i need some help

[lil'scubachick]

Hi my name is Brittany.I'm 13.I need help in finding my balance.Also,i having trouble finding how much weight i need i'm only a 100lbs. I used about 20 on my weight belt,but that was a little to much for me. What should I do?
:06:

 

[mania]

The best way is this:
Take a tank that's almost empty (50 bars maximum). go to 3 meters with your buddy and you have to either add or take away weights. You will be properly weighted when with no air in your BCD you will have a neutral bouyancy.
Mania

 

[paolov]

lil'scubachick

mania is right , that is the best way.

it is upon the completion of the dive when you do your safety stop is when the tank(80 cu ft. aluminum) is nearly 4 pounds bouyant.

it is this when you need to get your weights right to give you neutral bouyancy.

 

[MoonWrasse]

Hi my name is Brittany.I'm 13.I need help in finding my balance.Also,i having trouble finding how much weight i need i'm only a 100lbs. I used about 20 on my weight belt,but that was a little to much for me. What should I do?
:06:

Well, Brittany, your age is not relevent, however I see that you only have a few dives in (where in Thailand did you dive?).

With more dives you will be beter able to control your balance underwater. You may have to shift weights around, I had to do this recently because I had a new wetsuit made (in Thailand).

Also when you do your Advanced Open water courses you can take a peak performance buoyancy dive, which will help you determine both your proper weighting and balance underwater. If you can't do this, I'd suggest getting a hold of the book or videos (ebay has them). Inside the book there's a chart to show you how to guesstimate your weight needs, depending on body weight, tank type, suit, fresh/salt water, etc.

Keep up the diving :diver:

 

[meisburger]

Hi my name is Brittany.I'm 13.I need help in finding my balance.Also,i having trouble finding how much weight i need i'm only a 100lbs. I used about 20 on my weight belt,but that was a little to much for me. What should I do?
:06:

Hi. A word about bouyancy. You will never be truly neutral for more than a second or so, as long as you are breathing. When you breath in you will become more bouyant, an when you breathe out, less. Ideally, neutral would be in the middle of that cycle. Experienced divers can to some extent control their bouyancy by cycling around empty lungs, or cycling expanded lungs, but it is most comfortable to be in the middle. Getting used to the changes in bouyancy caused by breathing is important. You can practice by doing fin pivots on the bottom of your pool. Good fin pivots require you to be slightly negative, so your fins rest on the bottom.

When you have that skill (going up and down based on your lung inflation), cross your legs while sitting on the bottom, add a touch of air to your BC, then see if you can lift off the bottom by fully inflating your lungs. If not, add a touch more air and try again. Eventually you will lift off with fully inflated lungs, and may be ablly to hover by cycling your breathing around the full lungs. Add a touch more air and you can get the cycle point somewhere around the middle of your breathing range. Then fix your eyes on a particular row of tiles and try to hover in the water column. You will go up and down a bit, but with practice can maintain your position. If you can do this in a shallow pool, you should not have any trouble in the ocean, as long as you can see something. If you are in blue water, with practice you can do this just looking at your depth gauge.

For weighting, the advice offered is good, but remember you will need more in the ocean than in the pool.

Cheers, Tim

 

[lil'scubachick]

Well, Brittany, your age is not relevent, however I see that you only have a few dives in (where in Thailand did you dive?).

With more dives you will be beter able to control your balance underwater. You may have to shift weights around, I had to do this recently because I had a new wetsuit made (in Thailand).

Also when you do your Advanced Open water courses you can take a peak performance buoyancy dive, which will help you determine both your proper weighting and balance underwater. If you can't do this, I'd suggest getting a hold of the book or videos (ebay has them). Inside the book there's a chart to show you how to guesstimate your weight needs, depending on body weight, tank type, suit, fresh/salt water, etc.

Keep up the diving :diver:

Well thank you all. it's been difficult i'll have to try this stuff.Oh and umm...MoonWrasse it was Pattya(i think i spelled it wrong)its a coulpe of hours away from Bangkok I have friends in Thailand

 

[lil'scubachick]

Hi. A word about bouyancy. You will never be truly neutral for more than a second or so, as long as you are breathing. When you breath in you will become more bouyant, an when you breathe out, less. Ideally, neutral would be in the middle of that cycle. Experienced divers can to some extent control their bouyancy by cycling around empty lungs, or cycling expanded lungs, but it is most comfortable to be in the middle. Getting used to the changes in bouyancy caused by breathing is important. You can practice by doing fin pivots on the bottom of your pool. Good fin pivots require you to be slightly negative, so your fins rest on the bottom.

When you have that skill (going up and down based on your lung inflation), cross your legs while sitting on the bottom, add a touch of air to your BC, then see if you can lift off the bottom by fully inflating your lungs. If not, add a touch more air and try again. Eventually you will lift off with fully inflated lungs, and may be ablly to hover by cycling your breathing around the full lungs. Add a touch more air and you can get the cycle point somewhere around the middle of your breathing range. Then fix your eyes on a particular row of tiles and try to hover in the water column. You will go up and down a bit, but with practice can maintain your position. If you can do this in a shallow pool, you should not have any trouble in the ocean, as long as you can see something. If you are in blue water, with practice you can do this just looking at your depth gauge.

For weighting, the advice offered is good, but remember you will need more in the ocean than in the pool.

Cheers, Tim

Thank you for the advice but when I did this, and I did perfect(with my instructor) but when I'm with my friend i have problems. would my balance be different in warm ocean water that cold?

 

[mania]

It may as most of cold ocean water are less salted, warm ones are more salted. The more salted ocean the more weights you need.
Mania

 

[lil'scubachick]

It may as most of cold ocean water are less salted, warm ones are more salted. The more salted ocean the more weights you need.
Mania

Well no wonder, I got certified in Thailand.Well, thats a big difference in temp.!

 

[meisburger]

No, not really. Its mostly a question of practice. Most people are overweighted to begin, then overcompensate by adding to much air. Bect advice is to figure out exactly how much weight you need using the procedure described earlier. That way you will be relatively neutral from the beginning. Mostly its just practice. If you have access to a pool and your own tank you can practice a lot, and pretty soon you'll get the hang of it. Cheers, Tim