Peak Performance Buoyancy

[Peter Guy]

I was able to get proper trim by dumping some weight (down to 2 lbs in the pool), but my feet drag. How in the world do you prevent that?

Depending on your gear, you may not be able to "fix it." Gear DOES make a difference and, in your case, perhaps you have the wrong fins.

I had a student yesterday who complained of the same issue -- my proposed solution to her was to let air get into the feet of her dry suit AND perhaps, not use the same type of tank. There are many reasons why we end up in the attitude we do.

(War story -- a couple of years ago I was off Maui diving on a wall and was fighting to "stay in trim" -- and finally decided, screw it -- have fun. So, I just went pretty much vertical and drifted the wall. The gear I had wouldn't LET me be horizontal as it had been set up.)

 

[boulderjohn]

Depending on your gear, you may not be able to "fix it." Gear DOES make a difference and, in your case, perhaps you have the wrong fins....

(War story -- a couple of years ago I was off Maui diving on a wall and was fighting to "stay in trim" -- and finally decided, screw it -- have fun. So, I just went pretty much vertical and drifted the wall. The gear I had wouldn't LET me be horizontal as it had been set up.)

I fully agree. With the right gear, I can hang motionless in horizontal trim. If I am in a situation where I don't have the right gear (like teaching an OW class in which the shop wants me to use a basic BCD and weight belt), I can't do it.

I find that distributing the weight as much as possible is best. A steel backplate obviously helps if you have one. I also have an old ScubaPro Nighthawk back inflate BCD, and if I put the same weight in the shoulder pockets as the waist pockets, it is perfect. I have clipped ankle weights around the neck of the tank. Do whatever works to distribute your weight.

Oh, and bending the knees and getting the feet up helps a lot.

 

[Juardis]

alright, good advice, I'll try bending my knees in the pool tomorrow night. Thanks.

 

[Belce]

peak performance bouyancy control

and also trim

I look at this as being the same thing as a hitting coach or a pitching coach in baseball. It is always a thing that can be improved, it is always a thing that benefits from a third party view.

 

[Lobzilla]

alright, good advice, I'll try bending my knees in the pool tomorrow night. Thanks.

A good land exercise is to lay on a firm surface, like a carpeted floor, move the lower legs into a vertical position, while holding the soles of the feet nearly horizontal. Arms are forward and head is tilted back to see the wall you are facing. Now lift the knees barely off the ground without bending the spine. This is easier in the water due to buoyancy of the legs but you want to feel the same muscles at work while holding this position. Do not "break" at the hip while bending the knees.

This is the Trace Malinowski, training director of PSAI, demonstrating how horizontal trim should look like. Getting into this form is hard and in the beginning outright painful. This posture is not about looking pretty; it is about being able to control your body which in turn allows you to control your position in the water column. Needless to say that divers like Trace can also be in control in many other attitudes like inverted or vertical with the head down or any other crazy thing in between. But the "skydiver", "superman", or "delta" posture is the gateway to moving about in the water as comfortably and authoritatively as you move around on your feet at home.

This is "uebersuperman" Bob Sherwood, one of the training directors of GUE, demonstrating an unconscious diver rescue. He uses the victim's BCD to control the ascent (with stops) and you can imagine how crucial a rock-solid posture is in that scenario.

 

[jar546]

Should more emphasis be placed on buoyancy control during the OW program? Yes, absolutely, but, it is up to the instructor to do that if they choose to. Some do not.

Don't forget that PPB within the AID/AOW course like all of the classes in AID/AOW, scratch the surface and are not full blown specialty classes. You do not have to complete full fledged classes with PADI in order to get the AOW since the AID book is full of mini-classes in the specialty areas to peak you interest.

My suspicion for the future is:

Peak Performance Mask Clearing
Peak Performance Mast Removal and Replacement
Peak Performance Regulator Recovery

The list may go on.......

 

[The Chairman]

I fully agree. With the right gear, I can hang motionless in horizontal trim. If I am in a situation where I don't have the right gear (like teaching an OW class in which the shop wants me to use a basic BCD and weight belt), I can't do it.

I normally dive steel tanks because of the ease of trim and the reduction of weight. However, when I am pushed into diving a shop's gear, I can usually achieve a more than adequate trim. One of my "secrets" is a five pound weight on the upper tank strap. But lets face it, back inflate whether it be a back plate and wing or a traditional BC makes the skill easier.

After the initial mask clearing in knee deep water, my entire OW class is done mid water. From doffing and donning the BC to sharing air, my students are off the bottom of the pool. The basic mechanics simply aren't that hard, and I don't think it takes a 100 dives to get them mastered. It might take that number of dives to do it without thinking about it... but I have newly certed OW students who maintain their control throughout their dives often making others think they have hundreds of dives. No, I am not special and its just not that hard. I make it a game from the git go and we have fun with it.

Are my skills still improving? Sure. I am constantly evolving and learning new ways to make it easier. That being said, the basics are important to master and can be mastered early. Then the honing of those skills can continue for your life time. If you didn't get buoyancy down during your OW class, by all means take a class like this. Because the problem is so widespread, I actually include fin kicks, trim and buoyancy as a part of my AOW class. The first step is often as simple as to stop imitating a blow fish, and start folding your hands together. So many scull with their hands to compensate for poor buoyancy. You'd be surprised how quickly you'll figure it out if you simply break this one habit. You'll probably see your bottom time increase over 10% at the same time.

 

[CaveMD]

When I dive master openwater classes, I swim as slow as possible to force students to control their buoyancy. Buoyancy skills are essential and it is a disservice to your students to not teach it from the first pool session.

 

[Warhammer]

After the initial mask clearing in knee deep water, my entire OW class is done mid water. From doffing and donning the BC to sharing air, my students are off the bottom of the pool.

You have your OW students doffing/donning their BC mid-water in a pool? Wow,that's impressive. How deep is the pool and are they still mid-water once the task is complete?

 

[boulderjohn]

You have your OW students doffing/donning their BC mid-water in a pool? Wow,that's impressive. How deep is the pool and are they still mid-water once the task is complete?

I do it as well--it is not hard at all, and it is only really impressive to those who have not tried it.

I have the students do the initial skills in a prone position, approximating swimming trim. Their legs are lightly touching the floor for stability, and they have enough air in ther BCDs to be lightly off the floor. Once we get into CW#2, all skills are done while neutral. The only time they touch the floor after CW#2 is when we do the exercise that used to be called the fin pivot. That takes no time at all, since they have already been doing it. Yes, they do the weight belt removal/replacement and the scuba unit removal/replacement in mid water.

The key is to get them used to neutral buoyancy from the very beginning--we do a neutrally buoyancy swim in the shallow end before the first skills. By the time they get to the harder skills, they are used to it. I find it takes less time than the on-the-knees approach, because the skills are actually easier to perform while in good trim.