Help?! Positively Buoyant....feet?

[Jim Lapenta]

IF your fins float they are positive. Those fins add little in the way of ballast. Get yourself some Jets, Hollis F-1's, HOG Tech Fins, or other similarly slight negative fins. Moving you tank down a little may also help but with that much neoprene on your legs, and guessing your using thicker boots as well, a fin that is a bit heavier is going to make life much easier.

 

[terri717]

Thanks everyone so much for all of the insight! We completed the 3 & 4 open water dives today, so I am now open water certified! Woo hoo! That being said, I still do feel like I could use a bit of practice :S I mentioned the fins to the instructor and at first he said they shouldn't be a problem. Then, when we did the surface swim to our platform and my fins were kicking away on top of the water, he offered me an ankle weight. It did seem to help but caused some weird other issues with becoming neutrally buoyant at the bottom (BCD was about half inflated to be able to "hover"?) But I was pretty happy with being able to descend in a more normal fashion.

My BCD was riding up today as well, so perhaps that is part of it? Is that normally due to the BCD being too big, or from it being too high on the tank? I had the handle pretty much even with the first stage.

As far as the negatively buoyant fins, I would love to try some, someday! I did just fork over $200 for mine :S They had trouble fitting my feet at the scuba center I went to because I have a foot bone arch on the top of my foot from wearing high heels a lot "back in the day"; whoops! They are still returnable but I wonder how hard it will be to find a negatively buoyant fin that will fit my "arched" feet.

All in all I think it will take time and practice. I feel like a lot of stuff is rushed in the class/certifications and there's a lot of people; I feel if I have time to practice on my own with what works/what doesn't, that would be really beneficial. I am going to bet that there are probably some "stress" areas and being more comfortable in the water, with the proper gear and not feeling rushed will hopefully help work some of those out!

---------- Post added August 25th, 2013 at 04:16 PM ----------

And I like that idea of the dead man float! I will research my options in my area!

 

[Jim Lapenta]

All of the fins I noted save for maybe older jets, I do not have a lot of experience with them, have softer foot pockets that lend to flexing to fit your foot. And are nearly half the cost of the ones that don't work right for you now. They are rubber as opposed to the harder plastic like compound of your current fins. Two hundred bucks by the way is crazy for those fins.

Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

 

[terri717]

I've been doing some online fin shopping and found the Scuba Pro Jet Fins, Black (sizes run M-3XL).
Scuba Pro Jet Fins, Black | LeisurePro

I currently have a small, I'm a woman's 8. I did find a pair of Scubapro Jet Sport Open Heels that come in a small, but some of the reviews state they are lightweight. Are most Scubapro's generally negatively buoyant? I was thinking of looking for a used pair on ebay...just in case!

Scubapro Jet Sport Open Heel Fins | LeisurePro

 

[Quero]

I mentioned the Gull fins, which I recommend for women with your problem. Unlike the Jet fins and the Jet fin clones, the Gulls are made for the smaller feet of Asians and are very well received by women. The style called MANTIS is a a good option, and there is one called MANTIS DRY with a higher foot pocket. Look at pages 24 and 25 of this website: GULL - Skin and Scuba for actual measurements of the foot pocket for both styles. You would have to have them shipped to you. You can get them from Japan or from Hong Kong. From what I've seen here in Thailand, these fins are more appropriate for most women than the unisex Jet fins of the Hollis rubber fins, even when these are purchased in the smallest size available.

 

[uncfnp]

Don't give up on your fins just yet. I don't know that I will have anything else to offer but let me ask a few questions. I have positivesly buoyant fins as well and have had a similar problem in the past but I have never had to deal with cold water diving so my experience may not be very relevant.

What BCD do you use?
Did you have to put a lot of air into the BCD to float at the surface at the end of the dive?
And when you are horizontal at depth, did you have to work at keeping your feet down and find yourself wanting to do a "face plant."

 

[Glenn08]

If the ankle weights work, use them. I started wearing ankle weights with a dry suit. Now I wear them with my wet suit too.

 

[terri717]

The BCD was Aqualung, it was a rental from the Scuba company doing my cert. I do put a lot of air into it at the top. When horizontal, I don't really feel like I'll face plant, but rather I feel like my legs are a bit higher, making my back arch and my kick seems all messed up. Maybe if I did normal kicks I would've face planted, lol. Instead I did a lot of swimming with my arms (bad, I know!) and flutter kicks because I felt like my legs weren't working with me.

I did wear them snorkeling and it's the weirdest feeling because they're on top of the water, slapping the surface...it gets me no where! I've snorkeled a ton of times with the cheapo snorkel rentals they give out while on vacation quite comfortably and have never experienced anything like this. I also did an intro dive in the Dominican 2 years ago (which is what motivated me to become certified!) and again, those same, slip on rubber fins worked perfectly. But, the guide did all the work...set my weights, my BCD, got me all set and we were on our way.

 

[Quero]

Most rental BCDs that shops provide for training classes are "unisex" models that are in fact not good fits on women's bodies because we tend to be shorter in the torso than men of the same height/weight would be. Most often you would need a BCD size that is one or two sizes smaller than your t-shirt size in order to get a reasonable fit. But none of this should matter much since even if you put air in it underwater, it would tend to counteract the positive buoyancy of your legs.

I think to really help you diagnose your issues, we would need to see you dive. Maybe you can go to your LDS pool and get somebody (hubby?) to make a little video of you diving? I say this partly because I recently had a customer with the same "slapping" problem with her fins on the surface, and it was because of poor finning technique. She was convinced that she was doing a flutter kick, but in fact she was kicking from the knee and not the hip (lying face down with her feet towards the sky and swinging them down and up). Once I got her kicking from the hip instead of the knee, her fins started working with her rather than against her.

 

[uncfnp]

Ok, a couple of thoughts that may or may not apply to you. Use or discard as applicable.

1) You are probably overweighted. Many new divers are. If that is a back inflate BCD and you are overweighted, the excess air in the BCD to keep you on the surface may be aggravating the fin issue and pushing you forward, and hence, your feet back. As you adjust your weighting, some of this issue may resolve and it may at least in part be the BCD itself.

2) if you find that descending head first, fins up, is more comfortable for you, then do it. Class is over. The instructor is not watching. This too will likely improve with time.

3) As others have said. Put the weight centered low on the back as much as possible, lower the tank and use a weight low on the tank if needed (Quero's photo). If you have trim pockets high on the tank cam band, don't use them.

4) If you plan to do mostly warm water diving, a lot of this may well resolve on its own with less neoprene.

5) All new divers have some trim issues. As you dive and make adjustments in gear, your trim will naturally change over time. You will probably find yourself adjusting weights for sometime to come. It's not you, it's the naturally evolution that comes with experience.