Peak Performance Buoyancy?

[RJP]

There are two things I took away from my PPB class. The first is what proper weighting feels like. It's hard to know if you are over or under weighted unless you know what it feels like to be properly weighted. So a formal weight check before a dive with an full tank and then a formal weight check at the end of a dive with an empty tank.

Were formal weight checks not covered in your OW course?

What is a "formal" weight check, anyway?

 

[The Kraken]

In my opinion "peak performance buoyancy" should be inherent to basic instruction.

It is my thought that this is one of the basics of diving.

I focus on this early in the confined water work.

Prior planning and preparation should accommodate for buoyancy issues when diving in configurations other than that in which the diver normally dives.

If one is going to be diving with photo/video gear or with metal detectors, etc., then I feel that it is incumbent upon the diver to PRACTICE in the proposed configuration BEFORE the dive in order to prevent any unwanted/unsafe issues.

Just my $.02.

Safe dives . . . . .
. . . safer ascents

the K

 

[TSandM]

Kraken, I agree that good buoyancy needs to be emphasized from the beginning, which we do. We also teach a proper weight check, and we try to get them done with all the students during OW. However . . . the weight check on our OW dives is often not really very valid, because the students are anxious enough to hold a lot of air in their lungs, and off balance enough that they don't float the surface without kicking some. If we are fortunate enough to have a student who makes it through a formal weight check properly, it's often the case that they can't descend with that weighting, due to anxiety and improper technique. Thus, even with our classes, which do not involve kneeling underwater at all, students can end the class several pounds overweighted. And although we try to move their weights around if there are gross and obvious problems, there is simply not time to fine-tune static balance during a class where the students often can't stay still for very long at all.

Once the person has a few dives under their belt and has been able to relax a little, and particularly if, in the meantime, they have acquired their own equipment, these checks and adjustments can be refined considerably. In addition, buoyancy practice done with an extremely stable and solid visual reference is priceless, or at least I found it so. There are a lot of tips for good buoyancy and trim that we offer during OW, but the student often doesn't integrate, just because of the amount of "stuff" they are trying to remember. Going over that again in a PPB day is an opportunity to reinforce it, and have more time to show the effects of small changes, since the student doesn't have to spend underwater time doing air-sharing and mask clearing drills.

So yes, buoyancy should be taught in OW. But since, ten years after mine, I don't think my buoyancy is perfect, I don't think it's unreasonable to say that virtually all divers benefit from time and effort spent to improve their buoyancy and trim, and especially the typical fairly novice diver who takes a PPB class.

 

[freewillie]

Just to continue the thoughts from TSandM, I think it's very hard for beginners to get a good sense of buoyancy control from just a few dives. The other factors that make it harder to get their weighting down is they are often using different sets of rental gear. One BC is going to be different from another BC in regards to their inherent buoyancy. So when the student gets another set of rental gear say on vacation and it is a different brand from their LDS rental gear the same amount of weight used for OW training may be a few pounds off during their vacation.

It is also very difficult for a new diver to get the hang of what good buoyancy control should feel like because they are, well, beginners. It's hard to know what the weighting and balance is until they get a few more dives in under their weight belts (pun intended) and start to get more comfortable in the water. Which is why you see more posts from divers with less than 25 dives posting questions regarding weight and buoyancy than divers with over 50 dives. By that time you should have an intuitive sense when diving if you are 2 lbs. heavy or light even without doing a formal weight check.

 

[boulderjohn]

The class is as good as the person who teaches it. I would try very hard to find an instructor with some technical or cave training. Such a person is likely to be much more motivated to ensure you get a lot out of your class.

The first, second, and last bullets are perfect for introducing the frog kick, especially if you include your flutter-kick vortices disturbing the bottom as 'contact" with the bottom. so, for the btter students, we don't stop with kick-and-glide using their flutter kick, but move into the frog kick. And the REALLY good students get to try out -- or at least see demonstrated -- a reverse kick and a helicopter turn.

I believe Tursiops' post is an example of the point that I excerpted from TSandM's post. Tursiops talks about teaching the frog kick, reverse kick, and helicopter turn. These are not required by the course, but can be included at the instructor's discretion. Tursiops is a cave diver, so he is quite familiar with those skills and has the ability to incorporate them into the class.

When I was a new instructor and taught PPB for the first time, I was neither a cave diver nor a technical diver of any sort. I had never seen anyone doing a frog kick, reverse kick, or helicopter turn, let alone do those skills myself. It would never have occurred to me to do those skills as a part of PPB. Although the course calls for teaching trim, being in trim means something very different to a technical/cave diver than it does to the average OW diver. When I first taught the course, I had never seen anyone hover motionless in horizontal trim, and I had no idea it could be done.

I have always done the best job I could when instructing, but anyone taking PPB from me now will have a very different experience from those who took it when I was beginning my instructor career. This is one specialty where it really does pay to shop around for your instructor.

 

[Diver0001]

In my opinion "peak performance buoyancy" should be inherent to basic instruction.

It is my thought that this is one of the basics of diving.

I focus on this early in the confined water work.

Prior planning and preparation should accommodate for buoyancy issues when diving in configurations other than that in which the diver normally dives.

If one is going to be diving with photo/video gear or with metal detectors, etc., then I feel that it is incumbent upon the diver to PRACTICE in the proposed configuration BEFORE the dive in order to prevent any unwanted/unsafe issues.

Just my $.02.

Safe dives . . . . .
. . . safer ascents

the K

If you're saying that you think the skills and exercises in PPB should be addressed at the OW level, yes I would agree. However, regardless of who you are or how long you've been diving, there is always going to be room for refinement so I don't think the course is redundant. It's a matter of degrees. If you're coming out of OW a complete mess because the instructor doesn't feel the need to teach you proper buoyancy control then that's obviously not good. However, if you expect to come out of OW looking like you've been hung up on a string because of something you read on the internet then you should consider what is realistic and how much is internet posturing.

What I tell my students is that we will do what is feasible in the course but that they should look at it as a process like learning to drive a car. For a period of time after you get your drivers licence you'll still be keenly aware of when you need to shift gears. After a while you won't think about it anymore. Likewise in diving, in my experience many divers will need 50 dives or so before they aren't thinking about it anymore. Since we can't give them that experience in the class, what we can do is make sure they have the skills they need to go through that process gracefully.

R..

 

[The Kraken]

Certainly agree with ya, Rot! I consciously work on my buoyancy each and every dive. Changes in kit and gear and exposure protection create a dynamic set of conditions that require constant vigilance.

Peak performance buoyancy, in my opinion, is an ongoing aspect of our continuing diving.

Safe dives . . . . . .
. . . safer ascents !

the K