PADI peak performance buoyancy course

[Hank49]

I might point out that buoyancy will never be something learnt either online or in a class. Sure it starts out with a conceptual idea of what it is supposed to be,

You need practice but just as importantly, you need the right gear set up for your body too. You can practice all you want with a...for instance...steel bp and wing and no weights, but if you're naturally "feet light" (like one of my daughters), you'll be swimming upside down. If you're using a jacket bc and weight belt, and you're feet heavy (like me), you'll be upright all the time without waggling your fins...among many other possibilities.
It's more likely you'll learn other gear options best suited to you here,...at least I did...but I DO live in the "sticks".... than you will in a shop selling Brand A gear to students.

 

[Melicertes]

I agree that you need to understand what buoyancy is and what strategies can be employed to manage it properly.
I did not mean to imply that theoretical knowledge is unnecessary. With all due respect, you will not know if you are "naturally feet light" or "feet heavy" by listening to an instructor or watching a DVD in class, or reading about strategies for weight placement online. You will only figure this out in the water and you adapt appropriately by solving these issues by drawing on the knowledge you gained in class/online. The experience and application of buoyancy control happens only in the wet.

 

[trucker girl]

FIND A GOOD INSTRUCTOR is very good advice IMO.

A good instructor teaching... anything... will be good. A bad instructor teaching PPB will be mediocre at best.

My instructor talked me out of taking PBB because he said he could teach me skills w/o the formal class for nothing. Unfortunately, I hardly ever dive with him. I think I dove with him twice last summer- and all while he had other students (and therefor others to focus on). So I regret not taking it formally. I've learned a lot from buddies and also from this board. But I kinda wish I'd taken it. I've got a good instructor.

Maybe I'll give him a call and take the formal class.