How many dives before people got their buoyancy at a comfortable level?

[pxh100]

Something that has not been mentioned is that big extra buoyancy control device you have....Lungs!
Depending on you depth of breathing, or relative inhale vs exhale rate can change you buoyancy a lot. (But do NOT hold your breath)
This is especially so as a beginner before you learn to move efficiently and relax underwater.
So part of better buoyancy is just becoming a generally more experienced diver.
Shallow water, 15 ft or a swimming pool is a good place to practice.

For the physics geeks: One thing the instructors never tell you is that correct buoyancy at any depth is a state of unstable equilibrium.
If decrease you depth a little, the pressure is less, BCD expands and you tend to go up more.
The opposite if you increase your depth a little.

So there is buoyancy control is a continuous process on any dive, but after a while the reactions become automatic
and you anticipate better.

Yoga helps with breath awareness.

 

[leabre]

All my instructors told me that after about 30 dives I should have the hang of it and that PPB was "remedial", pajoratively, in the sense that I'm dimwit if I need to take the class by then. Well, I did around dive 50 and had an "aha" moment with what neutral "feels" like. Right around dive 70 I was doing well as long as I was moving and could hold stops but was not a shining beacon of light. I had no role models per se. I was a nomad, preferred to dive with different people as much as possible to find the perfect buddy and get varied experience. But most more experienced people wouldn't dive with such newer people, so I was always diving with newer divers. I hadn't yet met Claudette and Ken.

Around dive 70 I took an Essentials class and changed out my gear and learned another way to do things. From there, it took me until dive 150 or so to re-acclimate proficiently to my new skills and dive 250 before it was second nature. In between, I had many higher level classes that demanded such proficiency. Now I can be used in video for demonstrating but still every dive is an improvement dive in that respect.

All it takes is a change of salinity, current, swell, undergarments or wetsuit, tanks, or whatever to introduce enough change that I get to work at some aspect of it again. My latest one being a switch from Steel doubles in salt water to AL80's in fresh, I hated AL80's until I was told that most of cave country anywhere is mostly standardized on them. Now I'm working on loving them

If you have a good mentor, it won't take so long. My wife started diving with me after a 3 year haitus just a few dives ago. After 7 dives with me working things out for her and 2 days of an Essentials class she's right were I was at dive number 150, only she's dive number 14 for all intents and purposes.

 

[Banyan]

I've had two big leaps in comfort level. The first was probably around 30 dives, when I no longer spent every dive thinking "I'm totally underwater right now!" and the second was after a trip to Palau where my skills got pushed in terms of dealing with new environments and unfamiliar tanks. I came back from that trip delighted at the improvement in my air consumption and ability to use my lungs as my primary inflation device. That said, I'm still trying to fine tune my trim as I'm slightly feet-heavy now, so I'm not sure I would consider myself at a "comfortable level".

AOW really didn't have anything to do with it, except as a structured way to approach some new situations underwater.

 

[TSandM]

Leabre, it's amazing what a 7 pound v-weight hung off the bottom bolt can do to a set of Al80s -- it turns them into kitty-cats.

One of the challenges of being a very small diver is that we have more in common with CCR people than with OC people sometimes. The "window" of buoyancy change we can control with our lungs is much smaller than that of a 6 foot man, so we have to stay right on top of every small deviation, before it gets big enough to require big adjustments. (The good news was that, on my one CCR dive, I had no buoyancy problems to speak of at all, once I got over the "I arrest my descent by taking a big breath" reflex.)

 

[Dirty-Dog]

My bouyancy was never really an issue, and I was comfortable with it within the first 10 dives. Trim, however, took a fair bit longer. Gear changes and such (as with all new divers) made for lots of re-learning. Looking at my logbook and pictures, by about dive 30 my trim was pretty good, most of the time. On our last trip, I only really lost trim (but not bouyancy) one time, while shooting a bag in moderate current at 50 feet. I still tend to have slightly heavy feet, but it's mild enough that I can keep it under control. Usually.

 

[DivemasterDennis]

I spend a lot of time working with AOW students, and in my encounters with about 150 to 200 of them over the past several years, I find that there is an observable difference in competence and buoyancy control with divers who have 25 to 35 dives or more as compared to those who have fewer dives. Also, the duration since divers were last in the water (pool time doesn't count here) is also a factor. Some divers will be comfortable sooner, and some take longer to reach "second nature" buoyancy control. The important thing is to learn from every dive, and to be mindful each time you dive of being properly weighted. I think the peak performance buoyancy class is good for helping divers move forward in that direction, but we all learn differently and at different rates. The comments on adjusting to new equipment are important as well, particularly as changes relate to being properly weighted, as proper weighting is a key component of buoyancy control.
DivemasterDennis