Hovering Issues

[shotthebreeze]

Hi folks,

I just got back from my trip to Europe. I missed everyone here on Scuba Board. When I checked the board the other day it was down, so here I am.

In two weeks I will {hopefully} be certified. I had a little trouble in the pool with hovering and the fin pivot and was wondering if I could get some insight from you pros?

To start with, my instructor weighed me down quite a bit because in my first pool session I was bouncing all over the place when I tried to remain on my knees. In my second session where I learned and somehow completed the fin pivot and hover skills, I was still too heavy when I checked my neutral boyancy at the surface.

My problem with both skills was that I was either too heavy and remained at the bottom, or I added a little bit of air (maybe 1-2 blasts) and I wound up at the surface. It was the same scenario when I orally inflated my BC to do the fin pivot. Was it just my lack of skill, or did the weight really have something to do with me either being at the bottom or shooting straight up to the top during both skills?

I have talked to another instructor and dive master and the two both said that it's actually easier to do it on your checkout dives than it is in the pool. I just assumed that you could balance the weight out by adding a tiny bit of air, but I just couldn't get neutrally bouyant. What do you folks think?

 

[The Kraken]

Well, trying to perfect your buoyancy in a pool as a student diver is pretty much an exercise in futility.

Attaining neutral buoyancy in 10' of water is very difficult and for most requires a lot of practice/experience.

One of the reasons your instructor overweighted you so was that it precludes the incident of you floating away while trying to perform the skills in your confined water sessions.

You'll find that attaining neutral buoyancy is much easier at depth. The reason for this is that the greatest compression/expansion of the air in your B/C occurs in the first 15' of the water column (remember the relationships of volume and ATA).

I'm sure that some will jump in here and start lambasting the fin pivot, etc., but keep in mind that that is purely an exercise designed to show the effects of inhaling and exhaling and inflating and deflating the B/C as they apply to the diver's buoyancy.

You'll find that once you remove the excess weight used in the confined water sessions your buoyancy will be much easier to control.

Now, having said all of that, when you've finished your last check out dive, do a proper buoyancy check at the end of the dive.

A good way to do this is to do a buoyancy check:

For your weighting, use numerous small increments of weights, 1 and 2 pounders.

Dive your tank down to ~ 500 psi.

At your 15' safety stop, start removing weight 1# at a time until you get to the point that, with about a half full breath, you're ever so slightly negatively buoyant.

That is the weight with which you need at the beginning of your dive.

Keep in mind that this weighting will be correctly adjusted for the rig that you are wearing at the time. Any changes in the rig can or will result in changes having to be made in your weighting.

 

[TXScubaBear]

I'm relatively new as well (certified Oct 2006) but I remember my instructor coaching me on breathing skills, nice slow, steady breaths- controlled, once I got that down I hovered and pivoted like a charm! Hope this little tidbit helps you- remember the air in your lungs will affect your buoyancy as well.

 

[shotthebreeze]

I'm relatively new as well (certified Oct 2006) but I remember my instructor coaching me on breathing skills, nice slow, steady breaths- controlled, once I got that down I hovered and pivoted like a charm! Hope this little tidbit helps you- remember the air in your lungs will affect your buoyancy as well.

Right, I did the slow and steady breathing bit to see if I needed more air, less air, etc. But, when I added a short burst or two, I would wind up at the top of the pool. I'm guessing it was my lack of practice.

 

[TXScubaBear]

Be patient, it takes time, after I get my AOW I plan to do the PPB course, want to get it down to a fine art myself.

 

[k4man]

hovering is a skill that does take lots of practice...so much that PADI and other entities offer specialty courses on peak buoyancy, etc. Speaking for myself as NOT a rookie diver, I still work on buoyancy and hovering skills on nearly every dive!

Keep practicing--you'll do fine.

 

[The Kraken]

Speaking for myself as NOT a rookie diver, I still work on buoyancy and hovering skills on nearly every dive!

Keep practicing--you'll do fine.

As do I.

And I concur . . .

the K

 

[MikeFerrara]

Being overweighted makes it all harder and increases the likely hood of an uncontrolled ascent. The increase in buoytancy with a decrease in depth is proportional to the volume of air that is expanding and the more weight you carry, the more air you need to carry.

Time isn't what is really required here...unless you are forced to teach yourself as so many new divers are. On the other hand, instruction and practice in useful techniques can dramatically shorten the learning curve.

When I was doing a lot of teaching I cam to the obvious conclusion (that isn't so obvious to everyone) that it just doesn't make any sense at all to go to open water if you can't yet dive well in a pool. Increased depth may make some things easier due to the nature of buoyancy changes with depth but most aspects of the open water environment just add to difficulty and risk...that's why we train in confined water first.

 

[MikeFerrara]

hovering is a skill that does take lots of practice...so much that PADI and other entities offer specialty courses on peak buoyancy, etc.

Control in the water column does take practice but maybe not as much as you think provided that effective techniques for doing so are taught. Some instructors do teach it right from the start and the result is students who do it right from the start.

Speaking for myself as NOT a rookie diver, I still work on buoyancy and hovering skills on nearly every dive!

Keep practicing--you'll do fine.

You may not consider yourself a "rookie diver" but as a former PADI instructor and being pretty familiar with PADI training standards, I am of the opinion that you, as a PADI MSD may very well be a rookie in techniques that provide solid control in the water column. In all lielyhood, it took you a disproportionate amount of practice because you weren't taught how.

 

[shotthebreeze]

Control in the water column does take practice but maybe not as much as you think provided that effective techniques for doing so are taught. Some instructors do teach it right from the start and the result is students who do it right from the start.

You may not consider yourself a "rookie diver" but as a former PADI instructor and being pretty familiar with PADI training standards, I am of the opinion that you, as a PADI MSD may very well be a rookie in techniques that provide solid control in the water column. In all lielyhood, it took you a disproportionate amount of practice because you weren't taught how.

Lol, I was thrown at the bottom of the pool, and got the "watch me" signal. There weren't any specific instructions. On the surface after the skill was taught, the only spoken words were about how your lungs and breathing patterns are key. Perhaps that's why?