Priority of skills to master for new divers

[ChuckP]

Buoyancy by and far is number one. When you have a great understanding of buoyancy, you'll make better decisions on how you're weighted, you'll be able to trim easier, it'll make yo more relaxed - all of that leads to better air consumption.

i try to tell my students to try and slooooowwwwww down everything they do. then when they think they have slowed enough, slow down even more.

And this - That is an understatement of the century. When your buoyancy is on, you'll be able to just stop moving - any movement is deliberate - when you have great diving control, everything is in super slow motion. Patience, a slight fin kick and glide is way better than rapid kicks, sometimes you over react and have to counter that motion - stop the wasted energy.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

I would say buoyancy and trim is number one. However, the amount of lead weight you carry affects your buoyancy and trim. Most new divers are over weighted and as a result are also in bad trim. I would start working on your weight right now but don't give up practicing your buoyancy. Once you get your weight right your buoyancy will be easier to maintain and your air consumption will come down. If you continue to dive, become more comfortable in the water, and learn to relax your air consumption will come down more. Here's what I would do (have your buddy assist you):

1. Get proper weight: with 500 psi left in your tank hang vertically head up on a line at 15 ft for your safety stop. Empty your BCD of air and cross your ankles to prevent fining in place. Take normal slow breaths. Let go of the line. If you sink immediately remove 2 lbs (1 kg). Repeat until you slightly sink. You may have to exhale fully to descend on succeeding dives. Make sure you do NOT fin. This is a natural tendency in new divers and you must fight it.

2. Get proper trim: Once you've got your weight correct check your trim. Most new divers don't know they're not in trim because it's easy to trim out when you are swimming, and new divers generally never hover in one place. Get to a horizontal position without holding on to anything somewhere in the middle of the water column. Cross your ankles to prevent movement and see where you go. If you go head up move maybe 2 lbs higher up on the BC. If you go head down take weight out of the trim pockets (if you have any there) and move them to your waist pockets. If you don't have any weight in the trim pockets you can try shifting your tank lower on your harness, use ankle weights, or buy heavier fins.

Most rec divers (even experienced ones) think they're horizontal but are not. They are slightly head up. Use this test: while swimming in horizontal trim tuck your chin to your chest and look along the underside of your body. If, directly behind you in the distance you see the surface you are head down. If you see the bottom you are head up. When the surface and bottom are above and below you respectively you will be in proper horizontal trim.

IMPORTANT: for each step above do NOT move your fins. Moving them in step 1 will cause you to retain more weight and moving them in step 2 may mask any bad trim.

THIS! @EFX pointed out the two biggest problems in OW taught today: excessive weight and improper weight distribution. Failure to address both of these makes life so much harder for the new diver. And his point of not finning is spot on, as finning masks issues with both.

I ask prospective students what they think a good diver looks like. The basic answer is one that moves in slow, controlled movement, and we discuss how we achieve that for all of them. Obviously I don't create GUE fundies tech pass students, but not fish on land flopping around ones either.

 

[MichaelMc]

what they think a good diver looks like. The basic answer is one that moves in slow, controlled movement, and we discuss how we achieve that for all of them

This sounds a nice way to get the class to the notion of a neutral weight distribution to support horizontal orientation for horizontal movement.

 

[TMHeimer]

There seems to be a concentration on buoyancy, weighting, trim, etc., which I of course agree with as these are very basic and important things. I guess you could call them skills, but I thought the OP was asking like-- "Which is more important to practice-- removing & replacing my mask or reg retrieval? Or perhaps removing/replacing the weight belt"?
I agree with MichaelMc in that good buoyancy is self teaching with time. Of course proper weighting & trim comes first. Also agree with scrane that buoyancy & breathing are inseparable once weighting & BC air are balanced. So I guess you could call that a skill-- or 4?

 

[Rickk]

I disagree on buoyancy as being the critical skill.

The basic safety skills, mask removal and clearing, replacing lost regulator, emergency assent, buddy breathing skills etc are more critical. You can survive a dive with poor buoyancy control, you might not survive if you lose your regulator and cannot find it, replace it, purge it and resume breathing.

