Tons of Questions

[BauderDesign]

Okay so I just passed my OW certification class for PADI. I'm officially addicted to scuba diving and currently saving up to buy my own set of gear. I have several questions however that I have been searching the site for and been unable to find answers for.

I have Atomic Split Fin fins but for some reason they always feel weird like when I'm swimming it feels like one is twisting or something. I have tried adjusting the tension on each side of the straps but it doesn't seem to help any ideas on how to fix this problem?

I'm looking to lower my air consumption rate but don't know how can someone point me to some resources on this if their is any?

Is it better to get the same brand main regulator and octopus or is it better to get two different manufactures?

Is their a resource for learning better finning techniques because I want to improve that skill as best as I can before our family goes to Marathon,Florida in mid-July?

I really want to take the rescue diver course so that I know how to handle emergencies if they arise but should I wait until I have 40-50 dives under my belt?

Thank you in advanced

 

[Bubbletrubble]

Have you tried doing Scubaboard-specific searches using Google?

For instance, here are the Google search results on how to lower air consumption in scuba diving.

As far as I know, all of the topics you listed (with the possible exception of the Atomic split fin question) have been covered quite thoroughly in forum threads.

Having your primary and octopus the same brand can make servicing more convenient, since you are assured that if the reg tech is authorized to work on one second stage, he should be able to work on the other.

Prior to taking a rescue diver course, I think that you should be comfortable enough in the water so that you can attend to stuff going on in the environment around you. More specifically, you should have already mastered buoyancy control, finning techniques, all of the OW class skills, and the mechanics of buddy diving. It takes a significant amount of mental bandwidth to problem solve in emergency situations...and your ability to mount a successful rescue effort would be hampered by not being able to take care of yourself underwater first. In general, logging 50-100 dives under various conditions should give you enough experience to get the most out of a rescue class. That's just my opinion. Others may disagree.

Hope this helps...

 

[krawlings]

Okay so I just passed my OW certification class for PADI. I'm officially addicted to scuba diving and currently saving up to buy my own set of gear. I have several questions however that I have been searching the site for and been unable to find answers for.

I have Atomic Split Fin fins but for some reason they always feel weird like when I'm swimming it feels like one is twisting or something. I have tried adjusting the tension on each side of the straps but it doesn't seem to help any ideas on how to fix this problem?

I'm looking to lower my air consumption rate but don't know how can someone point me to some resources on this if their is any?

Is it better to get the same brand main regulator and octopus or is it better to get two different manufactures?

Is their a resource for learning better finning techniques because I want to improve that skill as best as I can before our family goes to Marathon,Florida in mid-July?

I really want to take the rescue diver course so that I know how to handle emergencies if they arise but should I wait until I have 40-50 dives under my belt?

Thank you in advanced

just dive get all the practice you can . Your air consumtion wiull improve as you get more comfortable in the water and you hone your skills . Slow is the key . Just kick glide and kick glide. As for the Rescue I would wait till you get at least 40 or 50 dive as you should be more competent in your skills at this point. But let me say this: not all divers get to this point at the same point . Some take longer and some sooner Good luck and congrads to you

 

[BauderDesign]

Thank you for the information

 

[BauderDesign]

@krawlings Okay thank you for the help on this. So I shouldn't really be worried about learning finning techniques?

 

[Rhone Man]

@krawlings Okay thank you for the help on this. So I shouldn't really be worried about learning finning techniques?

Learning different kicking techniques is definitely a good idea, but take it one step at a time. I always encourage newer divers to focus on their bouyancy first. But if you are curious, go onto YouTube and do a few searches about "scuba frog kick", "scuba back kick" and "scuba helicopter turn".

The main thing though is just to keep diving!

 

[diveprof]

The Atomic fins are fine. Split fins take a little getting use to, but they are fine. They will not be the secret to improving your air consumption though. That comes with experience and proper weighting. Most new OW folks wear too much weight. Wearing too much weight pulls your waist down. You compensate by adding air. This pulls your shoulders up. You move through the water more upright than you need to be and this is inefficient. Get the weighting right and stop "happy hands" (excessive use of hands on scuba). The results will surprise you. It is not uncommon for AOW students of mine to lose 6-8 pounds off their weight belt/weight system when we use the Peak Performance Bouyancy elective dive.

 

[TMHeimer]

I agree on the Rescue. I had 26 dives at the time and think 40 or 50 would've been better.

 

[TSandM]

I applaud your desire to learn more things and acquire more skills -- it's a good quality in a new diver.

Almost all new divers want to lower their gas consumption. Newbies go through their gas for a combination of reasons, with the big ones being lack of comfort with what they are doing, and lack of efficiency. Every muscle you contract underwater requires some oxygen to work, and releases some CO2 -- so the less work you do, the less gas you go through. HERE is an essay I wrote on this topic.

Integral to the concept of efficiency is that of trim. If you present a big surface area to the water, as you do when trying to swim forward at a 45 degree angle to the horizontal, you have to work very hard to move. If you are horizontal, you're more like an arrow cutting through the water, and swimming requires less effort. HERE is an excellent article on trim.

Alternative kicks are great to know. For one thing, they won't disturb silty bottoms, and leave the viz untouched. For another, they allow you to maneuver much more freely in the water -- if you've had the experience of swimming over the thing you wanted to look at, because you couldn't stop, and then having to swim a great big circle to get back to see it (at which point it's often gone) then you will immediately recognize the utility of being able to stop wherever you want, back up, or pivot. However, I will warn you that these alternative kicks are difficult to learn and somewhat difficult to perform in split fins, because they are so soft and squiggly in the water. You CAN do them all in splits, and I have, but I knew extremely well how to do them in paddle fins before I tried, and it was much more difficult. A non-silting kick you CAN easily do in splits is the modified flutter, which is done by holding your body flat from the shoulders to the knees, bending the knees about 45 degrees, and then kicking gently from the ankles. This will move you nicely along a reef (where you don't want to hurry anyway) and will not kick up any silt. Look up 5thD-X videos on YouTube, and you can find excellent examples of the kicks.

Finally, have fun with the learning process. Don't worry about being new and a little awkward -- we were all there once (read the journal of my OW class, if you don't believe me!)

 

[krawlings]

@krawlings Okay thank you for the help on this. So I shouldn't really be worried about learning finning techniques?

I would get comfortable in the water and with bouncy.Get my weighting down and then look at and experiment with different techniques in finning.I found with me that my biggest gain was gained by me figuring out that all I needed to do was kick glide left leg then kick glide right leg and repeat. once I got that down my sack rate dropped drastically and my legs were not so wore out at the end of the dive