Level of Instruction

[O-ring]

Assume a Vertical position, light in the left hand pointing down, line in the right. Decend until you touch the bottom. Stop and kneel on the bottom to get oriented. Commence diving. Return to the line. Assume a vertical position. Gauges in the left hand, um... light in the left hand pointing up? Line in the right hand. Ascend to safety stop. Hang on the line. Then finish the ascent.

Absolutely the wrong way to do it...doesn't teach anything except poor diving skill. A monkey could ascend and descend a line and then kneel on the bottom to get oriented.

And we wonder why people destroy the reefs, muck up the vis, and silt out the wreck...they are trained to do it.

 

[cmay]

I agree with O-ring on this one. I teach to decend horizontal or near horizontal and to be slowly adjusting buoyancy on the decent so that you are neutral when you reach the bottom. This works well in that you never come in contact with the bottom. I still believe in and teach vertical ascents though.

 

[O-ring]

There is at least an argument for those...I know because we have had it before with Rick. It isn't even so much the verticality of it all (at least that can be debated), but the "until you touch down" and the "kneel on the bottom to get oriented" that are really bad..

 

[cmay]

I agree, as long as you are neutral and never touch the bottom, it does not make much of a difference. I prefer horizontal 1) because it is more comfortable laying on my stomach watching the bottom coming up at me, 2) in limited visibility a vertical descent without touching the bottom would not work because your fins would be in the mud before you could ever see bottom. At least horizontally, you could see the bottom that last three or four feet and adjust your buoyancy accordingly hopefully never touching the bottom. The key is simple, do not rely on the bottom. If you need to gain reference, hover above the bottom.

 

[MikeFerrara]

Horizantal gives the best position control and also puts you in the position you need to be in to swim to or back away from your buddy. As you descend, in the position of a sky diver, you cam move foreward, backward or turn as needed all while controling your descent speed. Ever wonder why so many divers get seperated on descent? Descending feet first, drifting backward (away from buddy) and poor speed control especially when combined with limited vis will seperate teams in a heart beat (without a line that is).There are valid arguments for vertical ascents at least for parts of some ascents.

 

[mudguppy]

I have to say where I do most of my dives and training the bottom is not visable until you get about a foot to 2 feet away from it. I'm wondering if that is partly some of the reasoning that I was trained the way I was....touch bottom with your fin.

I have descended horizontally, but I still end up with a finger hitting bottom so I know where it is. (pretty sad dive conditions, eh? ) Usually by the time I can touch bottom, I can see it.

If we talk about safety, where does that factor in, or is that an issue in this case? Is it safe to go down horizontally in such low viz without knowing where the bottom is?

 

[DiverBuoy]

One can descend vertically just fine .... but one must be able to arrest one's descent BEFORE touchdown and negotiate into a horizontal postion. I teach this technique.

The vertical body position during descent allows eye contact mask to mask with your buddy in low visibility and allows the diver to ascend a few feet very quickly if they experience a squeeze. It allows the diver to clear a mask easily if it begins to flood more rapidly with each foot of descent. Buddys are in an immediate hookup position for emergency purposes (such as alternate air source use).

All this talk about horizontal DURING ascents and descents scares the crap out of me, but as long as you haven't lost anyone (yet)...

 

[O-ring]

I think this is pretty typical of the standard OW class...at least the ones around here..

 

[O-ring]

Again, pretty standard around here..

 

[O-ring]

..