Hi Mike,
Yes, I remember you from the quarry that day with Christy and Mike. I hope all is well and you had a good holiday!!
What I am trying to do is gather a concensus on what is being practiced out there and why, if they do know why they do what they do or are the just doing what is taught, and hopefully I can use this info to help turn out better divers.
I do indeed know what most PADI instructors practice. I cannot find anywhere in the manual that explicitly says that the diver must be in a vertical position. It does say to swim up and look up while rotating, though. If a diver is doing this while in a horizontal position, well then the instructor is teaching within standards. I find that to ascend or descend horizontally all I have to do, from a horizontal position in the water, is to inhale, skull my fins and lift my chest slightly to begin my ascent. This ascent is easily controlled by exhausting gas from the BC from either the BC inflator/deflator hose and/or the rear dump valve (something I see that a lot of new divers never even touch) and from the amount of drag created by presenting the largest possible presence in the water column in the direction of travel. Ascent is a critical segment of the dive and I would venture to say the segment in which most divers lose control of buoyancy and suffer a lung over expansion injury or DCS. When a diver is in the vertical position, he/she presents the
most streamlined presence in the water column in the direction of travel (that is...up and down). This provides the diver with the least amount of speed control during the segment/segments of the dive that a diver needs it most...the ascent and descent. I do not find it difficult at all to look above and extremely easy to look below me while in this position. It also facilitates the fact that if my buddy has a problem during either segments of the dive (ascent or descent) I am in the most favorable position to give a quick kick and be there to render assistance. As to the ear clearing issue, while horizontal, the head and upper neck are still in the same position as a vertical ascent. This seems to be a moot point. Also I have heard Dr's say both positions better facilitate easy ear clearing. I guess it all depends on who you ask...kind of like stats...it all depends on what answer you are looking for...
well, those are just my two cents worth!!
