How long to master buoyancy?

[bwilcher]

If your open-water instructor took the time in class to help you, or knew how to do it themselves you should feel very comfortable at the end of you ow class. If you still are struggling, you should be able to figure it out after just one or two dives.

 

[bj139]

Notes to self

1. My BC inflator control is not an elevator button. I used to think it was.
2. Once I am neutral leave my inflator controls alone. Use my lungs.
2. My lungs are my working BC. Breathe in become more positive, out more negative.
3. Never close my airway. Holding full breath using chest muscles is OK for a few seconds.
4. Stay horizontal and water resistance will help me to keep a constant depth.
5. Try gently pushing off bottom first. DON'T use the elevator button.

Respectfully,
Bill

 

[TexasKaren68]

I'm heading to the pool on Saturday to practice practice practice. I have a few things to try out, including working on buoyancy.

My LDS is going to let me just come on in and hang out in the pool for a couple hours. This should be fun, but I hope I don't have too much of an audience

I'm going to be trying out my BCD and my regulator for the first time (in class I used the shop's), also trying out my new computer for the first time so at some point I'm going to just go swim around on the bottom of the pool for 10-15 minutes or so and figure out what my computer is telling me. My next time using my computer will be in Kaua'i

 

[tz56g5]

How long to master bouyancy? I had to master it immediately - back when I got my c-card there was no such thing. Remember Sea Hunt? Only thing I had was a single hose reg, tank, metal backpack, fins, mask, snorkel, and weight belt. If it was cold you had a wet suit. You had to weight yourself to be slightly heavy for the depth you were diving at the beginning of the dive and slightly positive at the end. Not a big deal back then with steel 72's and j valves. I ran a k valve and had a pressure gauge - really techy at the time.

I was in Hawaii 2 years ago free diving and had to wear 10# of weight just to get neutral. Boat operators looked at me funny. 10# and Cressi Subs. If anyone has a pair of Cressi free dive, open heel fins to sell, I'd be interested. Mine finally ripped after 20 years.

 

[tz56g5]

How did I teach my kids to master bouyancy? With a wetsuit, weight belt, and snorkeling equipment. They learned to weigh themselves to match what was needed. Going from full suit to shorty and then to one piece - took care of that. They had to do it and make it work. Both were snorkeling by age of 6 and were certified by age 12 (PADI) and diving with me in quarries, reefs, fresh water lakes, springs, etc. Never had a problem with them. They had all the redundant gear and knew how to use it if needed. We practiced and made it fun at the same time.

 

[dominez]

...When all was said and done, I had 30 lbs of lead in my pockets and 9 on my back. Wore a 7mm one piece suit with the aluminum tank.

I was the most surprised human being on the planet when it turned out that my buoyance was absolutely perfect. It's a damn good thing too. My partner pointed out a stonefish right away, directly underneath where we had started descending. I resolved at that point, when I had difficulty seeing the fish she was pointing out, that I would NEVER touch the bottom there!!!

WOW! You just brought me a huge relief... It seems that I had exactly same weight configuration during recent dives - 7mm one piece wetsuit (used for the first time...), alu tank, and... 15-16 kg of weights in my pockets and all around. On the beach I felt like an overloaded elephant
But before I came to this point, I had two come-backs from the water to the car to add some weights, because there was no way for me to descent. At the end with around 15kg I was able to control my buoyancy... at least to the extend of not to be a public danger to the other divers. Maybe for this setup the 15kg is my number...

Cheers
Dominik

 

[archer fish]

Let's go back to basics first. Determine the right amount of weights by getting into the pool first without your scuba gear. Take a normal breath at the surface, if you are properly weighted, you should float at eye level. Don your scuba gear, do the procedure again, you should start sinking when you exhale. When you hit bottom, add some air into your BCD- AIR IN THE LUNGS + AIR IN THE BCD= positive buoyancy. If you have the right amount of air in the BCD, you can now control your "neutral buoyancy" by breathing slowly...

 

[Travelfan160]

Hi TK68:

I thought I'd reply from a different perspective. I'm a new diver as of last year (I've only made 14open water dives on my one trip last summer), but had the same bouyancy problem with my contained water experiences in class. I don't know how tall you are (I'm 5'4"), but you and I are about the same weight.

I had a hard time in the pool staying at the bottom w/o a lot of weight. I felt like I was rolling around like a turtle on its back, bobbing back up to the surface. Rest assured though that it's easier in open water!

You'll have a lot more space to maneuver (the pool was too crowded for me to properly execute the skills - I did ok) AND it's easier the deeper you go because of the increased pressure. In my first dives I found the first 20 feet the hardest to manage, but once I went deeper than that I was much more skilled at controlling everything, including bouyancy. Since most pools are only about 12 feet deep, it can be discouraging when you don't have control of your body.

When you do your open water dives (if you haven't yet), pay attention that you don't have a similar problem with your safety stops at 15 feet. I'm hippy (sadly, and fat floats!) and w/ a 3mm jane became more and more bouyant as I got closer to the surface. So, at my 3 minute safety stops I had to make sure that my bcd was free of air and even on occasion had to hang on to my boyfriend's hand so I wouldn't drift upwards.

I truly had the same issue when I was learning and thusly the same concern about going into the open water. I was surprised and pleased at how much easier it was in the depths and salt water. And I too, breathe deeply and slowly (yoga breathing) and was able to manage my bouyancy on my dives with breath control.

I hope this gives you some assurance and good luck!

 

[pnoemichen]

I've been diving since 1972, my wife since 1990. Buoyancy takes a little work. Its not rocket science. One quick plug. I've never understood why PADI (I can't speak for other cert agencies) has never included buoyancy as part of the advance diver certification. It seems like a no brainer to me.

I read through most of this thread and still may have missed it but your dive log is probably your greatest tool for learning buoyancy. Keep good records of each dive - weight, exposure suit type, steel or aluminum tanks, water conditions (surge, current) - all that stuff a good log book asks you to record. Add your own notes about how you think you did on descent, at depth, safety stop.

Most dive shops offer courses on buoyancy control. When our kids started diving, we took them through two such courses after certification and when they started diving the Caribbean with us my wife and I were getting compliments on how good their control was. I strongly recommend taking those courses. Its actually a lot of fun.

Lastly, buoyancy is much more than being able to stay in one spot in the water column. Its being able to rise and decent just with your breathing and being trim and well balanced side to side and head to foot. If you have to use your arms to keep from tilting right or left and to swim up to get your head back to level you've got work to do.

 

[Shftrdog]

It just takes time to master buoyancy. The more you dive the better it gets. Don't worry about it to much right now just focas on getting certified. After you become an Open Water Diver then you should consider doing your Advanced class which will only help in your buoyancy controll. There is a specalty called Peak Performance Buoyancy. I highly recomend it you will learn a lot and be on your way to having buoyancy like your instructor.