Safety stop body position

[mikeawags]

I like to do my safety stops inverted... Just to keep my buddies guessing.

But seriously, I prefer when divers stay horizontal during safety stops. You can get more divers in the 12'- 18' area horizontally, rather than just two divers hogging the line between 12' and 20'.

Sent during my 10' deco stop

 

[xyrandomyx]

I did a lovely dive a few years back, off a dive boat in Maui that had attracted a bunch of experienced divers. Several dove solo, more or less; they felt their proximity to the group was enough. One spent most of a drift dive in the Buddha position. I had no issues with that. I wouldn't do it, because to be honest, I wouldn't be comfortable in that position. But she was stable, quiet, and comfortable, and that's good diving in my book.

Vertical on ascent has other issues, having to do with neutral buoyancy and finning, and task loading . . . The hovering position while diving need to protect the environment, and render the diver stable and able to move where they want or need to be. I'm happy with horizontal -- but if you are diving solo, in a current and drfiting, vertical is just fine.

Can you or someone else expand a little on the issues with being vertical on ascent? That's how I was taught to ascend (when going straight up the water column): vent my BC to keep slightly negative, finning up slowly-slowly in a vertical position while checking my computer/ depth gauge and bubbles to make sure I'm not going too fast. And how do you go about making a horizontal ascent? Fin upwards? Can you go directly up without going forwards at the same time?

 

[JamesK]

Can you or someone else expand a little on the issues with being vertical on ascent? That's how I was taught to ascend (when going straight up the water column): vent my BC to keep slightly negative, finning up slowly-slowly in a vertical position while checking my computer/ depth gauge and bubbles to make sure I'm not going too fast. And how do you go about making a horizontal ascent? Fin upwards? Can you go directly up without going forwards at the same time?

Most people are taught that in OW because it is easy to do, and the instructors sometimes can't do any better.

Doing a horizontal ascent is easy to do. You need to have good buoyancy, and that is why most do not teach it. They don't want to take the effort to get their students in good trim and neutrally buoyant. You simply inhale until you start to rise. No kicking involved. Once you start to rise you monitor the air in your BC and dump as necessary.

 

[xyrandomyx]

Most people are taught that in OW because it is easy to do, and the instructors sometimes can't do any better.

Doing a horizontal ascent is easy to do. You need to have good buoyancy, and that is why most do not teach it. They don't want to take the effort to get their students in good trim and neutrally buoyant. You simply inhale until you start to rise. No kicking involved. Once you start to rise you monitor the air in your BC and dump as necessary.

OK, so, breathe my way up, no finning. I'll give that a try (should just be my usual descent procedure in reverse, right?). The only downside I can think of, off the top of my head, is that it'd be less convenient to look up (which is useful for avoiding other divers and the occasional boat). Well, OK, the possibility of an uncontrolled ascent, but if I'm neutral, I should be ascending very little with each breath.

 

[nimoh]

Can you or someone else expand a little on the issues with being vertical on ascent? That's how I was taught to ascend (when going straight up the water column): vent my BC to keep slightly negative, finning up slowly-slowly in a vertical position while checking my computer/ depth gauge and bubbles to make sure I'm not going too fast. And how do you go about making a horizontal ascent? Fin upwards? Can you go directly up without going forwards at the same time?

To ascend horizontally from depth, you basically start out horizontal and neutral, and take a slightly deeper breath to initiate the ascent (being careful not to hold a deep breath while ascending). This makes you slightly positive, and every few feet you will need to vent your BC (and drysuit) to maintain neutral buoyancy. It is probably easier to stop at regular intervals, such as every 10 feet beginning at half your max depth, and ensuring that you are neutral before proceeding to ascend.

I wouldn't recommend going and trying this on your next dive unless you have an experienced buddy or instructor around that can stop you from making an uncontrolled ascent, if it doesn't work out for you on your first few tries.

 

[TSandM]

Can you or someone else expand a little on the issues with being vertical on ascent? That's how I was taught to ascend (when going straight up the water column): vent my BC to keep slightly negative, finning up slowly-slowly in a vertical position while checking my computer/ depth gauge and bubbles to make sure I'm not going too fast. And how do you go about making a horizontal ascent? Fin upwards? Can you go directly up without going forwards at the same time?

There are several issues I have with vertical ascents. One is equipment specific -- a vertical ascent in a dry suit is not ideal, because the suit will vent all its air, and you will therefore be squeezed and cold at the end of the dive, when you especially don't want to be. Another is that it is more difficult to correct drifting, off the line or away from your buddy, because you have to change positions to move forward. But the big one for me is that, if you are ascending vertical and negative, you are constantly having to balance your tendency to sink with the proper amount of finning, which will always be changing. If you get distracted by anything -- an interesting animal, getting a hose caught in your camera, something your buddy is trying to say to you -- you are highly likely to lose the precise match between buoyancy and kicking, and move off depth, either up or down. If you are doing the ascent neutral and horizontal, then all you have to control is your breathing, and although it takes time to learn to do that, it can become quite unconscious, because it is always the same.

If you are doing a horizontal/neutral ascent, when you want to rise, you simply change your breathing pattern to keep your lungs fuller. As you begin to rise, you exhale; if you stop, you inhale again and do some more rising, and if you don't, you vent air from your BC or dry suit. It takes a little practice, but eventually, you have very good control of your ascent, and can stop wherever you want for as long as you want, and even do stuff like take pictures, without yo-yoing off your stop depth.

