Free Descents?

[afdgf]

I am not sure this is the right forum, so the moderators may move it. My question has to do with how to do free descents without ear problems. I have either dove down and then cleared my ears after I was already 10-15 down and wound up with barotitis media, or I try to descend feet first. When I do that I relax and stop kicking my feet, take all of the air out of BC, exhale completely and start to descend. When I am about 2-3 feet down, then I remember to clear "early and often" but I do not have any air to do the valsalva maneuver with so I inhale to have some air for ear clearing. As soon as I inhale, then I go back up to the surface. This is repeated until the divemaster gets frustrated and pulls my fin down to the 10-15 foot level at which point I clear and can stay down after that. I am worried about not clearing until I am 10-15 below. This is not "early and often" and I not want to wind up yet again with barotitis media. How do people do this without hurting their ears? Thanks.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

wear 3 lbs more lead?

 

[captio2000]

Assuming you are correct and you can only descend with an empty BC and empty lungs you are not wearing enough weight. Since you will probably drain about 5 pounds of air from your tank during your dive you must be having a terrible time holding your safety stop at the end of the dive. If this seems familiar, try adding 4-5 pounds and see if this gives you more control over your descent rate and helps you hold your safety stop.

Some divers, especially fairly new divers, have difficulty breaking the surface and getting started down. I think this comes from our natural instinct to take a breath in like we would naturally do if we are jumping in the water without SCUBA. Try to be conscious about NOT taking that breath in when you break the surface and wait a couple seconds until your get a bit of downward momentum before inhaling.

Hope this helps.

 

[danvolker]

Why can't you go head first down, swimming down with no more weight than you already have.....but going down under the power of your own swimming, and thus downward speed controlled by your swimming down.....and every 2 to 3 feet you swim down, you squeeze your nose and blow gently into it.....Descending should be done often like this...every few feet BEFORE any pain from going too far between equalizing ( 10 feet is way too far down for the first equalizing!!!).

If your instructor never showed you how to jackknife down...how to shove your legs up above you, put your head down, and let the weight of the legs DRIVE you down, at least deep enough to start SWIMMING DOWN...then you need to find someone that can teach you this simple and important skill. This is how a snorkeler of freediver goes down, and ALL Divers should know how to do this.

You will find it gets easier the 2nd 30 feet you drop, when compared to the first 30. You might as well keep your hand on your nose, so that "equalizing is job one" on the way down--each moment you feel that there is enough pressure to warrant another blow into your nose. You can breath as hard and often as you like in this form of descent...and it can be used to descend down at rates as high as 200 feet per minute, or even higher. But just a 30 to 60 feet per minute drop speed should be fine for you now.

I am a believer in getting down to the bottom like a rocket, with my buddy and I having eye contact the whole way down.
I hate diving with people that have to drop in and come down feet first, as if there is any current, they are blown downstream huge distances beyond the intended dive site target structure. I would say work on the technique as I described, and potentially take pseudo fed prior to diving ( strong decongestant --probably a third of all divers use something like this, even though many instructors are afraid of the liability of suggesting the use of a decongestant for diving....there is some nonsense about the pharmacological effects of the drug becoming problematic for a diver----this may be true for "some" divers on 300 foot dives, but for 30 to 60 foot deep dives, it is liability based nonsense common in a litigious society like the US.)


***P.S.***
If you keep this minimal weighting you have ( which I like), plan on needing to control your ascent at the end of the dive, in the last 30 feet, potentially keeping your legs up above you, so you can arrest a buoyant ascent with your fin swimming. The better you get with learning how to push yourself around with fins in a pool, or ocean, the more easily it is to do pretty much everything else in diving. If you find that you are so bouyant on ascent that you have to work hard to stay down, then you will know you need a few pounds more weight......Getting the right person to help you with a weight check is a key also....someone that will show you how to remove 100% of the air out of the BC for this, and help you with the small changes you need to work toward perfection. You do NOT want to do something like adding 10 or 20 pounds ....try one or two...little changes....you want the LEAST lead you can add.

 

[TSandM]

Several intertwined comments here:

First off, try "pre-pressurizing" your ears before descending. Do the equalization maneuver until you feel the pressure in your ears, THEN start your descent. It will buy you a little more depth before you have to equalize again.

Second, practice equalization maneuvers other than the full Valsalva. HERE is a link describing them briefly, and if you do a little searching in the free-diving material on line, you will find more. The one I use can be done with almost entirely empty lungs -- I just need a cup or so of air in my mouth, and that's pretty easy to do.

Third, try a modification of your descent procedure. As you raise your inflator to empty your BC, take a deep breath. As you begin to sink, and your face reaches the water, THEN exhale and hold it. This will continue your descent until you are at least 3 or 4 feet below the surface, at which time you can inhale normally (and clear your ears). Also be very aware of whether you move your fins, because with your fins below you, as they are in a vertical descent, any fin movement will drive you toward the surface. Often, if divers begin to do something distracting, like aggressive efforts to equalize, they start kicking without even knowing it.

And I do agree with the other posters, that a formal weight check is in order, to make sure you aren't a little bit underweighted, which is resulting in a very slow initial descent. You shouldn't rocket to the bottom with your BC empty, but you should sink.

 

[TomZ]

First off, try "pre-pressurizing" your ears before descending. Do the equalization maneuver until you feel the pressure in your ears, THEN start your descent. It will buy you a little more depth before you have to equalize again.

Lynn, I've never understood why this technique is not taught as the primary method of ear clearing. Whenever someone says they can't equalize properly, this method has done the trick.

 

[Akimbo]

Lynn, I've never understood why this technique is not taught as the primary method of ear clearing...

Probably because its efficacy is debatable. I suspect that has more to do with individual variability than anything else. You spend a lot of time learning about equalizing in a freediving class and dozens of tricks and techniques are covered including pre-clearing. Obviously it works as a test but it is of questionable value in terms of subsequent equalizations.

Perhaps the most common problem after mucus blockage is waiting too long to clear, especially in the first half atmosphere/15'. The general concept of “clearing early and often” is universally accepted for everyone. Ultimately everyone finds their sweet spots for clearing.

 

[Phantom Menace]

Pre-equalising works well from my experience with both SCUBA and freediving. correct weighting will also help.

Also, consider equalising techniques other than Valsalva. Have a look at Frenzel which is likely the technique TSANDM is using. If your eustachian tubes etc. are functioning well, no extra mucus etc. then Frenzel will allow you to EQ quickly. I use it freediving and it gets me to very close to 40m and obviously I have to EQ very quickly on a single breath (compared to when SCUBA diving).

 

[diver 85]

Agree with DD, get more weight going----AND----put that hand on your nose & start equalizing @ no deeper than 5 feet---ie early(3 to 5 feet) AND often(every exhale)..........

 

[waterpirate]

Slow and easy, with good technique.
If you get properly weighted and practice, you will avoid any issues. Assuming a horizontal position in the water on descent will help. You should look like a sky diver on you tube. Trim and bouyancy practice in a pool will serve you well. Practice, practice, train, train.
YMMV
Eric