Worth still doing Peak Performance Buoyancy after AOW?

[rongoodman]

Early on in my diving career I had the good fortune to run into some GUE divers from the Scuba Shack in the Hartford area and decided that "I want to look like those guys!"

 

[scrane]

Good buoyancy control is the foundation of your skills and enjoyment as a diver. It is as much art as science. You seem to know what you want, and that is half the battle. Training can give you a leg up, but it is only practice and experimentation and analysis that can succeed. Most importantly, have fun and don't stress.

 

[eko.wibowo]

First, it sounds like you need to shop for a better instructor. Then talk to your new instructor about how he is going to help you. Perhaps you need to have a professional help you get better at controlling buoyancy, rather than taking a class.

Second, if you know where your problems are, just get out and practice.

Start with optimizing the weight you carry. At 15' with no air in your bc and about 500# in your tank you should be neutral. Do the check at your safety stop, give extra weight to your buddy or set it on the bottom.
A few pounds over is not a big deal.

curious, what should I ask from the instructor? is there a term for this? I always thought "help" is kinda taking a class to learn more. Is this something usually an instructor advertise (if yes, where)?

 

[carrythatweight]

curious, what should I ask from the instructor? is there a term for this? I always thought "help" is kinda taking a class to learn more. Is this something usually an instructor advertise (if yes, where)?

I highly recommend you look into Steve Martin's back mount instructional course. It's a paid online 'course' but his videos are invaluable when you're just starting out. That along with practice will be a lot more beneficial than a peak performance buoyancy course, in my opinion.

It's ideal to have a professional/skilled diver help you as needed, as @Bob DBF noted, but it may take time to develop such a relationship, unless you already know someone that fits the bill. I hope this helps.

 

[Wibble]

curious, what should I ask from the instructor? is there a term for this? I always thought "help" is kinda taking a class to learn more. Is this something usually an instructor advertise (if yes, where)?

To do PPB you need to have basic skills in the first place. Think of it as an advanced course where you bring the skills expected of the Advanced Open Water course.

 

[Blackcrusader]

For me personally buoyancy is something you can check yourself during any dive. Sometimes when my lad was diving after he did his OW he would have some issues and I would get him to get horizontal trim at say 20m depth and then stop moving. If he started sinking he needed more air in his BCD. Once he got the idea that he should stop moving get the correct amount of air in his BCD and get to a point where his breathing would slowly allow some up or down movement he got better with it.

Once he got better at buoyancy he also found he was not having to move his legs so much or do the occasional arm flailing.

Diving with others who are good at buoyancy you can learn from them as well. Or take more training with someone. Can do it in a pool or in some calm open water.

 

[happy-diver]

Does fundies give an AOW card so he could go on deeper boat dive?

Brilliant question is there an answer

and after everyone spills their guts about where they sit whether it's helpful to the dude with the question
or not

This might cost only some data but probably not

Ultimate Buoyancy Control Guide: Dive with Effortless Precision

Unlock the secrets of developing perfect buoyancy control in this comprehensive step-by-step divers guide!

scubatechphilippines.com

 

[AgentKooper]

I just took an SSI Perfect Buoyancy class in the pool at my LDS as part of my AOW. The instructors (two instructors for four students) were good, and it was really helpful to spend a couple hours in the pool doing nothing but focusing on buoyancy and breath control. We practiced swimming through (and over and under) hoops of various shapes and sizes, using only our breath to adjust our approaches. By the end I was navigating everything with my hands clasped at my waist. A few days later I went back to practice with a new BCD, and also used the time to keep practicing controlling my buoyancy with my breath. It's hard to overstate how useful these session felt. I'm looking forward to seeing how well it translates to open water in Mexico next week.

 

[Alaskan Scuba Dude]

G'day all!
I'm only about 45 dives in, and completed my PADI AOW last year. For one of the modules I did the Peak Performance buoyancy....but honesty, I got very little out of this. The trainer wasn't....great......and the entire AOW course was really rushed as they didn't manage dive times and falling light well (eg we butchered the navigation....well, I insist my buddy butchered it......but they still okayed it). It was a quick look at the breath-hold buoyancy check at the start of the dive, a very quick look at my trim, then good to go. I think we might have had to do a brief hover, but I'm pretty sure you're supposed to do a few positions that we didn't do.

Anyway, buoyancy and control are still something I feel quite weak in. Maybe I'm my own harshest critic, but I'm not comfortable with it. And even diving last year, still ended up with, say, struggling to hover the one position when surrounding something interesting, just things like that. I've also had trouble controlling myself in current (probably why you don't do Komodo National Park with only 20 dives under your belt....haha)

So, I'm wondering - would doing a separate buoyancy performance course (either PADI or SSI) be of any benefit? Has anybody done these? I'm just wondering if there's any benefit above and beyond what I would likely have covered already?

The above link is for the compass. I wouldn't bother with the peak buoyancy course. Do a few shores dives in your local area provided you have your own equipment. When traveling overseas, your weights won't be the same as when you dive with your own equipment. So many factors come into play.

 

[Norwegian Cave Diver]

Buoyancy - Trim - Propulsion - each one effects the other. Lets talk about TRIM first to understand how it effects BUOYANCY...
Lets say we get in a vehicle and drive down the road. You roll down the window and put your arm out... If it is horizontal then the air flows past it easily - but if you raise your arm a small amount then the air pressure is greater under your arm and it wants to push your arm up. Now let's apply that to scuba diving.
Most divers swim in a "head up" position. So you are swimming along in a heads up position - That water that is flowing across the front of your body is creating lift as you swim - you add air/gas to your wing to make yourself neutrally buoyant. Everything is good. But now you decide to slow down or stop - and now you find yourself sinking because that water flow isn't there anymore. Some divers will do what feels natural and put themselves in a vertical position and kick to stay where they are. This example creates stress - increases heart rate - increases breathing rate - increases air/gas consumption and causes you to work instead of rest. Or they will add more air/gas to their wing to make themselves neutrally buoyant. But as soon as this person starts to swim again in their slightly heads up position then they find they are too buoyant and they dump some air/gas from their wing. This example increases air/gas consumption. And all of this happens because you're swimming in aheads up position. When you are horizontal you are streamlined. You're swimming like a fish. You should be able to stop swimming and stay in position and at the same depth. Look at the divers around you. So many will be swimming in that heads up position, unless the diver is highly trained.