Short people problems/hacks

[aquacat8]

Did you buy that freedom plate? I tried but it was gone! If so it’s ok you saved me from spending money I shouldn’t and congrats to you! By the way your monoprene Deep Six fins are neutral in FRESH water, that means slightly positive in salt. They are great fins though, so if you continue to have light feet you can try buckling an ankle weight to the rear D ring creating a tail weight... I did that before I got my jet fins. Also, if you got it, you may find the pear shape of the freedom plate completely solves your problem. Another reason it appeals.

 

[laevimanus]

Did you buy that freedom plate? I tried but it was gone! If so it’s ok you saved me from spending money I shouldn’t and congrats to you! By the way your monoprene Deep Six fins are neutral in FRESH water, that means slightly positive in salt. They are great fins though, so if you continue to have light feet you can try buckling an ankle weight to the rear D ring creating a tail weight... I did that before I got my jet fins. Also, if you got it, you may find the pear shape of the freedom plate completely solves your problem. Another reason it appeals.

Ha, that wasn't me! I haven't pulled the trigger yet on any gear purchases. I'm super leery of buying the wrong thing.

I've been diving fresh water so far, but am going to do at least two cold water ocean dives later this year -- Catalina and Puget Sound -- so I'll see how the Deep Sixes perform.

 

[Storker]

I have been trying to practice this but when I do, I get a strange sensation like I'm going to tip forward. Not rational I'm sure, but I think I need to do one thing at a time--get my weighting right first, then work on propulsion.

You can also practice breaststroke in the pool. The frog kick isn't dramatically different from a breaststroke kick, so breaststroke practice might possibly make you more familiar with the leg movement.

When I learned to swim, I learned breaststroke which is the normal swimming style in my part of the world. Crawl, which as far as I understand is what you 'murricans learn as kids, is usually only taught if you join a competition swimming club over here. So switching from flutter to frog came really naturally to me.

 

[scubadada]

You can also practice breaststroke in the pool. The frog kick isn't dramatically different from a breaststroke kick, so breaststroke practice might possibly make you more familiar with the leg movement.

When I learned to swim, I learned breaststroke which is the normal swimming style in my part of the world. Crawl, which as far as I understand is what you 'murricans learn as kids, is usually only taught if you join a competition swimming club over here. So switching from flutter to frog came really naturally to me.

Us "murricans" learn freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, (and sidestroke) if you take lessons for a while, many of us do. Of course many of us have a longer, particularly, outdoor, swimming season You are absolutely correct, being able to swim breaststroke makes frog kick while diving very easy, effortless.

 

[Storker]

Us "murricans" learn freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, (and sidestroke) if you take lessons for a while, many of us do. Of course many of us have a longer, particularly, outdoor, swimming season

In (public) school? That's amazingly comprehensive. Over here, the schools are happy if they manage to teach the kids to avoid drowning and hopefully being able to swim a little. And since breaststroke is the normal way to swim here, that's what's taught. If you want your kids to to learn backstroke, butterfly or crawl, you'd better buy them a membership in a swimming club.

Of course, there are always some parents who go the extra mile and teach their children themselves.

 

[laevimanus]

You can also practice breaststroke in the pool. The frog kick isn't dramatically different from a breaststroke kick, so breaststroke practice might possibly make you more familiar with the leg movement.

When I learned to swim, I learned breaststroke which is the normal swimming style in my part of the world. Crawl, which as far as I understand is what you 'murricans learn as kids, is usually only taught if you join a competition swimming club over here. So switching from flutter to frog came really naturally to me.

The funny thing is, I can do breaststroke perfectly fine when swimming laps. I can also frog kick like that on my back. But when diving, I'm gonna blame the gear: with all this stuff on me, especially in cold water, I feel really unstable underwater. I don't have this feeling swimming or snorkeling. Underwater, I feel like I'm tipping forward, backward, and side to side, and this causes anxiety, which doesn't help matters.

