admikar
Contributor
And it's total opposite for me. Drysuit bubble just to prevent squeeze, BCD to control buoyancy. You don't want to chase that bubble all over your body.
what causes yoyo motion while drysuit diving?
- Thread starter stepfen
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- drysuit beginner
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ginti
Contributor
Out of curiosity, neoprene or trilaminate drysuit? What is the usual water temperature you dive in? Do you use more often frog or flutter kicks?
Thanks for all the answers so far. Just to clarify few things:
1. The guy in the video is not me.
2. With wet suit my buoyancy, trim and frog kick are quite good. eg I can keep my position (horizontal and vertical) for several minutes with good conditions (calm sea and visual reference). As for frog kick during my advanced nitrox course the instructor told me it was at a fundies rec pass level. That was about 150 dives ago.
Now to drysuit specifics:
3. I kept my suit filled with just the required gas to prevent squeeze and I was using BPW for buoyancy. At least that was what I was trying to do. I said that my trim and buoyancy were quite good because again I could stay pretty still maintaining position, i.e. I was quite stable in the water.
4. This yo-yo movement I am trying to describe happens only during frog kicking - not when I hold position, hence I think it is not related to breathing or something. It was quite subtle. Nothing extreme. Now I am watching several youtube videos demonstrating frog kick and I can see a bit of up/down head movement in almost all of them. Maybe it is just that and somehow I just noticed it now.
5. I definitely need more practice with the dry suit. From now on I have my own suit and time to dive so I will keep practicing and it might just go. I will keep you updated
6. I know the best is to get a video of myself frog kicking and study it, but that's difficult for now as I am diving mostly solo these days. Until I get quite comfortable with the suit I don't bring camera with me and in any way my camera is a bit buoyant so it is a bit difficult to place it somewhere to record myself.
Thanks...
1. The guy in the video is not me.
2. With wet suit my buoyancy, trim and frog kick are quite good. eg I can keep my position (horizontal and vertical) for several minutes with good conditions (calm sea and visual reference). As for frog kick during my advanced nitrox course the instructor told me it was at a fundies rec pass level. That was about 150 dives ago.
Now to drysuit specifics:
3. I kept my suit filled with just the required gas to prevent squeeze and I was using BPW for buoyancy. At least that was what I was trying to do. I said that my trim and buoyancy were quite good because again I could stay pretty still maintaining position, i.e. I was quite stable in the water.
4. This yo-yo movement I am trying to describe happens only during frog kicking - not when I hold position, hence I think it is not related to breathing or something. It was quite subtle. Nothing extreme. Now I am watching several youtube videos demonstrating frog kick and I can see a bit of up/down head movement in almost all of them. Maybe it is just that and somehow I just noticed it now.
5. I definitely need more practice with the dry suit. From now on I have my own suit and time to dive so I will keep practicing and it might just go. I will keep you updated
6. I know the best is to get a video of myself frog kicking and study it, but that's difficult for now as I am diving mostly solo these days. Until I get quite comfortable with the suit I don't bring camera with me and in any way my camera is a bit buoyant so it is a bit difficult to place it somewhere to record myself.
Thanks...
Member002
Contributor
Hard to judge without video, as you mentioned.
That said, if you're that dialed in normally, then one guess is you might be intuitively compensating for air in the legs and aiming your feet "up" a bit to keep them down with every kick. That kind of thing would cause a rocking motion like you described. A little air in your legs will generate some real lift at the extended portion of a frog kick.
When you go totally still in trim, zero kicking or adjustments, what happens? How about when you extend your legs and then freeze again?
One thing to practice is just "play" with body position. Extend your arms, then your legs. Lower your legs a bunch, raise them a bunch, roll around, etc. Do it all super slow so you can really feel how it impacts your trim and how to work with it. Repeat this with both very little air in the suit (a bit of squeeze), and a good bit of air that has a real bubble you can feel move around. I prefer to dive with light "squeeze" and little air in the suit, but you still want to be comfortable with a bubble because a cold deco/safety stop will change that preference real quick.
That said, if you're that dialed in normally, then one guess is you might be intuitively compensating for air in the legs and aiming your feet "up" a bit to keep them down with every kick. That kind of thing would cause a rocking motion like you described. A little air in your legs will generate some real lift at the extended portion of a frog kick.
When you go totally still in trim, zero kicking or adjustments, what happens? How about when you extend your legs and then freeze again?
One thing to practice is just "play" with body position. Extend your arms, then your legs. Lower your legs a bunch, raise them a bunch, roll around, etc. Do it all super slow so you can really feel how it impacts your trim and how to work with it. Repeat this with both very little air in the suit (a bit of squeeze), and a good bit of air that has a real bubble you can feel move around. I prefer to dive with light "squeeze" and little air in the suit, but you still want to be comfortable with a bubble because a cold deco/safety stop will change that preference real quick.
ginti
Contributor
Hi @stepfen , I'll answer step by step 
2(B) Rec-pass level isn't "that" good; the problem you describe can actually be quite subtle, you need to do way better than a rec-pass frog kick;
2(C) What about your trim? Is it at a rec-pass level or better?
Good luck!
2(A) It isn't that important what you manage to do with a wetsuit; drysuits are far more complicated - and they are different;
2(B) Rec-pass level isn't "that" good; the problem you describe can actually be quite subtle, you need to do way better than a rec-pass frog kick;
2(C) What about your trim? Is it at a rec-pass level or better?
3 It isn't that important that you can stay pretty still and stable, it is important that you are stable when you kick; try to do a swim using the frog kick, and then stop kicking suddenly -> then see if your buoyancy/trim change
4 This movement is typical of the frog-kick, you will not see it using other kicks; the way you describe it seems related to technique, buoyancy and trim - not to breathing or something else. You can limit this movement quite a lot actually, see for instance here:
Good idea to practice
A video is the best, but it isn't absolutely necessary. You may try to go on a flat underwater surface, and swim as close as possible to it; you will immediately see if your trim is really flat (your chest would be almost touching this surface) or not. Also, if you suddenly stop finning, you will immediately recognize any change in trim/buoyancy, as you would touch this surface or move further from it. Try this first with a flutter kick, and only after ith a frog kick.
Good luck!
VanHandyman
Registered
ginti
Contributor
And you dive "deep" (>20m) and in horizontal trim using only the drysuit for buoyancy, and you also find it easier than using the wing? You are the first person I met that find it easier to manage buoyancy with the drysuit in these conditions
ginti
Contributor
double post
ginti
Contributor
Cool! Still trilaminate, right? But do you find it really easier, or just more comfortable?
EDIT: I forgot to ask if in single or double tanks actually... with the latter, the amount of air needed in the drysuit is really a lot. I mostly know people diving doubles, which maybe explains why they prefer using the wing - maybe with a single tank it is easier, I really do not know
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