Survival Floating-Need Advice

[Finnatic]

I am hoping an Instructor(s) from the board can help with this. The situation is that in my OW class there is one girl who so far (3 attempts) was not able to pass the survival float (15 min) portion of our swim test. She swam the 9 laps (with mask, fins, snorkel), treaded water and has had no problem with the scuba gear underwater (our first exposure to this). The instructor has worked with her, but only in class while the rest of us "play" for the last 15 min of class. She is coming to my home today ( I have a pool) so that she can practice doing this and hopefully pass this test on our next class which is Tuesday. Has anyone had a problem with this and what did you do to overcome it? I haven't been able to observe the mechanics of why she was unable to do this as I was concentrating on practicing my own skills. BTW the survival floating is done w/o any gear on. Any tips to help us would be greatly appreciated. I am an excellent swimmer and was lifeguard certified (although many years ago...won't say how many!) so this skill comes rather natural to me and perhaps I can help.

~C

 

[Walter]

Do her a favor and possibly save her life down the road - send her to a professional to learn to swim. If she can't swim 200 - 300 yards without mask, snorkel and fins, she won't have the confidence in her abilities to handle problems that may arise when she's diving on her own. Without that confidence in herself, she's more likely to panic. Panic kills divers. She's not ready to learn to dive. After she learns to swim is the time for her to take dive lessons.

Good luck to her,

Walter

 

[Finnatic]

Geesh! The thought never occurred to me that she can't swim! But we weren't required to swim w/o mask, fins and snorkel so I don't actually know at this point if she can swim. I just assumed that anyone signing up for a scuba class would at least know how to swim. That would be like learning to walk before you can crawl (no pun intended !) But then again, even a non swimmer or poor swimmer should be able to learn to survival float, right? I do agree that if she can't swim she should take a swim class though. I guess I'll find out today.

Btw Walter it's nice to know I'm not the only insomniac on the board, lol.

~C

 

[Finnatic]

We had our pool session and I found out that while she did have some swimming lessons when she was a child, she is now a poor swimmer as an adult. She did make some progress today though and was able to survival float for 6 min. I think she is much more comfortable. She only needs to float for 10 min ( not the 15 that I originally posted). She is coming back tomorrow and we will give it another try.

 

[Bob3]

Arch the back as much as possible, arms back over the head. She should inhale as deeply as possible & hold it. Exhale quickly followed by rapid inhale.

Walter is 1000% correct, by the way.
Scuba divers need to be comfortable & relaxed in the water, something a non-swimmer isn't.

I know some old hardhat divers that can't swim, but they're walking on the bottom.

 

[Finnatic]

This type of survival floating is done face down in the water...I think you are talking about floating on your back? Anyway, another problem is that she hates putting her face in the water and keeps her eyes closed the whole time. With a mask she has no problem. We'll see how it goes today...

~C

 

[Walter]

There's a difference between insomnia and getting up early for a dive. We counted 14 Jewfish on one dive.

Survival floating is pretty easy. Most want to move too fast and raise their hears too far to get a breath. Relax, exhale slowly, then lift your head just far enough to breathe in through your mouth. After your breath, drop your head back down and relax.

If she hates putting her face in the water, she has no business diving until she gets over that. Swimming lessons will help with that.

 

[jbd]

with Walters comments in reference to her having a problem with putting her face in the water. She really needs to address this before becoming a diver IMO.

 

[Bob3]

This type of survival floating is done face down in the water

The floating on the back technique works better than the face down variety; having the arms up behind/over the head expands the chest to maximum tidal capacity., giving maximum attainable bouyancy.
This position would even allow most "sinkers" to rack up their mandatory 15 minute motionless survival float.
If floating face down, the head should be turned rather than lifted clear of the water. Your noggin weighs in at about 6 - 8 lbs & it's that much extra weight pushing the body down in the water, an undesireable event.

The "face in the water" practice is the first thing covered in basic swimming classes.
Your friend REALLY NEEDS to be taking swimming classes. A simple thing like a flooded mask could have the potential to turn into a catastrophic situation.
I hope we've stressed the point enough.

 

[Jetwrench]

I must agree with the others. She needs to learn to be comfortable in the water before she continues. Not liking the feeling of having her face in the water without a mask on has potential for disaster.
Maybe this might help. In a shallow area of your pool, have her practice putting her face in the water. Being able to stand up at any time may help her feel a sense of security(short term). Many on this board have described a like technique to help learn mask flooding/clearing or breathing from a reg for students having trouble with those skills. A slow progression from eyes closed, then increasing time, then eyes open, then increasing time. Use a snorkle for this if it helps, and then gradually take it out of the picture. Time and patience will be key. Progress at HER pace with plenty of encouragement and there will be a marked improvement. Graduate to deeper water a little at a time, use the pool side or a flotation device as neccessary in the beginning, and eventually she will get the hang of it.
When I was teaching kids to swim(water safety instructor), I would place objects on the bottom(easily identiified objects) and ask them to tell me what was down there. It took their focus off their situation and, after a while, I could not stop them from diving down to bring them up. It proved to be a GREAT tool! It works on adults too.
Sorry for the long post, but I thought it could help. And nothing, this skill included, can replace an "acceptable" level of swimming skills for student divers. She needs to learn more before she continues with dive training.
My 2 cents. Hope it can help.

Jetwrench