Neutral Buoyancy Hovering

[tracydr]

@Blue Sparkle: Actually, it's my understanding that PADI standards do not specify body position while hovering. Hovering upside down, sitting, horizontal, on your back will all pass the hovering requirement. Walter is correct, though. Hovering horizontal is the most useful position. Learning how to do this takes practice. So long as weighting is symmetric (left and right), the OP should be able to balance without tipping over/back or left/right.

@gargoyle999: I'd recommend that you ask your instructor to help ensure that your static weighting makes it easy for you to maintain a horizontal position in the water column. I see a great deal of novice divers here in SoCal who place too much of their lead weight on their hips (in the form of a weightbelt or weight-integrated BCD pockets). This generates head-up/feet-down trim which might make it easier to stay upright...but makes it very difficult to move forward/backward through the water efficiently while maintaining depth. Be horizontal.

Good luck on your OW certification dives...

I've also noticed I can avoid low back pain from rearranging my weights and getting some in front, back and off the belt.
I'll have to ask my husband as he teaches PADI but I'm pretty sure he told me for my DM skills a horizontal hover and fin pivot.

 

[tracydr]

Geeze, that's mean! 10 pounds is more, by a lot, than what's on me in lead! I can't even remember the steps to that drill! Let's see everyone remember it and try it at 130 feet, repeat three times and spin in a circle to get really dizzy while narced. Now that would be a good test!
When I have to hold hubby's video camera for him the weight sinks me to the bottom like a rock. I can barely lift my arms up!

 

[Blackwood]

10 additional pounds while hovering and not adding air to your BC? Dude you are going to have to show me that one on Sat. I am darn good at it and I seriously doubt I can handle 10 lbs, esp considering the average TOTAL bouyancy shift of an average males lungs is around 12 lbs. Guess I have something to test at the pool tonight....we will see.

The way he worded his post, I have to assume they are allowed to orally inflate ("...inflate their bc's both orally and with the inflator").

 

[tracydr]

The way he worded his post, I have to assume they are allowed to orally inflate ("...inflate their bc's both orally and with the inflator").

Oh,yeah. See, all those steps, I forgot to inflate the BC! I'm sure I'd find it easier to do than read. Not thinking I would have forgotten to add air!
Usually only hold my husband's camera for a minute or two if he has to fix something so normally it will be in shallow water on a shore dive or at the bottom, haven't ever carried that kind of weight in the column before. Now I have to go get a tank filled to play this game in the pool! See what you guys have forced me to do?

 

[Kilili]

Totally idiotic, and not something I was ever asked to do in Padi cert.

I've heard of having girls do this, such that they try to hover just over the instructors hand. Perhaps you're just too cute

 

[herman]

The way he worded his post, I have to assume they are allowed to orally inflate ("...inflate their bc's both orally and with the inflator").

That must be it, no way in heck a student can do 10 lbs without inflating something. For grins I tried it in the pool this evening, 4 lbs was all I could do when weighted dead on and I have a lot of practice with lung based bouyancy, it's goes with the territory when you dive with no BC.

 

[Quero]

Well I do know it will be a requirement in our 4th dive since it's on our list of skills.

I too was thinking if you put yourself in a lotus position your center of gravity will determine where your head ends up so to speak. It is a PADI course so if I'm hovering but not with my head pointed to the surface I guess I'll see what they say about that. Hopefully if they want my head "up" they will help me adjust my center of gravity and not just fail me!

BTW...what happens if you fail a skill during the PADI checkout dives. Do you have to take all the open water dives over or take the whole course (class/pool/ow) over? I didn't think to ask that during our pool work.

Yes, the neutral buoyancy hover is required in dive 4 of the OW training dives. No, you are not required to assume any particular position. It's okay if you're tilted to one side or forward or even feet up and head down (though any water droplets in your mask may run into your nostrils like that).

As others have noted, a neutral position is the most useful for your future diving. Performance requirements state only that you cannot scull with your hands or feet. If you can hover horizontally and keep your hands and feet still, that is ideal, but the hands of new divers seem to have minds of their own and just sneak out to scull!
The easiest way to keep students' feet and hands static is to have them hold their feet with their hands. Lots of people have difficulty with their flexibility, especially when wearing thick wetsuits, and can't easily grab their fin tips without a lot of flailing around and frustration; crossing the feet at the ankles and holding the knees achieves the same objective.

What happens if you can't do it? You try again! If you've managed to do it in the pool, you won't have much trouble in the open water. Pool work is generally shallower and the hover is hardest in shallow water. When you get just a little deeper it becomes a whole lot easier to stay within a fairly narrow range of movement up and down. If you *really* can't do it, you redo the one dive. No need to do the entire course again. You would likely have to pay for the additional dive, though. Don't stress about it and you'll do great. If you worry too much about flubbing it, that can become as self-fulfilling prophesy since the more stressed you are the less you can control your breathing. Relax and trust yourself.

 

[silvernotch]

I just wanted to add that for me, hovering and fin pivots were a hell of a lot harder in the pool than they were in open water. pool vs OW was like night and day

 

[cocoajoe]

Did your instructor go through proper weighting drill with you? In my case, it didn't happen and I struggled needlessly for many dives until I did get it right.

 

[ti325v]

Unbalanced weights or a loose belt ?...These are the only thing that I have seen make a student absolutely not be able to (eventually) buddha hover. We do it to show off..... One quick shot of air and up we go, holding fin tips, stone still and not moving up or down an inch...Impresses the students ! As does swimming backwards facing them
Also I do tell my students it is an order of mangitude easier in o.w. then the pool !
There is NO position requirement.