Struggling in midwater

[TSandM]

Thanks, Doc. That goes along with something I noticed last night, which was that, when I was doing best (just hanging) I was really stretched out and flat. Hadn't thought of a causal relationship, though.

 

[Peter Guy]

Hmmmmm -- (Too) Many years ago when I was learning to fly on Instruments I was forced to rely only on the instruments to keep the plane going the way I wanted -- up, down, level and/or turning. You very quickly learned you could NOT rely on your ears, your butt -- anything except the instruments.

What you are writing about with mid-water orientation is "swimming on instruments" because you really can't trust your natural senses. In flying IFR you are taught to always scan -- altitude, attitude, speed, direction -- altitude, attitude, speed, direction -- and so on. I suppose it is the same here -- get a "scan" and keep it -- buddy, depth, task, direction -- buddy, depth, task, direction and so on. And when you were thrown a new task (radio call, approach plate, calculating fuel, whatever) you had to be VERY careful about fixating on the new task -- everything had to be slowed down.

Simple to write -- hellishly hard to do -- BUT, as with flying, if you fixate on one, the others go to h*ll very quickly.

 

[Cacia]

just adjusting my breathing.

that's mostly it. Inhale deeper...shallow...exhale more...less, etc and being pro-active before the change, in anticipation.

The other thing, which might be hard for me to say..is I hook my fins into the water collumn horizontally...just like your "perfect trim" looks, then I apply more resistance to one fin or the other, from my core. It is probably imperceptable, like thigh/seat pressure for a horse?

Having my Suunto out front(depth), visible, as I work with the spool (I use my inflator, because I went a long time before I knew I could orally inflate the Halcyon style!) Practice without looking, by feel, the same way every time. Watch the gauge and not what you are doing.

I think you all are in an entirely different game with dry suits and all that weight, but diving with the bc inflator disconnected in a 3 mil and making yourself use your lungs only is extremely helpful. (you should give it a try in Maui, as an experiment)

Poor viz almost gives me a vertigo...and by that I mean 40 ft! Totally off my game when the viz is poor. Not because I cannot see a specific item, but because it makes me feel sorta drunk, sloppy.

Good bouyancy, IMO, is from the core. Relaxed everywhere, so you can feel your fulcrum and center of gravity and make the slightest adjustments in resistance, as well as lung volume.

"The support, or point of rest, on which a lever turns in moving a body" Find that place and "feel" where it is, know it intuitively. Changing weights around, changes where it is. Think of yourself as a perfectly weight -distributed BMW--if you saw those ads on handling characteristics of a great automobile.

When you are stretched out and flat, you are working with the added resistance in the water column which is a stabilizing force. You can hang on one fin versus the other and never move position.

 

[TeddyDiver]

For a midwater stop just a spit (preferrably nasal) gives a ref

 

[grazie42]

What I did, after clearing my stop(s), was to close my eyes and try to maintain depth.
At first it would just be a blink, look at gauges, blink again...
Every dive I tried to extend my "blink" for a bit longer...
I am one of those who can feel small pressure changes in my ears but closing my eyes made me much more aware of other "cues" as well like how tight my DS is, the resistance "on" my fins etc..."fear" really hightens your senses...
I´m now at a point where I feel comfortable doing decostops with my eyes closed (though I rarely do so because it´s not fair to my buddy)...

When I need to shoot an SMB, donate air or whatever I just make sure that my "primary awareness" is on bouyancy...because I know how I´m "supposed" to feel I can devote more attention to other tasks than bouyancy...

I don´t think my "method" is a "quick fix" it took me a fair amount of time in the water to get to the point where I´m as comfortable as I am now but it was worth the effort for me...

 

[gcbryan]

The above post more or less beat me to the punch so to speak but that is to close your eyes for a few seconds.

If you can maintain your buoyancy in mid-water with limited viz when you aren't task loaded then establish that first and before completing the task and at about the time you feel that you are not maintaining buoyancy close your eyes.

It's really just a way to relax or calm yourself down and then your old (good) habits take over. I've done this on occassion anytime something stressing or overloading has taken place underwater and you need to really have your wits about you.

If it's night, your light goes out while viz is near zero and you are over a 300 foot wall and a harbor seal swims by knocking your mask off...shut your eyes for a second, regain your composure, and then go about taking care of the problem step by step.

 

[ClayJar]

"Swimming on instruments" is a great description. I'm not a pilot (and no Holiday Inn jokes here), but I'm at least familiar with the concepts (I like to learn things, even if I'll never use them).

I need to practice some more midwater stuff. When I've worked on it before, I worked it by forcing myself to do it in "baby steps", setting up a scan: depth gauge, stuff-in-the-water, buddy, task. If I got too loaded, I skipped steps starting at the end (i.e. pause the task first), which seemed to work well for maintaining a depth and proceeding safely with the task. (Of course, I'm still a newbie at swimming on instruments.)

 

[tedj01]

All of the above are good suggestions, Let's say a buddy team is going to a task in mid water say shooting a bag.

1. Do it the buddy method (plan before hand) and decide roles. Say Buddy1 will shoot bag - buddy2 will maintain depth.

2. Do task in a head to head orientation and get comfortable at planned depth.

3. Communicate start of task and readiness.

4. Buddy1 will begin task.

5. Buddy2 will monitor buddy teams depth and communicate if prearranged depth delta differs (acceptable change in depth +/- 5 feet -I chose 5 feet to start practicing) - should do this with a depth guage. Buddy2 is also is a easy visual reference for buddy1 since he is in front of buddy1 (buddy2 could also monitor breathing changes for the team and slow down task if necessary to prevent depth changes)

6. Go to step 1 and repeat until task completed

Hey its a buddy and team share the work.

 

[lazyturtle]

Try practicing near the bottom with your eyes closed.
Or try while looking at your depth gauge (assuming the surface is calm where you're practicing).
Or try while looking at the surface (be careful with this if you're prone to motion sickness.
Once you've mastered those three (especially the first or last) you'll be pretty good at staying still. The aforementioned 'ear/depth' relationship is good as well.

 

[Hank49]

well, i don't know how helpful this is

but when i am doing safety stops, i will hold hands in front of me and look at my hands and the depth gauge/computer. i can keep myself one foot up or one foot down from my target depth that way indefinetly

and if i am doing something, i will "scan" my depth on every third or fourth beat:

do something, do something, do something, look at depth, do something, do something do somethig do something, look at depth ,etc.

not sure if this is a good or bad habit, but works for me

I think I understand what the question is....and if I do, this (Andy's suggestion) is the only way to be sure with no visual reference. You can get very good at being stable and not changing depth but to be safe...on a deco stop....you must check to be sure often.