Horizontal Obsession

[timegan]

[QUOTE=ptyx;and snorkel! How could you forget the snorkel?!
Sacrilegious at best!

 

[dpwrkK5]

I misunderstood the title of this thread...what a let down.

 

[Sas]

Hi Saspotato,

To be sure, it appears to be only a handful, and they do exist on both sides of the debate. As to who they are, it is poor netiquette to mention them here, but I few of the usual suspects come to mind - if you really want to know who they are, I will be happy to PM you.

Where are they meeting? Well, to start with they meet in their training classes. They also meet here, on SB.

Yea there are always handfuls of zealots in any area of life though, it's not special about diving. If it bothers you just ignore them.

I was actually asking where you are meeting them, not where they are meeting each other.

Don't worry about a PM.

 

[fnfalman]

If you swim in any trim other than horizontal then you're fighting the water because you have presented a larger frontal area, thu creating additional drag.

If you want to hover and look at something, then by all means, hover horizontally, vertically, upside down, diagonally, ad infinitum. As long as you can maintain your position, who cares.

The problem is that most divers aren't all that good with buoyancy control, so that's why we suggest that they stay horizontal as often as possible.

 

[Crush]

If you swim in any trim other than horizontal then you're fighting the water because you have presented a larger frontal area, thu creating additional drag.

What if you are drift diving? Staying buoyant in a horizontal position offers more surface area to the current, allowing you to observe more scenery, albeit for shorter periods of time. Perhaps there is something to be said for diving vertically!

 

[elmer fudd]

If you swim in any trim other than horizontal then you're fighting the water because you have presented a larger frontal area, thu creating additional drag.

When I'm navigating around a wreck or a small wall, I'll often go vertical as I rise or descend and this results in the same frontal area as if I were traveling forward horizontally. Now of course, I could also just adjust my buoyancy and rise or fall horizontally, but sometimes I just prefer to follow the contours of what I'm diving.

 

[Belce]

I like to descend horizontal because I find it easier to equalize in that posture instead of head down, I do ascend vertically though.

I think that swimming underwater is best served horizontal as well.

Regarding dift dives, regardless of profile eventually you will be moving with the current at its rate. Whether you are a needle or a barge in the current you will eventually get up to current speed and stay there. Things like your profile have an affect when you are against current or there is no current.

 

[Thalassamania]

OK Boulderjohn I'll bite. What is with this obsession with being horizontal.

Scuba is a 3 dimensional world. In it I assume whatever position best suits what I am doing. If I am descending I swim mostly vertical head down. If I am ascending I swim mostly vertical head up. If I am swimming horizontal to the bottom I swim horizontally. If I need to look up I assume a position that allows me to do it comfortably.
Always horizontal is for dead people.

You make a good point, one that I agree with, but in the context of the discussion, I think that you can use "horizontal," "up off the bottom," and "neutrally buoyant" as essentially synonymous.

 

[Adobo]

What if you are drift diving? Staying buoyant in a horizontal position offers more surface area to the current, allowing you to observe more scenery, albeit for shorter periods of time...

Ummm, what?

 

[Gombessa]

Yea there are always handfuls of zealots in any area of life though, it's not special about diving. If it bothers you just ignore them.

I think it's somewhat telling that the only instance of these hackneyed topics in this thread was brought up by the person pointing and screaming zealotry. It does start to look like there's one person in particular here who is having a very hard time letting things go.

In my own biased opinion, the answers provided among the most avowed zealots seem quite reasoned (trim is a tool and not a goal, not everyone is trying to be horizontal all the time).