PADI Peak Performance Buoyancy - worth doing?

[Redshift]

Hence the advices from some people to take it easy, don't rush to another course and let yourself get experience and figure things out by yourself. It's possible And getting a mentor (maybe this is a bit of a strong word, it doesn't really need to be a "mentor") or diving with more experienced people will be just fine. That's one thing I like in other teaching systems, recently certified divers are not completely autonomous and will be guided by someone more experienced. But beware of old divers with the "this is the way, I've been ding it this way for 20 years" attitude!

 

[TSandM]

I did speak with Gareth, and yes, he does coaching for anybody. And I second the recommendation for some mentoring from rivers, but a coaching day with Gareth Burrows would be WELL worth your while, and can't possibly cost more than somebody else's PPB class.

 

[mselenaous]

Whether you take a formal certfication class, a skills clinic, or spend time with a good experienced mentor, improving these invaluable skills will make you a more comfortable, confident, & competent diver. And youll have more fun.
The key isnt the agency, but the instructor's/mentor's ability to help you get where you want to be with your diving.
Here is an something Netdoc wrote.
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ad...sons-take-propulsion-trim-buoyancy-class.html

As for PPB, it is very widely variable and can be great or crap...its the instructor. Here is a link to a PADI video on what it should include, yet most don't.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swPVup2vItM&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Whomever you choose to work with you, ask them to watch that video and read the thread. If they dont include all of these skills in their ciurses, then keep looking. There are good intructors of all agencies out there.


Happy Diving!
Elena

 

[rivers]

I will second (or third) a coaching day with Garf (Gareth Burrows). A day with him will cost you less than PPB, and you will get a ton out of it. He will help you sort yourself out.
And the offer still stands of let's go diving.

 

[cpri]

I will second (or third) a coaching day with Garf (Gareth Burrows). A day with him will cost you less than PPB, and you will get a ton out of it. He will help you sort yourself out.
And the offer still stands of let's go diving.

Thanks! I'll look into it!

 

[ScubaSteve1962]

I didn't take a PPB class, but I did buy the instruction manual, and go to a pool on regular basis to practice. My buoyancy improved dramatically. While I know this wouldn't work for everyone, it worked for me. I still may take a class in the future.

 

[Cosimo_Zaretti]

I did mine as part of my AOW course in Tulamben, Bali. One of the exercises, which I didn't see the value of till I tried it, was to hover with your face right next to the cleaner shrimp station. Take your reg out and the shrimp will crawl onto your face and pick your teeth clean. You need to have your bouyancy well sorted to do it without touching the reef.

 

[Searcaigh]

PPB did not exist when I took my OW course, but proper buoyancy control did.

If you could not dial in your buoyancy by the end of the course you did not pass, plain and simple.

Obviously these days, students are taught the fin pivot without any clear explanation as to why they have to do this, then off they go swimming in a vertical position for the rest of their diving career finning like buggery in order to maintain their position in the water column and screwing up the visibility.

This is the only time I would condone taking a speargun underwater

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

A neutral discussion on this topic is not possible because of extremely unfair and highly prejudice moderator policies.

Those of you who know me know that I spend considerable time on these boards. You will also recognize me as one of the cooler heads here. I have been in the middle of some extremely passionate debates and I still do not have a single enemy here. I take pride in that. I have personally benefitted a lot from scubaboard and there are many members on this board that I am personally grateful to for helping me with their advice without even charging anything for it.

I honestly believe that PADI Peak Performance Buoyancy is really not a course. Buoyancy is a skill that you learn when you learn diving and master / polish as you progress. It is not anything that anyone should be charging anyone money for. It would be like going to a driving school and then doing an additional course on how to apply breaks!!! This particular breakdown of training actually creates a financial incentive for instructors to graduate bad students so that the gaps in their training could be corrected later with more fee. It may be profitable but constitutes bad practice IMHO.

If the above view is going to be deleted on the reasons that:

a. It is irrelevant to the OPs question
b. It is agency bashing of PADI

then in order to remain a member of scubaboard and to continue to learn from all the people that I have grown to respect, I must modify my response as follows:

PADI Peak Performance Buoyancy is a great course to learn. You will soon notice that tech-divers with a 1000 dives, whose lives depend upon stopping at a particular depth and holding that depth for their deco really have horrible buoyancy because they never took the "PADI Peak Performance Buoyancy Course!

Long live PADI and Long Live Peak Performance Buoyancy Specialty!

Moderators ... I hope you guys are happy.

Cheers -

CS

 

[JayScuba]

Personally, I think the absolute best time to take PPB is with AOW. IN AOW I teach the PPB dive first. Then I leave time for buoyancy practice in dives 2 through 5. Finally we sum in all up with dive 6 the last PBB dive. It’s amazing how good you get at buoyancy with 6 dives of practice. I recommend taking AOW/PPB after about 10 to 15 dives after OW. This gives you a chance to practice all the OW skills to the point you can free your mind to focus on the new skills.
The fundamental problem new divers face regarding buoyancy is best resolved with practice. New divers don’t fully trust their equipment and their skills yet. This results in the new diver subconsciously wanting to keep a lot of air in their lungs to feel safe making them unnaturally buoyant.
The result is during open water the OW instructor unnecessarily piles on the weight because he is much more afraid on a runaway ascent then teaching good buoyancy. There is more chance for injury and law suit with the runaway ascent case then letting the new diver bounce off the bottom kicking up silt, which is what happens in Texas. As an instructor I am always taking weight off on students.
What to do? Practice relaxing. First thing is to practice a slow deep breathing pattern. I like to exhale fully, pause for three seconds, inhale fully pause for three seconds. Notice I said pause and not hold your breath. They are very different. When you pause your air way is still open. The pauses allow time for good gas exchanges (O2 and CO2) between blood and air. This also relaxes you.
Practice ascending with your breath. Inhale fully pause three seconds, exhale half, inhale fully and repeat. Practice descending with you breaths. Exhale fully, pause three seconds, inhale half, exhale fully and repeat. If you can’t do this without losing control, you have too much weight and too much air in your BC to accommodate the weight. Drop some lead and keep practicing.