Tips for buoyancy control

[Divingblueberry]

Hello everyone !

As a newbie (I did my certification dives last week-end), I read a fair amount of posts and articles on buoyancy and its importance. So I called the dive shop and spent time in the pool this week to practice. I am planning to do the same every week until I leave for Cozumel at the end of July.

I am wondering if there are exercises I can do to improve my buoyancy control. I came up with few things by myself in the pool, but was curious to see if more experienced divers and instructors here can give me few exercices or tips.

Thanks very much in advance.

(P.S : sorry for my broken English).

 

[cneal]

Probably the most useful certiification for a new diver is Peak Performance Bouyancy. I found it best to do a few dives after Open Water to correct problems before they became habits. Take the two dive course and make sure you have time for a detailed debrief after the dives.

 

[tursiops]

Probably the most useful certiification for a new diver is Peak Performance Bouyancy. I found it best to do a few dives after Open Water to correct problems before they became habits. Take the two dive course and make sure you have time for a detailed debrief after the dives.

Agreed. A good instructor can help you. If you try and do it yourself, you don 't know what you don't know, you can't see yourself, and you can easily end up missing the important points and reinforcing some bad habits.

 

[caruso]

If you have full access to a pool and you want a really good exercise that helps improve buoyancy, get yourself a bunch of pvc pipe and connectors and build structures underwater, say starting with a simple square with legs that you can then swim through.

Get yourself a lift bag and assorted weights and practice filling it to the point that it is neutrally buoyant in the pool.

When doing any of these exercises make it a point to never touch the bottom.

We did all of that during my early training and it was quite helpful.

 

[mi000ke]

After I had about 20 dives and after purchasing my own equipment and wanting to get my weight and trim better configured, I worked with a private instructor on buoyancy in a local pool for about an hour. It helped immensely.

 

[seadweller]

Practice will make you more comfortable in the water , whether it be by yourself in the pool or
with supervision . Glad to hear of a new diver striving for proper buoyancy .
Safe diving !
Sea Dwellers

 

[The Chairman]

Trim needs to be established first. If the trim is right, then your buoyancy ceases to change when you go from still to moving or back to being still. It's the biggest mistake is to try to perfect trim without being flat, ie the Scuba position.

Flailing needs to be stopped. Whatever you call it, flailing, fly swatting or sculling simply ruins trim and covers up poor buoyancy. FWIW, most people will swear that they don't do this because it's just so natural. Fold your hands together. Don't use your hands to change direction or for anything: fold them together. Watch your SAC drop when you do this.

 

[kmarks]

Ton anglais est très bien. C'est mieux que mon français.

Comme les autres l'ont dit, pratique, pratique, et pratique un peu plus. Peux-tu creer un course d'obstacle en la piscine ? Avec des choses pour nager entre, ci-dessous, et au dessus ?

 

[boulderjohn]

It is difficult to give really good advice because we don't know where you are now. There can be a tremendous difference among newly certified divers in terms of buoyancy, depending upon how they were taught. Here are some questions.

• Were you taught to do your skills while you were on your knees and negatively buoyant, or were you neutrally buoyant and horizontal?
• When you practice hovering, are you in a vertical (head up) or horizontal position?
• How close to ideal weighting are you? If you are at the surface in the deep end of the pool, hold a normal breath, and dump all the air out of your BCD, which of the following happens?
  • Float at eye level
  • Float with your head just below the surface
  • Begin to sink very slowly
  • Sink rapidly
• When you are swimming slowly in the deep end of the pool, is your body in a truly horizontal position, or is it more at a 45 degree angle?
• If you are swimming slowly in the deep end of the pool and stop kicking completely, what happens?

 

[hhmoore]

@Divingblueberry - you're asking for help, but you didn't describe the difficulties you are experiencing. There are some fantastic resources here, but you'd likely fare better by identifying the specific issues you are trying to correct.
From the perspective of someone that has only recently begun to have decent control over his buoyancy here are a few general pointers:
- Try to get your weight right. (I came out of OW carrying 32 lbs of lead...I'm at 12, now)
- Get comfortable being under water. Take your time, and get a feel for the effect that your breathing has on buoyancy.
- As you get comfortable, you'll start to anticipate changes. Small adjustments early is what works... If you wait too long to add air on your way down, it's easy to go to far; and the next thing you know, you're drifting to the surface. (Then you have to dump your air to stay submerged, and try to play catchup again).
Those three things all interplay. Working on one without simultaneous progress with the others yields fleeting successes and recurrent frustration. Personally, I find it easier to be a little light, and perhaps struggle a bit with my initial descent, than to be heavy & try to compensate for the additional weight.