Then all four pillars of diving are important, buoyancy, trim, propulsion and breathing. However once you get buoyancy under control the other three are much easier.

On every dive I am cognizant of and am practicing these skills, often in combination. If I see some trash on the reef, a couple metres lower than me and ahead off to the side, I practice everything to be able to descend in a nice arc that ends with my picking up the trash at the bottom of my arc. Buoyancy is important to be able to go down, and just be starting up at the right time, trim is important to be in the right position to grab it, propulsion is important to get to the trash and breathing is important because that is how I am controlling my buoyancy.

I also practice what I have heard called the fifth pillar of diving: organization. I have all my gear ready, checked before I leave the house, all batteries charged, housings checked and silicone as necessary, I recheck when I assemble, I take up as small a foot print as possible on the boat or at the shop, final checks before splashing, post dive all gear kept tidy on the boat, gear cleaned and made ready before hanging to dry etc.

 

[Ukmc]

i try to tell my students to try and slooooowwwwww down everything they do. then when they think they have slowed enough, slow down even more. not all, but most new divers are far too active in the water.

good luck and have fun !!

 

[TMHeimer]

I disagree on buoyancy as being the critical skill.

The basic safety skills, mask removal and clearing, replacing lost regulator, emergency assent, buddy breathing skills etc are more critical. You can survive a dive with poor buoyancy control, you might not survive if you lose your regulator and cannot find it, replace it, purge it and resume breathing.

Then all four pillars of diving are important, buoyancy, trim, propulsion and breathing. However once you get buoyancy under control the other three are much easier.

On every dive I am cognizant of and am practicing these skills, often in combination. If I see some trash on the reef, a couple metres lower than me and ahead off to the side, I practice everything to be able to descend in a nice arc that ends with my picking up the trash at the bottom of my arc. Buoyancy is important to be able to go down, and just be starting up at the right time, trim is important to be in the right position to grab it, propulsion is important to get to the trash and breathing is important because that is how I am controlling my buoyancy.

I also practice what I have heard called the fifth pillar of diving: organization. I have all my gear ready, checked before I leave the house, all batteries charged, housings checked and silicone as necessary, I recheck when I assemble, I take up as small a foot print as possible on the boat or at the ship, final checks before splashing, post dive all gear kept tidy on the boat, gear cleaned and made ready before hanging to dry etc.

Agree. Think you worded it better than me.

 

[Dark Wolf]

Lots of great answers.

You never said, or I missed it, whether you dive locally. The specific location and conditions may cause priorities to shift somewhat.

DW

 

[halocline]

Buoyancy control and breathing are intertwined. In fact once weighting and BC air are balanced they are inseparable.

This is exactly correct. Focusing on breath control is an integral part (maybe the most integral) of achieving excellent buoyancy control. This is not focusing on breathing to reduce consumption. It's simply to slow and deepen your breaths, which has a profound affect on your state of mind and self awareness in the water. (Of course, it will also help consumption)

So I would agree with the majority of posters in that mastering buoyancy is probably the most important and time-intensive initial skill development for new divers, I would add that it is impossible to do this without focusing on breath control and consistency.

 

[halocline]

The things I think I need to focus on, and know I need to get better at:
- initiating my descent from the surface while on breath hold with empty lungs.. feels unnatural not breathing for enough time to start descending, I was told breaking the surface is the toughest part until the air volume starts to shrink, and your gear begins to compress

This particular issue is sometimes gear-related as well as technique-related for new divers. If you have a big, padded, spongy jacket style BC, it can make it more difficult to get down off the surface. As a new diver, I also found it was a bit challenging to break the surface. Once I got into a simple backplate/wing with zero padding on the harness, it become far easier. I've seen this same scenario with several other new divers.

It really should be no problem at all to break the surface without being overweighted. The big agencies teach if you are properly weighted, you will float at eye level with a near empty tank, empty BC, and a normal breath. Adding the weight of the gas (about 5 lbs) should be plenty to allow you to sink with the same conditions. Unfortunately, it's sometimes difficult to get ALL the air out of a padded BC with wraparound air cells.

I'm not suggesting that you immediately run out and buy a backplate/wing set up, but if your descent problem persists, you might try one just to feel the difference.