Newbie's advise to new divers

[tyesai]

New guy to new guy, I say "put some air in that BCD". No seriously, the one thing I've noticed about infrequent divers and new guys like myself is we don't ever get the buoyancy sorted and are always always fining. Just fining away to beat all hell. I noticed this about myself at about dive 16, four dives after I took the peak performance buoyancy class. Finally I shot a proper amount of air into my BCD and wallah, like magic, I was floating, not fining, I could even turn over on my back and not sink. I'm telling you, look around and watch, you'll catch it, especially if you dive with different people every time like I do....

I know in my case it was a comfort thing. I could never have a runaway ascent if I was always sinking. It took some time to get used to rising and falling slightly with my breathing pattern but I believe I'm slowly starting to get it.

 

[LowDrag]

vladodesssit, congrat's on getting into shape. I quit smoking last August because I caught the Scuba bug. Don't be too hard on yourself, I am 6'2" also but I hit 250 lbs before I got the urge to lose weight and work out a bit. I am now down to 236 lbs and want to drop another 11 lbs. I am working towards doing P90X as well.

 

[vladodessit]

But on the other side, don't wait to start scuba just because you are a short, fat, out-of-shape, middle-aged couch potato. You will have fun no matter what. Don't let these guys steer you away from the sport if you want to try.

I congratulate you on your fitness success and wish I were more inclined to do the same. Every time I get the urge to run, I lie down until it goes away.

Very true. If I sounded harsh, or like "you must be fit to be able to SCUBA"-I meant nothing like this. I just wanted to point that getting in better shape makes SCUBA easier and more fun.

 

[drrich2]

My first unsupervised dives in fairly cold California were horrible. My buoyancy seemed to be in one of two stages:
*Like a stone. And I mean heavy stone trying to move away from the bottom
*Like a balloon, chaotically trying to drain the BCD.
I am sure my attempts at maintaining safety stop were quite comical and reminded human yo-yo.
By going diving I suddenly realized that buoyancy is slowly getting under control. I don't need to chaotically move all of the extremities to stay in one place.

To be expected. When you were roughly a year old, you learned to walk. This involved hesitantly standing, holding onto something to keep from falling, crude steps and falling. When you were around 6 or so perhaps, you learned to ride a bike, without training wheels. The bike would've swayed side-to-side badly while you pedaled vigorously trying to go forward upright instead of falling on your side.

Posture, bicycle, buoyancy. All involve an ongoing dynamic balance achieved by competing forces (e.g.: muscle tone & force, amount of air) to hold a position (upright on land, stationary in the water column). And it takes the mind and body some practice to cultivate the ability. (Disclaimer: I ain't that good at it).

Richard.

 

[stokesj19]

Thought that I was the only one that Scuba made me realise how out of shape I was. Last July I went for the first time, and was so disappointed in my shape. I was shocked in how fast I went through my air. I am not certified, and the instructor still had 3/4 of a tank when we had to go up because I was almost out. Since then I am down almost 50 lbs, and still need to come down. I am 6'6 so naturally a big guy. But I feel a lot better, and will continue this life style for the rest of my life.

 

[Scubadam]

That is good advice. A lot of new divers do not realize that they need to stay in good physical condition to dive.