Probably a silly concern

[fabasard]

Shell, Take what you will from everyones point of view (they all seem intelligent people) for me I agree with the negative bouyancy and finning up, this ENSURES that your not on a rocketship to the surface, once you hit 15 feet grab the line and hold on. Also, by being negatively bouyant you have to hold on to the line to keep from dropping back down and you are not concerned about going up. Especially as a neophite fine tuning the air in your BCD is a task, so use your body to do the work. Your concerns are valid and so common I would dare say that unless your a fish, you come to the sport with them. Enjoy and welcome to the club.

 

[JanR]

As a relatively new diver, I found determining how much air to either vent during ascent or inflate at points during a descent is hard to get right.

During descents, with experience you'll begin to figure out how much gas to inflate at different depths to stay neutral...and more importantly, what neutral "feels" like so that you know if you are there.

For ascending, I found this a bit more difficult to achieve. A technique that my PPB instructor taught that I've found useful is while ascending, hold your power-inflator hose out slightly above parrallel with the surface and depress the vent valve.

As TS&M noted, the key I've found is to attempt to remain neutral at all times during your dive. As you use primarily your lungs to slowly raise you, as the air expands in your BCD, the excess will vent out of your hose.

I've tried this on my last 10-12 dives and have found that it makes staying neutral on ascent, so-so much easier. When things become easier, you get more confidence, and when you dive with confidence, you dive safer.

For what it's worth...

Jan

 

[jeckyll]

Shell, Take what you will from everyones point of view (they all seem intelligent people) for me I agree with the negative bouyancy and finning up, this ENSURES that your not on a rocketship to the surface, once you hit 15 feet grab the line and hold on. Also, by being negatively bouyant you have to hold on to the line to keep from dropping back down and you are not concerned about going up. Especially as a neophite fine tuning the air in your BCD is a task, so use your body to do the work. Your concerns are valid and so common I would dare say that unless your a fish, you come to the sport with them. Enjoy and welcome to the club.

I think that 1) it's good to plan on not having to depend on the line. Learning to maintain good buoyancy is IMO one of the absolute most important things a diver can do
2) what if there is no line? Will this cause the diver nothing but stress or are they comfortable doing a free ascent.
3) what about shore dives?



just my $0.02.

Bjorn

 

[CompuDude]

CompuDude:

At the same time you have alot of folks that feel alot better / less tired after really slow ascents (especially over the last 10 fsw). So while alot of people 'didn't get bent', I believe the instilling a slow and controlled ascent is very worth while.

Just my $0.02

For the record, I agree with you 100%. I am only addressing this early, learning stage: There's no reason to panic if you can't hold your safety stop. You'll learn eventually (and there are good reasons to learn!) and meanwhile, you won't die.

 

[Thalassamania]

As a relatively new diver, I found determining how much air to either vent during ascent or inflate at points during a descent is hard to get right.

During descents, with experience you'll begin to figure out how much gas to inflate at different depths to stay neutral...and more importantly, what neutral "feels" like so that you know if you are there.

For ascending, I found this a bit more difficult to achieve. A technique that my PPB instructor taught that I've found useful is while ascending, hold your power-inflator hose out slightly above parrallel with the surface and depress the vent valve.

As TS&M noted, the key I've found is to attempt to remain neutral at all times during your dive. As you use primarily your lungs to slowly raise you, as the air expands in your BCD, the excess will vent out of your hose.

I've tried this on my last 10-12 dives and have found that it makes staying neutral on ascent, so-so much easier. When things become easier, you get more confidence, and when you dive with confidence, you dive safer.

For what it's worth...

Jan

Try this: You are descending, slightly above the depth you want to trim for: put short bursts into the vest. When you just start to move up, hold the oral inflator hose as far down (deep) as you are able and keep the oral inflation button OPEN. Continue to keep the oral inflator button open and move the hose up until air starts to trickle out of the oral inflation mouthpiece, then lower it till it just stops. You now have an air siphon from your BC or BP/W that you can use to control your ascent or descent rate with amazing precision. Just remeber to keep the oral inflator OPEN ALL THE TIME.

 

[snepdiver]

Try this: You are descending, slightly above the depth you want to trim for: put short bursts into the vest. When you just start to move up, hold the oral inflator hose as far down (deep) as you are able and keep the oral inflation button OPEN. Continue to keep the oral inflator button open and move the hose up until air starts to trickle out of the oral inflation mouthpiece, then lower it till it just stops. You now have an air siphon from your BC or BP/W that you can use to control your ascent or descent rate with amazing precision. Just remeber to keep the oral inflator OPEN ALL THE TIME.

I tried something similar to this over the weekend. It worked but not as well as I think this will work. This is a great procedure. I will try in the training pool this week. Thanks.

 

[Thalassamania]

I tried something similar to this over the weekend. It worked but not as well as I think this will work. This is a great procedure. I will try in the training pool this week. Thanks.

Please be careful playing with this in shallow ranges. It's really best to learn and practice in the 30 to 60 foot range. The change in buoyancy with respect to depth is much greater in shallow water and thus the margin of error is slim. Let me know how it goes.

 

[snepdiver]

Please be careful playing with this in shallow ranges. It's really best to learn and practice in the 30 to 60 foot range. The change in buoyancy with respect to depth is much greater in shallow water and thus the margin of error is slim. Let me know how it goes.

Excellent point. I had not thought about that. Max depth would only be 15ft. I agree with you and will wait until I can get in deeper water. I need a quarry dive this or next weekend anyway. Thanks for your input.