Diving confidence

[buleetu]

hi guys

i just wanna ask a question or 2 and say how i felt today about my diving

i was supposed to go to the beach this morning at 10 or there abouts, i told the shop i would drop down early this morning and dive from the shore, just as well i didnt just go down there because i rang ahead and it turned out there was no guide for me, bummer

so i had to wait for a couple of hours until 2pm to go on a local boat which takes 20 mintues to arrive at the dive site, that was fine i was sure it would be a great dive site because they nearly always are here in the red sea, but i was ready to go first thing and because of the wait i had time to think about things and some nerves kicked in shortly afterwards

when i get to the boat i discover that every diver on the boat is either an instructor england that doesnt particularly like weight belts and has the most expensive mares bcd with intergrated weight system and console with compass spg and lights up bright green underwater or a 10 year diving veteran from japan that looks so comfortable looking in the water that it makes me feel like im doing everything wrong and going to get sick at any minute

why do i get so nervous, is it just me will it get better

and why on earth am i rising up and down so much in the water, im all over the place 18 m 19 m back to 18 then 17m when everyone else seems to be going at the 1 depth until it takes there fancy to go and look at that massive clam over there

please help hahah

what can i do to stop this stuff bothering me,any ideas

 

[4sak3n]

Happily the best way to get more comfortable (and hence confident) with diving is to go diving as much as possible. As if you needed a reason to go diving

I'm not certain that I can help with you feeling nervous because I also struggle with that sort of thing in all parts of my life. When I started out diving I also felt very intimidated by the more experienced divers.

I would suggest simply chatting to some of these instructors or oh-so-smooth japanese divers. Chances are that they love diving as much as you do and would LOVE to talk to someone with a fresh perspective i.e. a newbie i.e you!

Once you chat for a bit you'll probably feel less intimidated and relax. They'll probably also be able to give you some advice and pointers too.

Get out there and dive your heart out! I'm sure with experience your buoyancy issues will smooth out and you will feel much more confident. Don't expect things to change overnight or without effort and practice, but don't be discouraged either.

 

[kadleck]

why do i get so nervous, is it just me will it get better?

Yes, it will definitely get better, the less you worry about those super-experienced people around you and get practicing on things like buoyancy. Remember, those 'veterans' also started where you are now... and were probably equally nervous.

and why on earth am i rising up and down so much in the water, im all over the place 18 m 19 m back to 18 then 17m when everyone else seems to be going at the 1 depth until it takes there fancy to go and look at that massive clam over there

Buoyancy is a tricky thing to master, but it does come with practice (honestly!). I was pretty crap at buoyancy control for probably my first 10 dives, then started getting better. A really good course is the PADI 'Peak Performance Buoyancy' course (yes, another course ). Do it after you've had a few more dives to iron out your nerves. The course examines weighting more closely (most OW instructors over-weight their students to enable them to kneel on the bottom easily, for the skills tests), and enhances the hovering skills you did in OW (though it will take significantly less air in the BCD when you are correctly weighted). From there, it's just down to more practice. Then hovering/maintaining depth while swimming will become almost second nature, just like you witness in those other divers you mention!

what can i do to stop this stuff bothering me,any ideas

Firstly, just relax! Forget about those veterans and concentrate on yourself (and your buddy!). Your concerns WILL go away as you find those pesky skills getting mastered. Enjoy.

(edit) Sorry... Overlapped with 4sak3n; but we seem to be in broad agreement!

 

[Guba]

In a nutshell, the answer to your dilemma is to simply get out there and dive more.

You named the thread aptly, mentioning confidence as the main idea. Therefore, you realize that a lack of confidence is the problem. The only way to overcome that is to dive enough that you ARE confident in your abilities, training, and equipment.
That said, I believe it's prudent to remind you to always stay within the limits of your current training. Subsequently, you might have to dive with mentors, experienced friends, and/or paid professionals until you are quite sure you are safe diving in other scenarios. As for looking around at other divers and equipment, limit that practice to purely constructive pursuits. In other words, watch more experienced divers to see how they do things (such as kicking, limiting hand movements, and controlling buoyancy) and ask questions. Don't be afraid of looking like a rookie by asking about a technique. You might also ask why they prefer a particular piece of equipment or gear configuration, but don't be intimidated by "fancy" stuff. If your gear is safe, well-maintained, and suited to the dive at hand, that's all that's necessary. Sometimes, in fact, simpler is better, particularly for new divers.
Others more experienced than me can help you with the buoyancy problem. It sounds as if you might be a bit overweighted, and there are many veteran dives here on the board that can assist you with that.
Best wishes to you and welcome to the boards. I have every confidence that with more experience your jitters will lesson and most likely evaporate. Go dive and have fun.

