It's a time issue. I don't know how many were in your class, but the pool might have been rented for someone after your class was out of it, or the instructor had another engagement. They have a finite amount of time to run you through the process, and the fine tuning comes when you have your own gear anyway.
Look at this another way. Driver's ed in high school didn't teach you to drive, either your dad did that, or you are intuitive. Driver's ed taught you to pass the driving test. Same with scuba class. They aren't teaching you to dive, they are teaching you the fundamentals of not killing yourself in the water. You wouldn't drive a grand prix right out of driver's ed, and you aren't going to be ready for a 300 foot solo rebreather dive next week, either.
Don't be too harsh on your instructors. Sounds like they got you trim enough to be comfortable in rental gear, to get through a class, and to be safe enough to go plan your own dive. The fine tuning comes with time and experience. I can't tell you (I guess I could) how much dive gear I've bought and used once, stacking it in the corner and buying something else. Take your time, go slow, and learn something on every dive.
We had approximately 12 students in the pool and there were around 6 or 7 instructors. It was in the pool at George Mason University, which was quite busy, so I know they only had a certain time slot for our class. But, I don't think we pushed the limits of that time slot.
And I understand your point and don't expect them to teach me to be a race car driver. But, my biggest issue with how they handled me personally was that they couldn't address my trim issue on Sat, so they brought me a whole new rig for Sun. Even a new reg set. The first thing they had us do was assemble our scuba unit, then they took them from us and set them floating in the pool. I didn't even get to try mine on, and it was a totally different model than the one I used on Sat.
Then they had us get in the pool (the deep end) and put our scuba unit on in the water. Now I ask you: Would you ever (EVER) get in the water with a scuba unit that you had never even tried on before? Much less get in without putting it on first, and put it on in the water?
I jumped in the pool (mask, snorkel, and fins on), and swam over to it and put it on. But, with no idea in advance of how the straps on that model worked or adjusted, it was a bit of an exercise. It took me so long to get it done and positioned properly and settled down in the water that I found that the lead instructor was already halfway through the briefing of what our first set of exercises were going to be, now that we're in the water, and I missed it. I had to go down to the bottom and just watch the instructor demonstrate and then go to each student and have them do it, in order to know what I was supposed to do.
I also discovered that it did not have dump valves in the same place as my BC from the previous day, so dumping air, later, when I happened to be tilted downward was also a challenge. And then, on top of it all, to find that it was still trying to flip me on my face (though not as bad as Sat) - well, that whole experience is what made me a bit unhappy with the instruction with respect to my own personal learning.
At this point, I feel like I could indeed go plan my own dive and dive safely - but not because of anything I've learned in this class. But, I have done a crap-ton of reading beforehand, done a discovery dive before, and been around scuba diving my whole life. The bigger I have with the instruction is that I feel like the people in my class who did not come in with prior knowledge or experience are just barely well prepared enough that they could go on a guided resort dive safely. But, if they wanted to go buy their own equipment and, say, go rent a beach house in FL, just rent filled tanks, and do their own shore dives they really are NOT prepared for that. One more reason: they did not cover the dive tables (e.g. RDP) at ALL in the class. And the only thing they have said about dive computers is that "they are all different and we don't know what you'll be using, so we don't really cover that in this class." I mean, not even a review of the basic pieces of info that ALL rec PDCs DO show.
Okay... Sorry. This thread was just meant for me to understand about the "skill" of using less weight. I didn't mean to turn it into a rant about my OW class.
---------- Post added October 27th, 2014 at 02:47 PM ----------
Yeah... this is NOT a problem. It's the "Scuba Position". You are not used to being horizontal, except when sleeping. You stand and sit with your torso in a vertical aspect. In fact, your legs should be a bit higher than your head. Tilt your head to the left or right if you want to look straight ahead. This is not a natural position for you, but it is the correct position for effortless Scuba. Get used to it and embrace it.
Why horizontal? It's the key to getting weighted correctly. If your kick is pushing straight back (you're in perfect horizontal trim), then there is no vector pushing you up or down. When you set your buoyancy to be neutral, it then doesn't matter if you stop or move: you'll stay at the same depth. Consequently, you can use just the amount of weight needed to get yourself neutral. 8 pounds is fine, but it's not a contest. There is no ribbon for the lightest weight. However, if your head is up, your kick will push you up and you'll have to have more weight. When you stop, you'll start to sink and will probably scull with your hands, which is not good. Obviously, establishing neutral habits from the beginning pays off immensely as you progress. Try to get away from kneeling if your instructor uses that method. You should never kneel while Scuba Diving. Ever.
Good luck, have fun and embrace being on your face as your new normal.
Question two, falling on your face while on the surface. Don't inflate your BC so much. You only need just enough to get your mouth out of the water.
Thanks, Pete. I will definitely experiment with it some this weekend at the quarry. I think Sat was a problem, but my issues on Sun could definitely have just been too much air in my BC or my tank not being in the best position. As I explained in my last post, I didn't get a lot of opportunity to really "setup" my BC on Sun.
