Maintaining Depth While Swimming

[stevena48]

I am a new diver and am having trouble maintaining my depth while swimming. I believe I am properly weighted (eye ball test, fin pivot, etc). I carry 24 lbs but when I swim I quickly ascend. When I stop paddling I quickly descend. I seem "leg heavy" but have been unable to find a swimming style that compensates for my tendency to rise. Any help will be appreciated.

 

[Blackwood]

You aren't neutral in the water.

You shouldn't be looking for a swimming style to compensate for your tendency to rise or fall. You should use either weight to compensate for positive buoyancy or positive buoyancy to compensate for weight.

 

[stevena48]

You aren't neutral in the water.

You shouldn't be looking for a swimming style to compensate for your tendency to rise or fall. You should use either weight to compensate for positive buoyancy or positive buoyancy to compensate for weight.

Thanks, but how do you explain my sinking when I slow or stop swimming?

 

[PfcAJ]

Your swimming posture in the water is the likely culprit.

I bet you're swimming in a legs down, head up attitude, which causes you to rise as you swim along. When you stop, the lift you created with forward motion is gone, causing you to sink.

Modify your position so that you are horizontal (completely flat) in the water. You will see your consumption rate go down and your bouyancy will be better.

BTW, update your profile info so we know where you are. 24lbs is a lot in the tropics, but might be appropriate elsewhere in the world.

 

[hudson]

It sounds like you don't have enough air in the BC in an effort to compensate for your head-up style. Get a buddy with a camera, a reference for the horizontal in the background, and have him take some pics or video. 24lbs is a lot of weight around the belly, I wouldn't be surprised if you were severely out of trim. One solution is to shift some weight to weight pockets on your upper camband.

 

[underwasser bolt]

Thanks, but how do you explain my sinking when I slow or stop swimming?

I think you are NOT neutral at depth, you need to add air to BC at depth to compensate for changes. I also think since you state you are leg heavy you are "swimming" in a position that is not horizontal. So, if you fin and your legs are slightly below you, you will go forward and slightly up. you are heavy so the slightly up force generated by finning off sets the lack of being neutral. However, if you stop finning, the compensating force is gone, and down you go. My son had the same problem. Took me about 6 hours underwater to retrain him and break him of bad habits.

 

[Web Monkey]

I am a new diver and am having trouble maintaining my depth while swimming. I believe I am properly weighted (eye ball test, fin pivot, etc). I carry 24 lbs but when I swim I quickly ascend. When I stop paddling I quickly descend. I seem "leg heavy" but have been unable to find a swimming style that compensates for my tendency to rise. Any help will be appreciated.

You're probably still not weighted correctly and/or the weight isn't distributed correctly.

Being "feet down" (or "head up") is caused by either too much weight towards your feet (not likely) or too much air near your head (more likely). Too much air near your head is usually caused by being overweighted.

Being overweighted also makes buoyancy control difficult.

You should try another buoyancy check, done with an almost empty tank, no air in your BC, a normal (not huge) breath of air, and your legs crossed (this prevents unintended finning).

Once your weight is correct, you can adjust your horizontal trim. This is generally done by moving your tank more towards your head or feet. Once you find a position that lets you stay more or less horizontal when not moving, you can adjust the small tank-valve strap on your BC (if it has one) to mark the spot you found, so you can easily find the right spot when changing tanks.

If you can't get horizontal by moving your tank, you might need to try moving some of your weight into your BC's trim pockets, which are typically located higher up than the regular weight pockets.

If that doesn't help, post another message, since there are other things to try.

Terry

 

[RonFrank]

Can you provide more details as to your diving environment, what exposure protection you are using, ect. What depth are you diving at? Shallower depths make it harder to control buoyancy.

Others have provided good info, but can you hover? You describe swimming, and stopping, but do you work on just not moving?

It sounds like you are overweighted, but I'd not want to guess based on so little information.

 

[stevena48]

Can you provide more details as to your diving environment, what exposure protection you are using, ect. What depth are you diving at? Shallower depths make it harder to control buoyancy.

Others have provided good info, but can you hover? You describe swimming, and stopping, but do you work on just not moving?

It sounds like you are overweighted, but I'd not want to guess based on so little information.

I am a warm water diver wearing a 3 ml shorty. I am 6'5" and weigh 315 lbs. I am currently diving 30-70 ft in Maui. I have 20 lbs integrated in my BC and 4 lbs more in my pockets. When I hover I do so vertically. I can do fin pivots fine. Thanks!

 

[Blackwood]

Thanks, but how do you explain my sinking when I slow or stop swimming?

Simple. You're swimming up, constantly fighting your negative buoyancy.

Find a buddy who is willing to work with you. Get down there and try to achieve neutral buoyancy. Don't move. Don't fin. Just sit there, and try to be motionless.

You may need to hand weight off to your buddy, or take some from him.

I am a warm water diver wearing a 3 ml shorty. I am 6'5" and weigh 315 lbs. I am currently diving 30-70 ft in Maui. I have 20 lbs integrated in my BC and 4 lbs more in my pockets. When I hover I do so vertically. I can do fin pivots fine. Thanks!

If you can hover, you should be able to do so in any orientation.

When you are hovering vertically, are you kicking at all? If so, you are slightly negative. Add air. If not, rotate to horizontal and see what happens. Can you be flat as a board, parallel to the bottom? If so, your weight is placed properly. If not, you'll either tip forward or backwards. I'm assuming you'll tip backwards (head up). Now, when you kick, you're pushing yourself upwards in addition to forwards. You probably notice yourself going up and dump some air. Now you're negative, and when you stop kicking you no longer have the thrust from your fins pushing you up, so you sink.