New diver, floaty feet: will heavy fiins help?

[jbd]

I have the oposite problem. My feet are heavy. I have tried to move my tank higher in the BCD, and moved my weights close as I can to my center of balance. Helped some but not totaly. Thinking about making a strap to strap a weight to top of tank.

What kick technique are you using? If you are using the standard flutter, try switching to a frog kick which allows you to bend your legs at the knees. This "moves" some weight up towards your head.

 

[baitedstorm]

I too use to struggle with the same problem. I personally wouldn't recommend ankel weights (weighting down your motor just doesn't make a lot of sense to me). What type of booties are you wearing with your fins? I found wearing my 7mm booties was one of the biggest reasons my feet floated. I didn't change them (cause I like warm feet....hehehehe) but what I do now is more frog kicking if I'm just cruising along and flutter kicking when I need to get somewhere in a hurry (Dm-ing with students/charters).

My feet still float, but it doesnt interfere with my diving at all. I often find myself upside down at the safety stop, but I can still hold a tight hover, and it tends to be entertaining for those watching.

Just relax, don't fight where Mother Nature wants to put you. Change your kick style if need be. I truly believe this "issue" your having will go away in time.


Good luck, keep us updated.

 

[H2Andy]

Thinking about making a strap to strap a weight to top of tank.

a while back (I don't use this setup anymore) i bought two DiveRite weight pockets
and put them on the top tank strap of my backplate. i then put 2 lbs on each
pocket (non removable) to offset a very heavy canister light i was then using.

worked very well for me

 

[wunat]

With negative bouyant fins such as SP Jet Fin, Aqualung Rocket Fin, it should help.

 

[tedwhiteva]

I have the oposite problem. My feet are heavy. I have tried to move my tank higher in the BCD, and moved my weights close as I can to my center of balance. Helped some but not totaly. Thinking about making a strap to strap a weight to top of tank.

Take one of the afore mentioned ankle weights and put it around the neck of the tank under the 1st stage - it worked great for me.

 

[doole]

I think Jim may have touched on the right answer; if you're new, you're probably not used to floating horizontally yet and instinctively trying to get into the more natural (for you) vertical position. It might just be a case of you needing to not fight that any more. Try just relaxing - if you don't actually float upside-down, there's really nothing wrong with your trim.

 

[Hank49]

Are you using booties? If you don't need them to stay warm, get rid of them and use a full foot fin like Mares Avantes. This cured my daughter of the same problem. The fins them selves are actually about neutrally buoyant but it's the added buoyancy of the neoprene booties that were floating her feet.

 

[CherryO]

I don't know where I'm going to be diving and I don't have any equipment yet but I'll probably get boots with fins.
I' found that I was OK when swimming but when I have to sit at the bottom of a pool or I'm doing a safety stop, I have problems controlling my feet.
Maybe experience will help but everything helps so thank you to all for the advice.

 

[Ishie]

I had the exact same problem during my OW, and also had problems descending (needed 24 lbs to get down; now I use 16). I thought about ankle weights, but my instructor advised me not to get them. I found that in my excitement and all, I really was subconsciously finning a bit. The staying at the surface was aided by shallow breathing. I was fine while finning, but during the stops, I would end up with my feet up in the air, despite having Volos, which are slightly negative.

By relaxing more in the water, despite wearing 6.5 mm boots, I don't have the foot float problem anymore, and I'm glad I didn't go with the ankle weights.

 

[BabyDuck]

i used 5lb ankle weights my first few dives, (bringing my weight total to 37 lb!) but then got to where i didn't need them (and now use 14 with steel and 18 with aluminum. and i'm still in the 15-dive range, so i hope to drop a few more as i continue to not be so bad at this.). my advice would be to pick your fins/booties because you like them & they fit your feet & what you want to do, then use the weights if needed but plan (hope) to get out of them in 4-5 dives.