Noob question after some pool time (hovering)

[Them]

Earlier today I finished closed water dive #5 in a PADI open water class. The class went well and I didn't really have many questions at the end but as everything sinks in some questions are starting to bubble up. I'll start by saying that I successfully completed everything so I can't have done too badly.

Part of the problem is that we were in a smallish (but deep - 18' according to the markings) pool and couldn't really move too far in any direction.


How do you control body orientation? Here's what I mean: we were hovering at the bottom of the pool and I kept just tipping over. It was a bit of a bother because when I started tipping, the tips of my fins would end up bumping on the bottom unless I hovered a few feet up. Also, we were supposed to descend straight down feet-first but it was very hard to hold that orientation.


After the official dive was over we used up the rest of our air just playing. I had fun turning back flips and doing rolls in the water so I think I was fairly comfortable but it was just kind of strange that it was so easy to be 15' under, floating on my back with my legs higher than my head, and so hard to descend or hover feet-down.


Is it just that feet-down in a pool is working against the gear?


Thanks and hi everyone!

 

[fire_diver]

You just need to adjust your weight distribution and maybe your tank position. Ask your instructor to help you have a more natural position in the water.

 

[Them]

Hmm... That makes sense. Thinking about it, it seems like it changed (it was never really right, but I think it got better) when I did the weight belt remove/don exercises.

Am I going to end up with ankle weights?

 

[boulderjohn]

First of all, while it is typical to do descents feet first in an OW class, it is not a requirement in real diving. I don't do it myself. I do, however, have students do it, for several reasons. We talk about it during the class.

You are just beginning to dive, and you are just beginning to get a sense of buoyancy and trim. Relax. It will come to you.

And you will NOT end up with ankle weights.

 

[Them]

Cool. I'm probably just over thinking things since I have a week before my next dive.

I shed a few pounds of lead between dives 3 and 4 which also changed things (for the better overall, I think). I suspect I will think this is all incredibly easy at some point and won't understand why I even asked the question.

 

[TSandM]

I like to think of diving as being a bit like learning to be a bicycle. You have a large, negative thing attached to your back. At all times, it wants to go to the bottom. If it's perfectly centered on your back, your BC and your wetsuit, or whatever you have that floats, keeps it from sinking; but if it gets a little off to one side, man, it wants to take you right over onto your back.

One of the things I see all too often with students, is that the shop puts them into BCs that are actually too big. They can't cinch them down until the tank is truly stable, so they spend all their time in the water trying to deal with it slewing back and forth. And students in split fins have a really hard time stabilizing themselves with their fins, because the fins are too flexible -- they make very poor horizontal stabilizers. This leads to a lot of hand-sculling.

Eventually, you learn to be a good bicycle, and balance your "rider" so that it doesn't try to take you over. But physics really is inexorable -- even today, if I lean over too far to one side, the tank will try very hard to head for the bottom, and I'll have to use my fins energetically to avoid it.

 

[DukeAMO]

I like to think of diving as being a bit like learning to be a bicycle. You have a large, negative thing attached to your back. At all times, it wants to go to the bottom.

... at least until the tank's getting empty, when you have a large, positive thing on your back instead! I can definitely feel the change as the dive goes on.

Yes, having a BC that fits and keeps the tank and weights from shifting around helps a great deal. Also, if you can't hover because your feet or head float down, your instructor can help you move your tank and weights up/down to compensate. It was impossible for me to hover until we moved some weight up higher. Then it was easy.

 

[g1138]

If you're weighting is correct and your weight distribution is mildy even, but you're still having problems, you can then try this.

Bend your knees at 45degrees roughly, this will keep your feet from flailing in front or on the side of you. You will start to fall foward, but a horizontal descent is actually the easiest way to control your descent; more surface area to prevent a plummet.
If you want to keep feet down orientation then when you do fall forward, just lean back a bit and counter balance using the weight of your torso. Don't use your arms or feet, that's fighting the water, and you will look like a flopping clown.
Remember to keep your waist locked.

Lots of new divers (who are also knew to submerged swimming) have a problem of letting their limbs sway one way or another until it really starts taking their orientation into a loop. They don't notice or react to it until they're past the point of no return, then they either flip or they start flailing. The latter only makes it worse and can easily knock a buddy's mask or reg off.
Usually when the failing begins, it's all limbs and no core. You should use mainly your core and torso when you're trying to flip along the axis of your frontside and backside.

 

[Them]

Thank you TSandM, DukeAMO, and g1138! A lot of great insight for me to think about and apply next weekend and beyond.

At this point (about 24 hours later) my recollection of what was actually happening in the pool is probably suspect (humans have amazingly suggestible memories) but the overwhelming impression I'm getting is that my experience was fairly normal.

Years ago I was a swimming pool/ocean rat of the first order. I had no problem swimming laps completely submerged (apart from an occasional break for air). I had access to a couple of large (olympic size) swimming pools with decent deep ends (and tall diving platforms) and while I never had any athletic ambitions with it I was extremely comfortable in the water. Now I am out of shape (years at a zero-exertion office job plus a motorcycle accident that stopped my normal exercise routine for far too long) and can't do some of the things that were easy before...but I'm getting better.

A few points... The BC was the right size, but in hindsight I wonder if after the take-off/put-on cycle I really had it cinched properly. That's something I will be sensitive to next time.

No split fins here. Just awkward in-the-way conventional (Tusa Tri-ex) fins. I have used fins/mask/snorkel before but the last fins I used were much smaller so I am facing a whole new level of awkwardness.

I could definitely feel gravity pulling on that tank when I overbalanced. It was especially a factor when trying to make sharpish turns e.g. making a circuit of the bottom of the pool. I was trying my best to keep my hands in my pockets (well, fingers interlocked in front of my torso) and combining the tippy feeling, the small space, the general unfamiliarity of the experience, and the amount of concentration needed to keep from bouncing around like a yo-yo as I breathed, it made for a fun challenge.

Thanks again to everyone for the words of wisdom!