How to hover?

[MXGratefulDiver]

Along these lines... Try to kick and glidddde. Lots of people do little wussy kicks all the time and are constantly moving just not very much. Make a concious effort to either be kicking like you mean it or not kick at all.

Those little wussy kicks are very useful if you're a photographer and are "canvassing" the bottom at slow speed looking for subjects.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[rjack321]

Those little wussy kicks are very useful if you're a photographer and are "canvassing" the bottom at slow speed looking for subjects.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Sure but they aren't helpful if you are continually heavy and trying to learn how to be still

 

[TSandM]

The jerky fin motions I'm talking about aren't for the purpose of moving forward -- They're just a nervous habit related to some perception of being unstable.

 

[Hank49]

Those little wussy kicks are very useful if you're a photographer and are "canvassing" the bottom at slow speed looking for subjects.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Or being moved about by surface waves...even if you're down 30-40 feet...or slight current...or to just hold still. Even if your unit is as balanced as you can make it, it's pretty hard to be absolutely still for a infinite time without a little flick or two of the fins to maintain position.

 

[rjack321]

Or being moved about by surface waves...even if you're down 30-40 feet...or slight current...or to just hold still. Even if your unit is as balanced as you can make it, it's pretty hard to be absolutely still for a infinite time without a little flick or two of the fins to maintain position.

The "problem" is people often use that as a crutch/excuse to compensate for not being totally neutral and statically balanced. If you are in a calm lake or cenotes in MX it becomes obvious that you aren't still. The right hand tends to wave and the fins tend to scull, propelling you forward into your teammates (e.g. on a free ascent). And as you attempt to hover over the silty bottom you'll waste gas while your fins and hand stirs it up.

Actually practicing free ascents using an anchored SMB is a good way to learn to quiet the fins. You end up kicking into your teammates, the line, or going round in circles when you aren't stable and still.

 

[SparticleBrane]

rjack I like that suggestion. Might try it sometime (just as a drill) in the future instead of shooting the bag and reeling it in on the way up.

 

[*Floater*]

Often there's a little current or surf, so learn the back kick real well and then use tiny back kicks here and there to make sure you stay put. My DIRF instructor also suggested flaring the legs/fin blades out sideways the way you do when loading a frogkick and keeping them there so that you become less streamlined and therefore will move around less.

 

[rjack321]

rjack I like that suggestion. Might try it sometime (just as a drill) in the future instead of shooting the bag and reeling it in on the way up.

We do that at our training site here all the time to avoid moving into the "no dive zone" near a passenger ferry dock. The zone is marked by ropes on the bottom, but there's no way to tell if you've drifted in mid-water.

So we shoot a bag from ~40ft, loop the spool around a log, and do 30-20-10 stops. Cave line is so thin, and most DIRF folks have unknotted spools still, so it provides little depth reference. It does give you a nice horizontal reference though.

 

[limeyx]

rjack I like that suggestion. Might try it sometime (just as a drill) in the future instead of shooting the bag and reeling it in on the way up.

This is a very good skill for tech dives also as usually (esp. around here) the boat either anchors or drops a shot line.

Drifting deco is only possibly if you want a haircut from an oil tanker or a cruise ship (literally) on a lot of sites.

Also, almost every Tech1 class dive we did was from a line tied in to a fixed point ...

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Actually practicing free ascents using an anchored SMB is a good way to learn to quiet the fins. You end up kicking into your teammates, the line, or going round in circles when you aren't stable and still.

Yup ... it's also a great exercise for working on your back kick ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)