 

[xyrandomyx]

There are several issues I have with vertical ascents. One is equipment specific -- a vertical ascent in a dry suit is not ideal, because the suit will vent all its air, and you will therefore be squeezed and cold at the end of the dive, when you especially don't want to be. Another is that it is more difficult to correct drifting, off the line or away from your buddy, because you have to change positions to move forward. But the big one for me is that, if you are ascending vertical and negative, you are constantly having to balance your tendency to sink with the proper amount of finning, which will always be changing. If you get distracted by anything -- an interesting animal, getting a hose caught in your camera, something your buddy is trying to say to you -- you are highly likely to lose the precise match between buoyancy and kicking, and move off depth, either up or down. If you are doing the ascent neutral and horizontal, then all you have to control is your breathing, and although it takes time to learn to do that, it can become quite unconscious, because it is always the same.

If you are doing a horizontal/neutral ascent, when you want to rise, you simply change your breathing pattern to keep your lungs fuller. As you begin to rise, you exhale; if you stop, you inhale again and do some more rising, and if you don't, you vent air from your BC or dry suit. It takes a little practice, but eventually, you have very good control of your ascent, and can stop wherever you want for as long as you want, and even do stuff like take pictures, without yo-yoing off your stop depth.

OK, thanks. I can't say I've ever really thought of getting the right amount of finning as particularly hard, but, that said, I've also never been significantly distracted on an ascent. I do always try to keep myself only slightly negative so as not to start sinking quickly if I stop finning for one or another reason. I'll try this horizontal technique out soon. I'll take nimoh's advice and do it on my next dive with an instructor, chat to him about it beforehand.

 

[Thalassamania]

There are several issues I have with vertical ascents. One is equipment specific -- a vertical ascent in a dry suit is not ideal, because the suit will vent all its air, and you will therefore be squeezed and cold at the end of the dive, when you especially don't want to be. Another is that it is more difficult to correct drifting, off the line or away from your buddy, because you have to change positions to move forward. But the big one for me is that, if you are ascending vertical and negative, you are constantly having to balance your tendency to sink with the proper amount of finning, which will always be changing. If you get distracted by anything -- an interesting animal, getting a hose caught in your camera, something your buddy is trying to say to you -- you are highly likely to lose the precise match between buoyancy and kicking, and move off depth, either up or down. If you are doing the ascent neutral and horizontal, then all you have to control is your breathing, and although it takes time to learn to do that, it can become quite unconscious, because it is always the same.

A vertical ascent in a dry suit should not be a big deal, but it does require that you flip to the vertical and adjust your shoulder valve so that it ever-so-gently bubbles. With that setting you should maintain constant suit buoyancy all the way to the surface. If you need significant decompression, flipping back to horizontal for warmth or comfort is not difficult. I agree that a mismatch between finning and buoyancy when combined with distractions (sometime I'll tell you about one of my first Arctic ocean blue-water dives where just that phenomena placed me in somewhat deeper water than I had intended). This has caused some of my friends to favor wrist valves and me to use the BC siphon we previously discussed, so that vertical ascents are solely controlled by buoyancy.

If you are doing a horizontal/neutral ascent, when you want to rise, you simply change your breathing pattern to keep your lungs fuller. As you begin to rise, you exhale; if you stop, you inhale again and do some more rising, and if you don't, you vent air from your BC or dry suit. It takes a little practice, but eventually, you have very good control of your ascent, and can stop wherever you want for as long as you want, and even do stuff like take pictures, without yo-yoing off your stop depth.

Moving the mid-point of your breathing cycle in an excellent skill to develop, but it is to a degree dependent on the volume of you lungs and how comfortable you are operating down in the lower range of your lung volume. I did have a diving physician warn me that air trapping and embolism could result from working too far down in the lower range.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

OK, so, breathe my way up, no finning. I'll give that a try (should just be my usual descent procedure in reverse, right?). The only downside I can think of, off the top of my head, is that it'd be less convenient to look up (which is useful for avoiding other divers and the occasional boat). Well, OK, the possibility of an uncontrolled ascent, but if I'm neutral, I should be ascending very little with each breath.

That is correct. I always taught my students to try to be slightly negative and ever so gently kick up. As you get better at it, you can play games and try to kick less and less until your ascent is by breath control only. Of course, by definition, this is a buoyant ascent and might not be consistent with some "standards".

In general, you are less likely to ascend too fast if you stay on the negative side of neutral.

This type of breath control ascent is done while ever so slightly buoyant regardless of your body position (horizontal or vertical)....

One big benefit of a horizontal ascent is DRAG. If you screw up and get too buoyant or too negative, the horizontal position will slow your vertical speed. That is a clear benefit.

I think it is important to NOT perform the final portion of the ascent horizontal.. say the last 8 feet, because you can not see surface hazards. In the old days were were taught to hold an outstretched hand over the head and rotate slowly for the final few feet while swimming up. This is definitely safer if there are boats where you are diving.

I prefer to ascend in the vertical position, it is easier for me.. more comfortable and I can see the water column better and scan for sharks much easier than laying face down in the water column.

 

[Scott L]

I do my safety stop with my body horizontal BUT face up so that I can see what's going on at the surface.

Why does that not surprise me...