Safety stop tips, please.

[voop]

Someone on this board has a signature which goes something like this: "the best answer to any problem is to go out and dive it". In this case, it's very much the truth. The fact that you are thinking about this, as well as asking questions/gathering tips and tricks should ensure that with experience, it'll come together for you Have fun

 

[kalvyn]

Post an image of a typical stop.

Here's one I did with Bob last weekend at Hood Canal, using the "looking at the organisms" technique:

 

[Uncle Pug]

Lookin' good Jimmie.

 

[alemaozinho]

weigh yourself properly and trim yourself so that you,re ot bouncing around,dont breathe on top of your lungs and put attention to your ears ,clicking in your ears and you ascent ,put attention to it ! If you are moving too much up and down then you,re propably too heavy and therefore have too much air in your bcd and the result is that you keep in and deflating.At last your tank,remember that if you use an aluminum tank,you,ll have to compensate for the added buoyancy the tank has when emty,practice, practice, practice in shallow water until mastery.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Here's one I did with Bob last weekend at Hood Canal, using the "looking at the organisms" technique:

'Course ... for a while I wasn't looking at anything, seein's how my mask was in my hand.

Never thought I'd see myself intentionally removing a perfectly functional mask underwater ... but lately I've set a goal of working my way up to Uncle Pug's "just close your eyes and relax" standard of buoyancy control.

For the new divers out there ... mask removal is good buoyancy control practice, that you'll not "outgrow" as your skills improve. But if you want to practice skills like this, remember to use your buddy as a "safety diver" by having them lightly grasp your elbow or forearm when you're practicing mask removal ... one squeeze if you're starting to go up, two squeezes if you're starting to go down. Eventually you'll start to develop a "feel" for changes in depth. That's the skill you're striving for.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[DBailey]

At last your tank,remember that if you use an aluminum tank,you,ll have to compensate for the added buoyancy the tank has when emty.

Ummm, I don't understand this.

With an aluminum tank, the tank starts off negatively buoyant. As you breath the air, it gets lighter and eventually becomes postively buoyant.

With a steel tank, the tank starts off negatively buoyant. As you breath the air, the tank still gets lighter and ends up still negatively buoyant, but not AS negatively buoyant.

Don't you still have to compensate for the loss of air in a steel tank too?

 

[rab]

Yup! In Salt water with my steel E8-119 and *no* exposure suit, I don't use any weight, but with my 5/3 full, I need 10-12# (probably 10, but didn't have the weights to make that combination, so I used 12). I found out on my 2nd salt water dive (on the same tank as the first) that my 7# wasn't quite enough (with the 5/3 wetsuit).

Your bouyancy is changing by 6-8lb (depending on the air you carry) regardless of the material the cylinder is made from.

-Rob

 

[BobRussell]

Get horizontal and pull up your weighbelt 3 inches.