Help with trim-PADI style hover skill

[tracydr]

Today I passed the 400 meter swim, the 800 meter snorkel, 100 meter timed tired diver tow. Also, rescue scenario with searching for the diver on the bottom in <10 foot vis, and remove gear while rescue breathing, than tow victim back to shore while rescue breathing, dragging him up onto the beach to start CPR.
I asked my buddy how big he really is-6'6"! 225ish!
got 4's on all the stamina skills. Would have done much better if I'd brought my compass for that portion. I can't seem to swim in a straight line without a pool line on the bottom. ( we tested in the lake) With all the zigging and zagging I did, I'm sure I tacked on an extra 100 meters or so to every swim, lol! Including the tired diver and rescue tow. There was a pretty strong wind pushing me one way and I kept having to swim parallel to the shore to correct.
So, I'm pooped now, to say the least.
Only mapping and whatever classes I need to help with. Not sure what the classes will be like,exactly, since it's not set-up yet. Plus, I need to read that part of the Instructor Manual, now that I passed the stuff I was worried about.
Mapping will be next week. Looking forward to that.

I did get to enjoy watching a crayfish housecleaning, bringing rocks and shells out of his hole, while I sat on the bottom for 25 minutes, waiting to get found. That was pretty cool!

TSandM-I'll start looking up that breath hold stuff and working on it. I guess I've figured out at least a few ways to work out in my little pool, heh?
Trying the city pool for laps tomorrow. If I can get out of bed, lol!

 

[SubMariner]

That's interesting, because that's one of the pieces of advice I got about doing the skill, and that's the way we did it.

I think one of the best things a diver can do is practice breath-hold swimming. I know that, when I started practicing it for my Fundies class, I was petrified of it. By the time I easily passed the longer breath-hold swim in Cave 1 and Cave 2, I had figured out how to be much more efficient in the water, and had learned I could hold my breath FAR longer than I would have believed. Knowing that takes a lot of the stress out of anything that involves periods of no air supply underwater, including the gear exchange skill.

With all due respect, breath holding is NOT a skill that should be fostered in scuba diving. If you are performing any skill u/w where the reg is out of your mouth, you'd better be blowing bubbles, or you will earn a 1. The technique that needs to be honed is one of learning to blow bubbles slowly, resisting the urge to totally & quickly exhale.

Breath holding is fine for skin or free diving, not for scuba.

I think that distinction needs to stressed.