fnfalman
Contributor
Have another diver look at you and indicate to you how your body trim is like by holding the hand flat with the palm down and then just angle the hand to show if you're horizontal or head heavy/butt heavy. [/quote]
Do what Quero suggested, just let the surge take you back and forth and then when it takes you forth again, just start kicking to get forward. There's no reason to fight the surge to stay in place unless you really, really, really need to stay in place (i.e. setting up for a camera shot or examining something at a particular spot).
---------- Post added April 2nd, 2013 at 11:32 PM ----------
There are several ways that work for me when it comes to buoyancy check:
1. I'd do it with nothing on but my weight belt and exposure suit. Holding a full lung, I should float eye level. Exhale fully and the top of my head should be just below water. Adjust the weight until I'd get this way. I'd make note of this weight because however I configure my equipment from now on, the arithmetics have to come out the same. If it takes 16-lbs of lead to give me a good weight check while wearing only my 7mm wetsuit, then somehow all my gears later (BC, tank, etc.) must add up to the same 16-lbs.
2. Then I'd do the same thing but now with my BC/tank, etc. I've found out that once I figured out the buoyancy characteristics of my BCs and tanks, then add lead as needed, the whole thing would pretty much equate to what I weighted myself with just the wetsuit. Doing the weight check with all the equipment on is pretty much an affirmation of my calculation.
When I weight myself and configure my gear this way, I never have an issue with doing a safety stop with no air in my BC and with the tanks down to about 500-psi. Afterward I can do a very slow, controlled ascension to the surface too.
