center of gravity.
i thought it was "just me".
Gearing up- my husband, a PADI instructor, really pushes me to be self-sufficient. I have a hard time with my zippers and also with some things that require manual dexterity or certain upper body movements, due to a neck fracture in 2001. Hubby ( who used to be married to another instructor) is slowly getting used to the idea of us helping each other for all the difficult parts of gearing up, while avoiding any possible "female codependency" that often develops in married couples.

---------- Post added ----------

I can so relate!

"Another thing I see is the relationship between stature and trim. Guys who are six feet tall and wear jet fins can balance head-heavy tanks much easier, because they can get those negative feet a lot further away from their bodies. Women, I think, have to do more with static weighting. I'm basing this on the fact that I've had several instructors (all tall men) insist that I didn't need the weights I had carefully set up for myself, and they have said that I should be able to balance everything out with body posture. It doesn't work very well if you are basically a set of tanks with a head and feet sticking out of them."

 

[Nylorac]

IGearing up- my husband, a PADI instructor, really pushes me to be self-sufficient. I have a hard time with my zippers and also with some things that require manual dexterity or certain upper body movements, due to a neck fracture in 2001. Hubby ( who used to be married to another instructor) is slowly getting used to the idea of us helping each other for all the difficult parts of gearing up, while avoiding any possible "female codependency" that often develops in married couples.

I also have problems due to a neck injury - getting my drysuit on over my head is very difficult, I just can't do it on my own without straining my neck (and I really don't want to go back to physical therapy). I try not to let the need for help bother me - finally decided it is what it is and I want to dive.

 

[BluewaterSail]

I dunno. I am all for helping each other. But honestly, I have had DMs trying to be helpful during equipment set-up, and they just end up making it more difficult for me. Maybe its just me and I'm not very bright, but I like to do things step by step, checking things as I go, in the ways that are most comfortable for me. To have a hand appear and all of a sudden start screwing my first stage reg into my tank (for example) throws me off. When I get alot of "help" from someone, the end result is usually that I forget something or something is twisted or not quite right.

However, I often ask for help with zipping up, and lifting a tank unto a table from the ground, and I do appreciate the assistance.

Linda

 

[ferris213]

2. Gear up. This is what i love. I am a cold and warm water guide and am here to help. which means i am going to help you. So as you gear up. I am there for you and as a female guide i insist that you use me.

Am I missing something? Why do you insist? If I need help I will ask. If you see me struggling and offer, I might say 'yes thanks' or, as I have done in the past, 'no thanks, I want to do this on my own, but thank you anyway'

One of the most annoying scuba experiences I have had to date was when someone insisted on 'helping' me by literally snatching my creeping second stage out of my hand, hitting it sharply three or four times, then start trying to pull it apart in the car park we were gearing up in!

I am here to not help but enhance your experience so let me in.. haha Ladies could teach the gentlemen alot in that regard.

Just because someone is doing it differently to how you would do it, doesn't mean they're doing it wrong

 

[Blue River]

1. weight positions. because womens center of gravity is a bit lower than mens, weight positioning is different. I would recommend tank weights low onthe tank, but dont make your back/tank area so heavy that it guides you. IE the faber steel tanks are sometimes so heavy for a lady that it pulls her if she is not exactly trim. If you dont want your weights on your back then around your waist try moving the weights forward a bit.. not so far that the clip cant hold it. nor all of them that your back is pulled down to compensate but having them more infront of your hips helps to get a comfortable trim.

the weight thing has turned into our biggest difference with my domestic partner
he insists that I don't get my safety stops executed perfectly because I don't "try" hard enough.
particularly in Cozumel, in the drift diving, when the currents run strong, I do have to struggle
in winter I almost always use only a skin, and in summer, like now, just a rash guard shirt
he rarely wears anything more than the rash guard
he's 6'3" and 220 lbs
I'm 5'3" and between 145 and 148 pounds
diving with 14 pounds of lead (my "normal") just wasn't getting it this last couple of days so I added 2 more for our second dive yesterday
marginally better
he thinks I should look at ankle weights (?) or a tank weight

this has always been a struggle for me and we've been OW certified 10 years, and AOW for 5 or 6 years
he gets in at least 2 trips a year, I average a trip about every 6-9 months, usually 5 days of 2 tank boat dives, the occasional shore dive

any suggestions, other than wearing my weight belt with all the weights in front?

regards

 

[drbill]

I don't like it when someone "insists" on helping me. After 50 years on SCUBA, I know my gear and how I like it rigged. I'll gladly accept assistance when I need it from man or woman, but please... when I need it (and ask for it). I have had DM/instructor guides interfre when I've specifically asked them not to. I told one in Tahiti that I would set up my kit and not to touch it. I leave my valve open just before I don my kit and had opened it as we approached the dive site. She decided to turn "on" my valve... thus shutting it off. When I did my giant stride and descended to 15-20 ft I had little air coming out the reg and tried to make a rapid ascent (with air at surface pressure in my lungs). She grabbed my fins and tried to pull me down so I kicked her and broke free. I read her the riot act at the surface when she told me never to do "that..." and explained why she was wrong in her thinking. Needless to say, she didn't get a tip.

I dive mostly solo, but several of my "regular" buddies are women (mostly dive professionals). I never turn down their help if needed.