 

[mudhole]

Both of your questions, are normal beginners questions. You're trying something beyond your experiences and you question how safe these conditions are. Your bouncing around with your bouyancy is common with every new diver. You feel you are sinking and you add air, untill you feel you are floating. . . too much. With experience you will add a small amount of air to slow your sinking, but not so much as to start floating up. . . Experience will show you the right amount.


Getting on a boat with more experienced divers is going to happen every boat trip till you are experienced. Go along, just tell your partner what your experience level is. . . If you're paired with the most experienced diver aboard, remember, he was a newbie at one time. Someone has better equipment than you. . . Many experienced divers will get a better price than you on new equipment. Much of what we wear, may be 10 or 15 years old, it lasts a long time. . . So when we buy a new piece of gear, it may be the only thing we buy that year. Don't buy just because another more experience diver has it. . . it may be chosen for an advanced skill that you're not qualified for. The very best technical gear may be a waste of money if you're not qualified to make that technical dive.

 

[DRsharky]

Dive as much as you can and everything will get better and easier every time you go. Even the guys that have 1000+ dives started and had the same problems like you. Also don't forget, if somebody has some extra special equipment does not mean he/she is automaticaly a good diver.
And like somebody said, I am pretty sure they will love to talk to you and help you as much as they can. Well at least I do it when a new diver approaches me

 

[buleetu]

thank you to everyone for ur help, i will try some meditation perhaps when im diving tomorrow to slow my thinking down hahah, i know im an inexperianced diver and i think this is a problem for me because i guess i want to do everything perfect right away no matter where in my life i try new things, as nearly all of u have said its down to me to keep diving and as a by product ill gain experiance and i guess confidance when im doing what i was thought to do,
i remember the first day i drove my car 3 years ago, i went into the city centre with my gf and my hands where gripped tight onto the steering wheel with nerves because i didnt really know how to drive, hahah its true,we have a really bad system in ireland for teaching people to drive, but now a days it really has become 2nd nature to me so please god the same will happen with my diving,
today i seen the biggest neopolean wrasse ive ever seen,and it still amazes me how massive some of these walls and slopes can be its like flying up a mountain or something at times, and right near the top of the mountain u find a ledge where some ray is sitting there watching things go by like an eagle would,, amazing or what

thanks guys

 

[Hoomi]

Don't assume because others have better equipment that they are more confident or better qualified. Watch eBay and you'll find loads of nice equipment from people who never got any more confident than you felt this morning.

I'd wager, too, that you'll eventually run across someone who is using what looks like bottom-end stuff, but once they're in the water, they are completely at home.

A friend of mine told me once about a big bike ride he went to in Baja California. Most all of the riders are lining up at the start, on their high-end road bikes, with the lycra bike clothes, their clipless pedals, etc. Off to one side is an older Mexican gentleman, wearing a business suit, and sitting on what looked like an old "beater bike". A bunch of the "serious cyclists" were laughing at this guy, wondering who on earth would show up for such a long bike ride on a heavy, "cruiser" bike and wearing a business suit.

Care to guess who was sitting at a table at the finish line, enjoying a cerveza, when my friend and his serious cyclist buddies finished? You got it; that old guy in the suit probably rode that route darn near every day for work or something similar, and despite his "deficient equipment", he did far better than many other cyclists that day.

Lance Armstrong said "it's not about the bike", and in scuba, it's not about the equipment, either. Fancy stuff may make things easier, but the best BC in the world doesn't do the diving for you.

 

[kadleck]

Excellent post, Hoomi.

 

[emttim]

Another thing you want to consider is that you said you see other divers hovering in the water until they want to look at something. Putting air into or letting it out of your BCD is a coarse method of adjusting buoyancy...you fine tune your buoyancy by breathing. Don't suck in a huge amount of air and then exhale your lung completely; this will alter your buoyancy by several feet as you described. Practice slowly inhaling maybe half a lungful and then slowly exhaling half a lungful. The idea here is that there's less air moving in and our of your lungs so your buoyancy won't change as much with each breath.

However, you still need to breath enough to overcome the dead space in your airway otherwise you'll be breathing some exhaled air if you do that method and you'll be accumulating too much carbon dioxide (what you breath out) and not enough oxygen. Regardless, adjusting your breathing may help you quite a bit both in your air consumption ("sip" your air) and in your buoyancy.

Additionally, the PADI Peak Performance Buoyancy course, as was already mentioned, would probably be a great idea. You can alter your breathing all you want, but if you are not weighted properly with good trim, it will be a vain attempt to cover up the true problem. Do a weight check before each dive and adjust your weights from there. Furthermore, stop all movement in the water when you think you are neutrally buoyant...see if you roll to one side or the other and that will clue you in to adjustments that need to be made to your trim. Hope it helps!