Getting the hang of accending properly

[Quero]

When you were with your instructor, it is likely that s/he was following an ascent rate indicated by his/her dive computer. The ascent rates that dive computers give are significantly slower at shallow depths than the standard 18m/60ft per minute rate taught by PADI and other agencies. My dive computer slows me down to 6m/minute from the safety stop to the surface, for example. So if you were following your instructor's ascent rate, it was probably much slower than what you would get if you just followed your smallest bubbles as you ascend. New divers do tend to ascend faster than what I like to see, and I just tell them to stop finning continuously as they ascend. Give a kick to get yourself started, and vent air as you feel yourself being pulled up. Give another little kick when you feel yourself slowing down. That way you will avoid ascending too fast.

 

[DeputyDan]

If you think you are ascending way too slowly then you are about right!

 

[DivemasterDennis]

There are many good suggestions in this thread. In ascending, slower is better. I recommend a computer that tells you the rate, even if by warning light or pixels only, and nearly all do have that feature. I also believe that you will control your ascent better if you ascend with your buddy. My wife is my usual buddy, and we always ascend holding on to each other in some fashion, despite our many years and hundreds of dives together. A controlled ascent is all about buoyancy control. We practice control, including neutral buoyancy for safety stops. You will find that EVERYTHING about diving is buoyancy control- ascents, air consumption, safety, environmentally responsible diving, taking good pictures, everything. SO work constantly to be a "peak performance buoyancy diver." Practice practice practice, in the pool, and by being an active diver.
DivemasterDennis scubasnobs.com

 

[DeputyDan]

I love doing the free ascents on Cozumel "type" drift dives - great fun!!!!

 

[mathauck0814]

Body position can help as well. If you're vertical in the water column you'll have less drag and may ascend faster than you want. Stay flared out horizontally as you were on your dive, that creates drag and will help you to control your ascent. You'll definitely need a computer to truly monitor your rate. I try to use my lungs to govern my ascent. Fill the lungs, feel yourself inching up, exhale - repeat as necessary. You'll take a good long while that way. The better/slower the ascent, the better I feel (physically) getting out of the water.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Try watching the numbers on your depth gauge or dive computer ... you should be able to count one-one-thousand, two-one-thousand, for every foot you ascend. At first you'll think to yourself "That's not right ... glaciers move faster than that". But we're all familiar with the recommended 30 feet per minute ... and that means two seconds for every foot you ascend.

As you get closer to the surface, it's more important than ever to go slowly. After your safety stop, time your ascent to the surface ... it should take a half-minute (30-seconds) from when you begin ascending from your safety stop until you reach the surface. Those last 15 feet are the most important time of the whole ascent to make sure you do it slowly.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[TSandM]

If that isn't available, then you could consider getting a Delayed Surface Marker Buoy (DSMB) and a spool. Whilst this takes some practice to deploy safely, it is invaluable in providing a ready reference from which to gauge an ascent. If you are winding in a reel/spool, it is hard to ascend too quickly (I've found that winding in a finger spool tends to keep my ascent rate well below 12ft per minute).

I have to say that my experience as a relatively novice diver with a spool was that trying to wind the dratted thing up was a recipe for a MUCH faster ascent than I wanted . . . as in, out of control! The task loading of doing that can be a bit much for a new diver

In ascending, slower is better.

This needs some further explanation, because it is not universally true. As the Marroni studies showed, a very slow ascent from depth is actually a bad profile for bubble production. What is better is a more rapid ascent from the deep portion of the dive, and a very slow ascent in the shallows -- this is the shape of the ascent profile that is generated by decompression software. But it is very true that slow ascents in the last 20 or 30 feet are desirable, and from 20 to the surface, you probably can't go too slowly. A lot of new divers hold their safety stop, and then "pop" to the surface, and this is what one ought to avoid. It should take at least 30 seconds to go from 15 feet to the surface, and 30 seconds is a surprisingly long time.

If you don't have seconds on your bottom timer (and many don't), you can do the last 30 feet at 10 fpm, by ascending ten feet and then holding there until the minute clicks over to the next digit. It's a very slow ascent rate. And it doesn't matter if you go up a little faster and then stop, or just slide up, although again, the Marroni studies suggested that stops were better from a bubble standpoint.

 

[samtihen]

I just empty my BCD and fin VERY slowly, and if it feels even remotely quick I slow down. No reason to rush it!

 

[Insta-Gator]

My computer allows/measures below 60' at 60'/min. From 60' above it measures @ 30'/min. I was taught (year's ago) that 60'/min was good. I've yet to ascend with this new computer without setting off the ascent alarm/gauge from 40' and above.

Perhaps it's the cold/dark/low viz (5' to 10') water in the quarry that has me a bit disoriented without a visual reference and no line to follow. Yesterday I was on an ascent and trying hard to stay below the 30'/min, took my eyes off my computer for a minute and then noticed the computer said I was descending. No visual reference makes it a little tough.

More practice is in order.

 

[diver 85]

Just stay below your smallest bubble------------, have fun in your new adventures.