Worth still doing Peak Performance Buoyancy after AOW?

[ScubaBadger32]

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?

I say, “don’t train until you get it right, train until you can’t get it wrong”.

If you aren’t comfortable with this skill. Practice, practice, practice. Think you need a class on it? Take PPB, then keep practicing. No one ever got upset from training to become perfect.

 

[Blackcrusader]

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.

One one of my dives as I was being motionless and with no bubbles. Some marine critters are difficult to take photos of if you even twitch a finger. Another diver swam over a pulled on me thinking unresponsive diver. Ruined my photography lol

You can learn from Lion Fish how to be almost motionless and stay in position.

 

[Blackcrusader]

An underwater camera is quite revealing.

One of a guy I know dawdling around at 5m depth having completed the safety stop.

 

[happy-diver]

Man that's one Steady Eddy camera guy


You see when I got on to the Andy Davis blog at Scuba Tech Philippines
That has everything in there you need

Andy Davis Sidemount Technical Wreck Diving Blog

Andy Davis Sidemount Technical Wreck Diving Blog - Sidemount Technical Wreck Diving Blog | Articles and Resources

scubatechphilippines.com

I felt fulfilled

If you look at the bubbles pretty benign conditions at 20metres you see I'm straight the wreck is bent

Perfect

The Mardi Gras is on right now

 

[dumpsterpurrs]

RAID has the Performance Diver course which I think is a serious step up from PADI/SSI PPB and less intense than GUE Fundies/UTI Essentials/IANTD Essentials etc. Shop for instructor, and you should get a better deal doing a "scuba clinic" with them without getting certed (so you'd still go through the same course with a high quality instructor, but you don't need to pay the agency for the certificate).

 

[AgentKooper]

I say, “don’t train until you get it right, train until you can’t get it wrong”.

If you aren’t comfortable with this skill. Practice, practice, practice. Think you need a class on it? Take PPB, then keep practicing. No one ever got upset from training to become perfect.

Yes. I have more experience playing guitar than scuba diving, but there’s a saying I’ve often heard in the music world that applies universally: practice doesn’t make perfect — PERFECT practice makes perfect.

That’s why I can’t agree completely with the “just go dive” advice. If you’re not practicing mindfully, aware of proper technique, you’re most likely to simply reinforce bad habits through repetition. If you’re not confident with a skill, seek proper instruction until you find it, and then practice what they teach you.

 

[happy-diver]

Yeah increase the knowledge within your sphere Get Raided do it for nix

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look at all this stuff, don't listen to "them" be prepared for your courses fill your head with knowledge

Just remember to go diving afterwards

Diver in contemplation with a full head and it's not congestion, it's information about diving

Get that info in you now everything you need to know to be good

Go conduct your dives armed with more than a disconnected pea blowing around in your dustbowl like a tumbleweed

But remember to come back here to ScubaBoard with your full head for entertainment


Costs nothing saves plenty!

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Buoyancy courses, if taught by the book, can generally suck. Each person is an individual and the books are written to the masses. They are generalized and so not everything in them applies to everyone. As well as the fact that they don't cover every possible scenario and factor affecting the individual. I have never taught a buoyancy course. I've taught many buoyancy and trim workshops that are tailored to the individual. Using my methods for weighting and trim and how to get there based on an evaluation of each person.
There is also the possibility that the instructor teaching by the book, doesn't understand buoyancy and trim in any way other than how the book says to do it.
If the instructor starts out descending in the pool for a buoyancy and kneels on the bottom, the course is probably not going to offer much if anything.
If they don't start out evaluating the student by watching them set up their gear, get weighted, and then watch them descend, swim, try to hold a stop in shallow water, and then start from the beginning with a weight check, the course is probably not going to teach much.
When I do a workshop it is a private class so the student gets my total attention. No group B&T workshops.
I have the student bring every suit they own or at least one of each thickness and we do weight checks and distribution in each one and they record all the info.
Everything is done in 6-8 feet of water to start and we finish up with all basic skills, plus BC R&R and weight system R&R in 3-4 feet. This tells me they get it and that I've done my job.
Usually the workshop takes 3 hours or so. It may take more if we start trying different fins, reconfigure gear, set up with different cylinders, etc. to meet their needs.
They don't get a card but they do end up with better weighting, better configured gear, less air consumption, and the skills/knowledge they should have gotten in their OW class.

 

[Wibble]

There is no book for core skills. Just damn well get in the water with a good mentor and sort it out.

Then spend many many more dives perfecting it.

Then go diving. It'll be sooooooo much easier.

 

[PapaRod]

An underwater camera is quite revealing.

I was thinking that too, kind of like recording your golf swing.

could be a problem with weight, too little, too much or not distributed correctly.