Teaching nothing

[MichaelMc]

Imagine dancing with someone at an ice or roller rink in two scenarios:

A) You and they are constantly flailing about and unsteady on your feet. Arms, hips and upper body are moving all about just to stand up or to move in roughly some desired direction.

B) You and they are smooth on your feet: still when you stand, stable when you move across the rink, and able to link arms smoothly without battering each other with flailing arms and bodies.

Which seems more enjoyable? Which will you stay on the rink longer with?

Being able to do nothing - stand still, or move in a simple smooth line with a still body - makes a huge difference. You are then able to consciously add other things.

Imagine teaching someone to skate without teaching them to stand still, to move in a simple line smoothly and to start and stop smoothly. Would you?

 

[Vicko]

If you are even close to properly weighted and have your centre of gravity just above your hips (you know, where 90% of divers on the divers keep their weights) you can stand in pretty much any trim and not have to swim. Horizontal, vertical, 3 o'clock, upside down, inside out.
A twist of the ankle, wiggle your hand, moveing the diaphragm helps to correct any slight disbalance.
It allows you to look at stuff in front of you without bending your neck, to look at critters bellow you with having your fins ABOVE your head, not on the bottom and to search for pelagics that never come, or that dang buddy that keeps swimming just above and behind you.
Staying in proper dir trim does all of that too, just less comfortable and with more gear encumbrance which I don't want my students to have to figure out during their first 15 dives ever.
Being relaxed is the thing that prevents accidents and reduces sac, not looking good on camera.

 

[NothingClever]

I think we’re missing the spirit of the original post.

 

[MichaelMc]

I'm fairly certain 'in trim' here is short hand for 'balanced weight distribution'. That is center of mass close to center of volume. From that, you can hold any orientation in the water.

Being vertical makes moving 20' forward a two step process: get the legs up in line with the body, then kick.

Being horizontal makes it a one step process: kick.

Being able to be quiet in the water is a solid foundation for moving or looking at things.

 

[100days-a-year]

I'd fail them if they couldn't drop stages and recover them while upside down motionless and horizontal in 160'/50M on air in the ocean.

 

[tursiops]

If they are head heavy, their feet drop

??

 

[Lorenzoid]

I'm fairly certain 'in trim' here is short hand for 'balanced weight distribution'. That is center of mass close to center of volume. From that, you can hold any orientation in the water.

I have always (perhaps incorrectly) interpreted the term "trim" as broadly referring to the position with respect to the pitch axis (the other axes being roll and yaw) that a diver maintains. So, one could speak of being in "horizontal trim" as one orientation within a range of possible trim orientations. I might say something like "my trim is 10 degrees out of horizontal." I know others use the term "in trim" to mean "in horizontal trim."

 

[MichaelMc]

I have always (perhaps incorrectly) interpreted the term "trim" as broadly referring to the position with respect to the pitch axis (the other axes being roll and yaw) that a diver maintains. So, one could speak of being in "horizontal trim" as one orientation within a range of possible trim orientations. I might say something like "my trim is 10 degrees out of horizontal." I know others use the term "in trim" to mean "in horizontal trim."

I agree trim is often used to mean orientation, "In horizontal trim".

But it also means trim "tanks" say on a submarine to shift ballast distribution, which are used to achieve up or down bow angle. (some submariners can step in to correct me, a sub may have few reasons to be out of a horizontal orientation when not moving, and not last long with an unbalanced weight distribution.)

We talk about trim weights, which could not be about orientation, as our orientation is momentary. However, our weight distribution varies less over time. It stays within a fairly narrow range. The trim weights shift where that range is. So trim here seems to be about distribution.

An issue when saying just "trim" is avoiding an unnecessary fight about level perfect horizontal orientation at all times, which is rarely or never meant, though some love starting it.

When saying "learning buoyancy and trim" we typically do NOT mean horizontal orientation at all times. We likely mean:
1) ballast trimmed out so that mass and volume have the same center
2) likely horizontal orientation(/trim) much of the time as that works best for kicking to move about (moving horizontally...). But other orientations for other things, like looking under ledges, swimming up/down a slope, etc. All made much easier with the ballast trimmed/distributed well.

"Learning, and setting up for, a balanced weight distribution" is more precise as the basis for then being able to pick the best suited orientation for the moment, but is a bit longer.

All letting you be still in the water with little effort.

 

[RyanT]

Staying motionless in trim is a useless skill at open water level.

I disagree. Once you go perfectly motionless, anything out of trim reveals itself with the rolling/tilting motion. It quickly shows the students where their trim problems are, even if it's small. It's natural to make small corrective gestures (to maintain trim) without realizing it. Over the course of a dive, all that little sculling, twisting, arching motion, etc. adds up to a lot of additional muscle work. Being able to diagnose trim issues early on, just make everything else better.

Interestingly, I'm rarely in that perfect trim. I commonly switch between a couple of different tech rigs (different doubles and 1 or 2 deco bottles), and single tank diving. That switching usually means I don't end up with one rig that is perfectly dialed in. I don't mind and I naturally compensate without even thinking about it. For new OW divers, however, getting them in perfect trim is an exceptional way to make diving even easier and more fun! And it teaches them how to really evaluate themselves as they progress through different dives and configurations in their career. It took me a long time to figure this out, why not train them on this from the beginning?

 

[Lorenzoid]

For new OW divers, however, getting them in perfect trim is an exceptional way to make diving even easier and more fun! And it teaches them how to really evaluate themselves as they progress through different dives and configurations in their career. It took me a long time to figure this out, why not train them on this from the beginning?

I think I agree. You can't entirely separate being in horizontal trim from the skill of learning to be completely still. Before undertaking to learn how to stay really still by attempting to hover in one spot above the bottom, you need to balance yourself in horizontal trim, and that may mean using trim weights, or positioning one's arms and legs properly, etc.