 

[Storker]

when diving, I'm gonna blame the gear: with all this stuff on me, especially in cold water, I feel really unstable underwater. I don't have this feeling swimming or snorkeling. Underwater, I feel like I'm tipping forward, backward, and side to side, and this causes anxiety, which doesn't help matters.

I'm pretty certain that you'll improve when you've had some more dives in full gear. Yes, that gear is unfamiliar and puts one off one's balance.

 

[Outbound]

You can try changing your arm positioning. With a 7mm suit on you should have pretty floaty arms. Positioning them sort of like a relaxed "Superman" pose or like a skydiver does might help give your arms some buoyancy further out from the fulcrum that is your center of gravity, thereby helping to tip your feet back down. The first time I tried diving in a drysuit, which is much more buoyant than the 3mm one I was used to, I felt like I kept tipping down too. Part of that was just getting used to what being in actual trim felt like, but part of it had to do with learning to adjust arm positioning. Now, when drysuit diving, I frog kick along like I'm kinda skydiving but with my hands close together so as to be a bit more streamlined.

 

[laevimanus]

@Outbound yes, I've been trying to practice better arm discipline. My arms want to go to my sides, which is my snorkel position, or else start sculling when I feel tippy.

 

[Fruitographer]

You should be able to take care of your own equipment unless there's a disability that prevents you from doing so. There was a little person on one of the earlier seasons of The Amazing Race and she was more capable than anyone else on the show. She was dong stuff most average sized people were whining about and couldn't do. I have no problem helping someone with a medical issue but I will not help a woman just because she's a woman. If she can't do it but still tries to take care of it on her own first, then I would have no problem helping but that goes for men and women. This is why it was so hard for women to get into the infantry but now we've had woman graduate Ranger School. It makes it hard for some men to treat women equally if they're so willing to hand something off to a man just because. I apologize for the rant, it's just a pet peeve of mine that as a man I'm supposed to do more work for a woman just because she doesn't want to or it's a little difficult. I respect women and have a great appreciation for all women who step up and are able to take care of their own responsibilities. I personally have a failed spinal fusion with broken screws that move in my back with two vertebrate out of place and three degenerative discs all outside the fusion. If I can find ways to take care of my own gear then a woman should be able to as well. Please keep in mind that I'm not talking about women as whole and I've seen some women more capable than most men I know, my sister and wife are are included and are both 4'11".

You can try to learn how to frog kick just while swimming with only a pair of fins and mask on for gear.

Weighting makes a huge difference and for me even two pounds overweight made it more difficult to control my buoyancy. Check your weight with the tank at 500psi since it will be at it's lightest at that point and the end of the dive. Other wise you may end up to light and when you try to do your safety stop at ten feet you won't have enough weight to stay submerged and end up at the surface. So with a tank at 500PSI get in the water and take weight out until you float with the water line at about your nose while holding a breathe in and when you let it out with a remaining 20% in you're lungs you should start to slowly go under water. Each tank is different so do this with different types of tanks to know what weight you need for each one. An Al80 requires a different amount of weight than a HP80.

Scuba Pro's Jet fins will add some weight to your feet and help, plus they're really nice fins to use.

For most tanks it's not something to worry about exploding. They have burst discs and get hydro tested for a reason. It's the tanks that are not taken care of with corrosion and rust inside or being overfilled that could be a problem. These will be condemned during hydro test and you need to watch out for a tank that's been condemned but somebody didn't want to adhere by it and used it anyway. If some one at a dive shop isn't paying attention or doesn't know what they're doing and fills it anyway that could be a possible failure. the best thing to do is get your own tanks and have the visual inspection done each year by someone who is competent and has high standards for what is acceptable. I had a tank hydro tested and it still rust some flash rust and a few pits here and there. Then I moved and became friends with a hydro tester that checked it and was amazed they didn't clean it. My buddy does all the hydro testing for tanks in my area and he is very informative which has helped me learn a lot albeit still not very much at this point. One of the best thing to get over your fear of an exploding tank would be to get certified as a visual inspector where you could inspect your own tanks and know what to look for.