In what position were you taught to perform dive skills?

[victorzamora]

So, I was having a discussion with some guys at the LDS the other day....and have been reading/hearing varying opinions on this. So, I would like to know where you fall. I know the choices are kind of limited, but I think they cover the VAST majority of options without getting too complicated.

Note: This thread is for your Recreational training. Instructors, vote how you were taught but please comment if you teach otherwise. I'd like to hear what people think.

 

[spectrum]

On our knees in a rocky cove, barnacles crabs, lobster, the works.

I remember being ticked off that me and my wife were set-up to abuse our new wetsuits like that.

Now I go to a sandy cove to drill.

Pete

 

[ScubaSteve]

I selected the fin pivot option however I was taught some on my knees and some in a fin pivot. Nothing was done while neutral though. That I learned on my own with experience and a good buddy that also wanted to learn and improve.

 

[SailNaked]

We did drills standing on a platform in a murky lake, there was no instruction on neutral bouyancy, as I was wearing a horse collar. we did not die, and have not died yet.

Edit(missed other part of question) I teach laying on the bottom, it simulates horizontal position without requiring students to learn neutral bouyancy first. but I teach in a pool. in the lake they are pretty good at being neutral and we emphasize that .

 

[TSandM]

One of the most difficult things for me in my open water class was trying to keep my balance on my knees . . . and my knees were so chewed up after the first session that I had to put Bandaids on them.

 

[rhwestfall]

at first, it was introduced in the pool, either in a kneeling or fin pivot position. Refined thereafter in the pool (for many, many, many weeks). The expectation was that it would be in the hovering position in open water when you demonstrated during check-out dives. I have seen recently the utilization of a platform here where I now dive (not where I certified).

 

[victorzamora]

We did drills standing on a platform in a murky lake, there was no instruction on neutral bouyancy, as I was wearing a horse collar

You did your drills STANDING? I have never heard of that before.

we did not die, and have not died yet.

Good, I'm glad. However, I didn't mean for this to be a knock on instructing/learning on your knees. I'm simply curious. I had a hard time on my knees in my AOW class, and ended up in a fin pivot (instructor thought I was narc'ed to pieces). I realized that on your knees isn't what I'd teach as an instructor, and not what I want my buddies to learn with. I had a long post explaining this, but the short story is I'm now retraining my fiancee so she can do simple skills from a horizontal position. It nearly got her in BIG trouble once (wall dive, 200+ft of water).

 

[Skittl1321]

I just finished OW. We did skills on our knees. During OW checkout the quarry has a platform that we were on. In OW (vis around 3-5 ft feet, murkier day 1, clearer day 2) the instructor held onto our BCD during all skills except the ones for neutral buoyancy (fin tip/hover). In the pool, they didn't do that.

I think the knee thing actually caused me more stress, as I suspect I was over-weighted in the pool as I had no trouble kneeling, and despite multiple weight checks tell me I had enough weight, I could not stay on my knees in the OW and kept tipping or floating; it made some of the skills I had no problem whatsoever with in the pool very nerve wracking (mask skills; the reg skills don't seem to make a difference which position you are in).

 

[James R]

I did my OW with YMCA over many pool sessions (college PE class) a very long time ago. We did the skills and work hovering in mid water, but I don't recall if we had to or were just pushed to be better.

 

[Quero]

I was taught on my knees, and I found it so hard to keep my balance. When I became an instructor, I started out teaching on the knees as well as it was all I had ever been exposed to. But because I was STILL having trouble staying upright on my own knees, I would get myself into a neutrally buoyant position to watch while making students kneel. I know, weird right? It was weird, but I'd get these horrible foot cramps from trying to stay kneeling for hours, so I'd start out kneeling everybody, demo the skill myself while kneeling, and then as students would practice the skill, I'd get myself horizontal for comfort. Naturally my students began to imitate my horizontal posture and I noticed how much more comfortable everybody was when they were like that, so I started demonstrating skills and allowing them to be performed in a horizontal position. I checked the performance requirements listed in the standards carefully to make sure that there was no specific instruction regarding position while performing skills, and as there wasn't, I gradually made the switch to what I consider 'nearly neutrally buoyant' instruction. Related to this but somewhat later was my relief at the change in standards so that it was no longer required for the fin tips to be touching the floor of the pool for the pivot skill--I always had THE WORST time keeping those fin tips from coming up due to the ideal weight distribution I employ for diving. I can easily bend my hips to have my knees touch the bottom for this, but straight-leg pivoting from fin tips.... well, every time I had to do it I had to concentrate, hard! I have to admit that I sometimes felt embarrassment and wondered if I was a bad instructor because I could not easily and fluidly demonstrate this fin pivot skill! Now I have all my students do their basic skills work in a horizontal position.