How do you teach new divers to stay horizontal?

[Kevua]

Well, you can always put a parachute on them and throw them out of a plane, normally they learn pretty quick how to stay horizontal. I would say skydiving has made staying horizontal fairly normal for me in the pool. And also as future diver I would say that I can't believe I have waited this long to get into SCUBA, although my pocket book is still yelling at me for picking up scuba.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Not sure where I learned this but, a good self check for horizontal trim is to look down at your fins. If you can see horizontally behind your fins (and body) then you are horizontal. For some reason looking back and under yourself (say to check on the buddy following) gives you a much different perspective then when looking forward. I guess you use your body and fins as a straight line and if it intersects the bottom, then you are in a heads up trim position.

 

[b1gcountry]

Another good reason for horizontal trim and descents:

My wife got mugged last Sunday. We were at the quarry, and a bunch of OW classes were going on. I was helping my LDS with their AOW, and she was diving with a friend and her student. She was just hanging out hovering when a couple divers came down on top of her. They crashed feet first into her and started kicking, knocking her in the head with their heels a couple times.

Another guy came to see what she was looking at so intently (nothing, she was just waiting on her friend), and was straight vertical swimming with his hands. He wound up hitting her a few times, then followed her around for five minutes before he found his own dive group.

Anyway, it's hard not to see what's below you when you are descending horizontal.
Tom

 

[Snapping Turtle]

by teaching them the basics of the first class lever and the methods of moving weights along the longitudinal axis of the body