Pool Hovering issues.

[Hawkwood]

Talk with the instructor you will be working with. I'd be happy with a DM that could "hover" nicely in a position other than the "buddha". It's nice when you brief students that it does not matter if they roll to their side, or on their back, as long as they hover, and then have someone demo the "skill" in a number of positions. It irks me when the DM working with immediately goes into a picture perfect pose and stays there.

In my limited experience, I see some students who can hover, but struggle to remain upright, thereby using their hands and feet - gotta start the clock over again. Position is not the point of the "skill". Learning the relationship between breathing and position as well as capacity of your lungs vs. BCD is the point.

Keep at it and work on a hover that allows you to hold your knees and feet so you can show the students a way to hover without moving their hands and feet as RJP mentioned. At some point in your demo, allow yourself to roll onto your back so that they can see the hover in a different position.

 

[Scott]

As an Instructor I would use your ability to hover in a horizontal position or any other position for that matter to my advantage. Talk with yours and see if they would be open to showing that position doesn’t matter. If they are set in their ways then you have a few options, ask your instructor to help you, locate another instructor that is more open to other methods or spend as much time in the pool as you possibly can to get ‘buddha’ nailed down.
Without seeing you in the water it would be difficult to tell what is really going on. One common problem I see with attempts at ‘buddha’ is they try to keep their back straight which tends to pull their feet back under the butt. Try bending forward at the waist some. It’s about finding that balance point.

 

[TSandM]

To achieve a motionless hover, you have to have your center of gravity balanced directly above or below your center of lift. (Above is an unstable configuration; below is quite stable.) If, in the buddha position, this is not true for the gear you are diving, you cannot be stable and motionless in that position.

We dive steel 72s in the pool. I use a jacket BC and 8 lbs of weight; even moving all 8 pounds to the front of my torso, I cannot hover in the buddha position (or bolt upright) because the negative tank takes me over backwards.

If your instructor wants to make the point to students that you can hover in different positions, do it on your back. You'll still have your COG and COL lined up, and you may actually be MORE stable.

 

[RTee]

Yes...just adopt another hover position that is more practical and keep this one as a spur of the moment, I have time to kill let's practice something. To me, this one is as useful of an exercise as attempting to blow the perfect air ring from depth...it just looks very cool with no real life application unless you are a DM leading a drift dive in Cozumel of course (PS I am the one who took the picture in the more traditional horizontal hover position.
)

 

[RTee]

Disregard picture of fish...for some reason I cannot remove it from post.

 

[DivemasterDennis]

TSand M is spot on again. I would add that hovering at very shallow depths (in a pool) is more difficult than at greater depths, even a safety stop. But the positioning of positively buoyant and negatively buoyant mass will dictate in what positions natural law allows you to hover. Because of this, I have my "pool gear," for demonstration and teaching in the pool, as well as my cold water gear, for teaching and demonstration in local lakes, and my "now I'm on my own dive trip to a wonderful place with warm water gear." Re-positioning weight may be enough to make this work, and then you won't need multiple gear sets. Whatever works.
DivemasterDennis

 

[knotical]

fetal position, anyone ?

 

[RTee]

Sometime I adopt the Sideways Superman pose and keep it long enough for my dive buddies to flood their masks because of their laughing and then resume a more normal hover position afterward.

 

[TMHeimer]

A bit off topic-- The pool the shop uses requires lead shot only (to prevent damage when releasing). We have 8 and 12 pound belts. Obviously unless it's a fluke, no one is properly weighted. Yes, I can still hover, but really have to work the lungs. Pretty much impossible for an OW student, obviously. After taking OW and getting properly weighted I was amazed how easy it was in the ocean. Anyone else have this pool problem?

 

[k ellis]

A bit off topic-- The pool the shop uses requires lead shot only (to prevent damage when releasing). We have 8 and 12 pound belts. Obviously unless it's a fluke, no one is properly weighted. Yes, I can still hover, but really have to work the lungs. Pretty much impossible for an OW student, obviously. After taking OW and getting properly weighted I was amazed how easy it was in the ocean. Anyone else have this pool problem?

No because I dont use weight in the pool. I guess I am just lucky