learning buoyancy control

[MikeS]

It seems to me that learning good buoyancy control is a lot like learning to drive with a manual transmission. At first shifting gears requires your full concentration but after enough experience you shift gears without conscious thought. I think that good buoyancy control is similar in that at first it requires your full concentration but with practice it becomes automatic allowing you to focus on other tasks while you subconsciously maintain buoyancy.

At first it took my full concentration to maintain any semblance of buoyancy control. With practice I was soon able to hover as long as I stayed focused on doing so. The next step was to try and focus at least part of my attention on something else like reading a gauge or compass. At first it seemed impossible but again with practice it became possible to do both (walk and chew gum) at the same time. Now I’m at the point of attempting more complex tasks such as floating a surface marker or running a line and realize that this is the next plateau. I’m looking forward to the time when with enough practice buoyancy control becomes automatic even with extreme task loading.

Mike

 

[Lonely Boy]

To me, buoyancy control is much easier than driving manual gear. I spent around 40+ hours to learn manual gear driving but I am still not confident at it.

I spent 27 hours diving and I am confident now to do a neutral bouyancy.

 

[Uncle Pug]

But there are things that make it either easier or harder... and one of the them is horizontal vs vertical positioning.

Not exactly analogous to shifting from the back seat, vertical positioning does degrade your ability to maintain depth.

Breathing is the primary factor in starting an ascent or descent while trying to maintain depth. When your attention is focused on a task it is easy for your breathing pattern to become altered and cause you to either sink or rise. This movement is quickly compounded by the expanding or compressing neoprene/suit gas and the movement picks up momentum.

When you are vertical in the water you present much less resistance to this movement and things can get away from you fast.

When you are horizontal you present maximum resistance to ascent or descent. The movement that could be started by the buoyancy fluctuations from breathing is dampened and it is easier for you to control your depth.

Tip: When donating to an OOA (drill or real) do not take a big breath off of the regulator before you hand it over to the OOA... you will start to ascend and the OOA could lose the reg... or if they do get the regulator and take a large breath too... you both will start your trip up way too fast and not in control.

 

[Uncle Pug]

Lonely Boy once bubbled...
I spent 27 hours diving and I am confident now to do a neutral bouyancy.

How about with a little task loading?

Not too big a deal drive a stick shift parked in the driveway.
Or even driving down the country lane.
Or even out on the super highway at 100.

But how about driving that stick shift in rush hour stop~n~go traffic while talking on a cell phone and trying to read reports from the office?

Or four wheeling out in the woods up hills and down hills, over rocks and stumps, through streams and mud holes while trying to eat that Big Mac with super sized fries and Coke?

So that you don't miss the point... I am using these examples of driving a stick shift to pursue the analogy:

Neutral buoyancy without task loading is really no big deal.... but throw in an OOA with lost mask... or retrieve, rig, fill and release a lift bag... and the picture changes fast.

 

[Soggy]

Uncle Pug once bubbled...

How about with a little task loading?

Neutral buoyancy without task loading is really no big deal.... but throw in an OOA with lost mask... or getting out, rigging, filling and properly releasing a lift bag... and the picture changes fast.

Or at night while dealing with a drysuit, light, and compass in shallow water (8-10'), close to a rocky shore, with the ebb and flow of the tide tossing you around like a marionette.

I learned that one last night. Let's just say that my air consumption didn't end up being so great. Still a mostly enjoyable dive, but frustrating at times.

 

[GP]

Uncle Pug once bubbled...
When you are vertical in the water you present much less resistance to this movement and things can get away from you fast.

When you are horizontal you present maximum resistance to ascent or descent. The movement that could be started by the buoyancy fluctuations from breathing is dampened and it is easier for you to control your depth.

I found this to be very true. After reading some of the posts recently on horizontal ascents I made it a point to compare this last weekend on a deep dive and I most definately had more control in the horizontal position than vertical.

 

[Kronos13]

Uncle Pug once bubbled...

But how about driving that stick shift in rush hour stop~n~go traffic while talking on a cell phone and trying to read reports from the office?

Or four wheeling out in the woods up hills and down hills, over rocks and stumps, through streams and mud holes while trying to eat that Big Mac with super sized fries and Coke?

What I take from the stick shift/buoyancy control analogy is start working on learning it early. My father started teaching me to shift his truck when I was six. By the time I was 12, and could reach the pedals and see over the dash, I had to start learning clutch control (the beginings of task loading).
Now, 27 years later, I could do UP's *task* list without too much problem.
So here I am in the infancy on my diving life and buoyancy control is right up at the top of my *work on it* list. Who knows, maybe in another 27 years I'll be able to eat that Big Mac, fries and Coke, while maintaining perfect buoyancy control.

 

[shellbird]

I learn something from you about every day

 

[Uncle Pug]

Kronos13 once bubbled...
maybe in another 27 years I'll be able to eat that Big Mac, fries and Coke, while maintaining perfect buoyancy control.

You are driving a double stick three over five with air split rear-end and you can still floss after the meal while just starting up a long winding hill.

 

[Uncle Pug]

shellbird once bubbled...
I learn something from you about every day

nt