How do you decend?

[ppo2_diver]

I am new to diving and I am having a problem when I decend. When I try to go down feet first, my legs want to move upward and I end up in a sitting position. However, I have no problem when I descend horizontally or head first. Any help would be appriciated. Thanks.


Duane

 

[WreckWriter]

I descend horizontally or head first. Horizontally is best, but head first is often needed around here because we do a lot of "smart bomb" drops on deeper wrecks where you must kick down hard or you'll miss the wreck due to current flow.

It can be tricky, practice makes perfect. If you have a descent line I would recommend horizontal, using the line as a reference. If no line, just kinda do like a skydiver in free-fall. Don't forget to adjust your buoyancy as you descend so you don't do a belly flop onto the bottom.

Tom

 

[Rick Murchison]

Many folks find they can clear their ears better with a foot-first descent, and that's a good reason to do one. The only time I personally use a foot first descent is in "black water", where the only indication that I've reached the bottom will be when I feel it.
Otherwise, I like to go "head first" when I'm diving... so if sightseeing I'll usually use a fairly horizontal position and drift down slowly, watching the show, while if I'm spearfishing I'll swim down quickly, head first.
Bottom line, if you have no trouble clearing your ears, a head first of horizontal descent is not only ok, it's better.
Rick

 

[Uncle Pug]

Feet first risks either bottom contact or viz blow out plus it is difficult to see when you are getting close.

Headfirst is OK... but not my preference.

Horizontal supine, left or right lateral recumbent really serve no useful purpose imo other than to signal that you have something seriously wrong with your weight placement and need help immediately.

Cannonball or lotus, while interesting, show a certain lack of seriousness about the dive at hand... of course that is just imo.

Horizontal prone allows precise control of descent as you can flare to slow descent when close to the bottom and have a better view of the bottom coming than the other positions.

I usually do a horizontal drop without adding any gas to the wing until the last moment to keep myself off the bottom. This way I get a fairly quick drop without swimming down and only have to add a small squirt of gas to the drysuit every once in a while to take the excessive squeeze off. As the bottom approaches I flare and lay into the wing inflator.... just typing this makes me want to go diving right now... approaching the bottom is one of my favorite parts of the dive.

btw... in a current where we need to power down... we use a tractor

 

[Genesis]

most of my dives are off a boat, and I typically drop the boat's anchor just off the reef or wreck that I'm diving on.

With that, I want to decend along the anchor line, since the anchor is at a fixed point that I have chosen off the wreck (using the bottom machine) to nail my location.

Typically, on such a dive I'll decend prone, swimming forward to match the anchor line's scope, and sometimes somewhat-head-down (if there's a long scope out I frequently will almost match the anchor line's slope on the decent)

For a live boat dive I'd just decend prone without finning at all, since there is no "fixed" point of exit with such a dive....

 

[Ber Rabbit]

Ditto the posts of Uncle Pug and Wreckwriter.

If you have trouble clearing your ears and must use the feet first descent make sure your fin tips are pointing straight down. The old rubber fins are heavy enough to point down on their own but if you're diving anything other than jet or rocket fins you'll have to consciously point the fin tips toward the bottom. I'm just guessing but it sounds like your fins are "flat" (like you're standing on shore) on descent and they are acting as brakes. The water is just pushing them out from under you making you sit down.

If the horizontal position works for you, use it!
Ber

 

[ERP]

I'm a new diver aswell and I had the same problem the first couple of dives. My feeling is that the feet first decent problem largely has to do with fin position, try pointing your toes down as you decend, worked for me.

Having said that, having tried horizontal decents (parachute style) it's a lot more fun and you have a lot more control. Personally I'm not really comfortable enough with my buoyancy control to do the one shot of air at the bottom like Uncle Pug, so I usually tap the inflator on the way down to keep my decent rate in check.

Just my experiences.

 

[strfsh]

I had the same problem. I found that if I point my toes making my fins oint down to it stopped the water from pushing them and my legs up. When I saw the wreck coming into view I went horizontal so I could adjust my bounacy better....

 

[JDostal]

Uncle Pug once bubbled...
Cannonball or lotus, while interesting, show a certain lack of seriousness about the dive at hand... of course that is just imo.

I'm not trying to get into a flame war or anything with you here, but I'm not always very serious when I dive. A lot of times, I like the shallow easy dives, because it gives me an opportunity to just be goofy, relaxed and enjoy the water and being there. Somersaults, swimming upside down, playing in the concrete sewer tubes near the training platform....it's fun.

But, I only get to do that stuff after the first dive or two of the day. When we are doing our deep dives, I usually look like I'm skydiving - feet up behind so i can whip kick if needed, horizontal to the bottom, with my hand on my inflator button. When diving a lake, I'll slowly add air in burts to keep my descent slow as we follow the bottom contour. When wreck diving, I let the air out, let my weight put me on my back, do a quick roll over and then give a quick kick or two to start racing down the line as fast as I can go. Like others, I love bombing down towards the bottom and then seeing the wreck come out of the depths...let go of the line, flare out and start dumping air into the BC and stop at the last moment - ya kinda feel like Ethan Hunt in Mission Impossible when he was in the computer room - stopping right before you hit the deck.

I usually don't do the feet first descent...don't like it. Most times I just let air out while in water shallow enough to stand on, and then just kinda push forward into the water and go under. On a boat, I have a full BC, jump in, and then empty it out and then proceed as described above.

 

[Uncle Pug]

Omicron once bubbled...
I'm not trying to get into a flame war or anything with you

just kidding....
You have got to read my posts with this visual ut:

hey.... ever try the cartwheel descent?? Especially cool for the folks who can't do it on land. ut:

(I'll try to include the ut: for you Omi until you get the hang of it ut: