Worth still doing Peak Performance Buoyancy after AOW?

[Jake 10]

G'day all!
Anyway, buoyancy and control are still something I feel quite weak in. struggling to hover the one position when surrounding something interesting, just things like that. I've also had trouble controlling myself in current

@CapnBloodbeard
Good buoyancy comes with practice. My recommendation is to start with shallow dives, practice in/out breathing, horizontal positioning, and check how many weights you are using. If you find yourself lifting upright your BCD could be providing lift-up with too much weight below your center of balance, or your tank position may be too low and need adjusting.

Follow this simple steps to get you started:

• Deflate completely your BCD before lying flat on your stomach on the bottom
• Take a breath and show that you are not going up
• Add a little bit of air in your BCD with the inflator button and repeat the breathing in and out part. You will likely gain some buoyancy but maybe not enough
• Repeat previous step until you become neutrally buoyant and you start rising slowly as you are breathing in
• Show that you are slowing rising and falling as you are breathing in and out. There is a delay between breathing in and rising
• Keep your arms tuck as you are doing so, so only breathing is controlling your buoyancy. You should not touch the bottom with your chest or hands either after achieving neutral buoyancy

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

OP, just go dive. Work with a buddy in a pool or shallow dive site having buddy video you to see if things need tweaking. Otherwise, work with a local instructor.

Yes. Ingrain bad habits. Perfect

 

[jadairiii]

....you’re essentially telling someone to spend approximately $1600 and give up a week of vacation time vs a weekend (PPB is probably one day) class that costs maybe $250 at the most. If someone only gets two weeks vacation time a year, that’s a tough pill to swallow, in addition to the cost.

What I am "telling someone" is that they are pursuing a "sport" that can last a lifetime, in which poor skills, at a minimum, can damage the natural environment, beyond repair. And at worse, be a safety concern for the diver.

Diving is expensive. And the sport is conducted in an "alien environment" in which we cannot survive without gear and training. I cannot grasp why anyone would want to get involved in this endeavor on the "cheap"?

Do people look for the cheapest instruction and gear when getting involved in, rock climbing, parachuting, wingsuit flying?

But whatever, its a free world, get the cheap certification, the cheap gear, go on the cheapest dive boats......and wonder why the drop out rate in scuba is high.

 

[Wibble]

The general principle is to have a good instructor/mentor especially when learning and practising core skills.

The challenge -- I say this from a technical diver's perspective -- is a lot of the recreational instructor/mentors aren't great at the core skills (buoyancy, trim, finning). They might be "good enough", but is that actually sufficient to set you up for your diving career?

When diving and training with a local dive shop, you get what's available. People moving into technical diving would normally choose the instructor/mentor first and most definitely ask for references (or at least use someone who's recommended).


IF, and it's a big if, your instructor/mentor is completely sorted (rock steady in the water, finning for all movements -- no hands -- including turning, back finning, etc., is flat in the water.... in other words is a joy to watch, then that person might be the right instructor. If they don't "wow" you, maybe not.

Peak Performance Buoyancy, IMHO, should be something to set the standard for you to aspire to. Core skills take time to perfect. Paying for some coaching time is good value for money, but only if they're really good.

 

[Jake 10]

....and wonder why the drop out rate in scuba is high.

and the internet is full of "SALE" - " USED equipment"...

 

[Joneill]

Yes.

Buoyancy is the most important skill. Having a day to concentrate on nothing else is very helpful.

Dealing with current is a different thing, but easier if you have decent buoyancy control. Experience counts with current.

Completely agree - I did PPB a few months after I got my OW cert. I found it a great course. We did ~ 1 hour of instruction/discussion and then spent a few hours in the pool and a 1/2 day at Dutch Springs working on the skills/techniques.

I think that for most new divers, there is so much going on in OW with basic skills and just getting comfortable under water that it’s hard to perfect buoyancy as well.

At least for me, first getting some dives in after OW to practice with more experienced buddies who could help ID where I still needed to improve and then doing PPB was a good sequencing. Having significant time purely focused on buoyancy and finning in PPB made a big difference for me.

 

[Joneill]

Fundies is a recreational dive course. It has value unlike PPB.

Says you - I found PPB a super valuable course!

 

[Ben_3]

PPB classes can be very good for what the original posters is looking for. As an instructor those who are less comfortable with trim I do recommend doing this class. 1 for 1 or in small groupes is the best, it allows the instructor to give more attention to the student(s) to help them get better. Bigger groups of PPB often just go through the motion. My 2 cents.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Says you - I found PPB a super valuable course!

Well, if you were taught on your knees, then that is a greater possibility.

It still stands that fundies provides far greater value. If you take it, you will see what I mean.

 

[Dody]

What I am "telling someone" is that they are pursuing a "sport" that can last a lifetime, in which poor skills, at a minimum, can damage the natural environment, beyond repair. And at worse, be a safety concern for the diver.

Diving is expensive. And the sport is conducted in an "alien environment" in which we cannot survive without gear and training. I cannot grasp why anyone would want to get involved in this endeavor on the "cheap"?

Do people look for the cheapest instruction and gear when getting involved in, rock climbing, parachuting, wingsuit flying?

But whatever, its a free world, get the cheap certification, the cheap gear, go on the cheapest dive boats......and wonder why the drop out rate in scuba is high.

I would try GUE if it were not a cult. They don't accept recreational cigar smokers, it seems. Next, you will have to be vegan and only drink water to dive "right"