New diver, floaty feet: will heavy fiins help?

Hi,

I did my OW recently and really want to continue.

I had problems with my feet floating up during the entire course. The instructor said it is common especially with women and sometimes, if it continues then weights round the ankles or heavy fins can help.

Are there people out there who had similar problems? What did you do to deal with the problem? Recommended brands or models for fins?

Thanx

CherryO:

Hi,

I did my OW recently and really want to continue.

I had problems with my feet floating up during the entire course. The instructor said it is common especially with women and sometimes, if it continues then weights round the ankles or heavy fins can help.

Are there people out there who had similar problems? What did you do to deal with the problem? Recommended brands or models for fins?

Thanx

Click to expand...

My wife had that problem. We ended up getting her some ankle weights. They did the trick. I think half your problem is mental though like most new divers. Make your equipment do what you want it to do, don't let it control you. After some more dives you'll more then likely end up taking them off because you'll realize you can control your feet. So get a fin that is good and suits you (I recommend mares quatros), not because its heavy, but because it pushes you through the water well with little effort. Go for ankle weights to solve your existing problem!!! It's cheaper too.

I had that problem too. I bought the ankle weights and used them for a while. They really helped. For me, experience solved the foot floaties and I don't use the weights any longer.

CherryO:

Hi,

I did my OW recently and really want to continue.

I had problems with my feet floating up during the entire course. The instructor said it is common especially with women and sometimes, if it continues then weights round the ankles or heavy fins can help.

Are there people out there who had similar problems? What did you do to deal with the problem? Recommended brands or models for fins?

Thanx

Click to expand...

You can try moving some of the weight you are wearing down towards your feet. This can be a weight belt worn a bit lower or moving your tank down a bit as long as you can still reach the valve. Or you can do a little of both.

i would second jbd and suggest not using foot weights (they'll make you vertical
in the water column)

instead, i find that moving your BC up on the tank (in other words, move the BC
higher than you normally use it) can cause your head to dip enough to offset the
light feet.

also, as Ann Marie said, the more dives you do, the more relaxed and able to control
your body position in the water you will be!

my son has the feet floating problem. will try these things with him. thanks.

I had the problem and found that if I move weight more toward the back, it helps more than ankle weights. If wearing a weight belt, put the weights more toward the back than the hips, and if a WI BC, put some more weight in back trim pockets or on the tank.

I hated the ankle weight solution, although it worked, because, contrary to what people told me would happen (and probably resulting from some bad beginner technique), I could tell I was using more energy to swim, and was breathing harder when trying to cover some distance.

I have the oposite problem. My feet are heavy. I have tried to move my tank higher in the BCD, and moved my weights close as I can to my center of balance. Helped some but not totaly. Thinking about making a strap to strap a weight to top of tank.

As others have posted I see this quite often with new OW divers.

Some things that may help. The more relaxed you become in the water and the less excess moving you do the less you will float.
Stop the excess finning and get use to diving horizontial. This is sometimes a difficult thing to master. And it's okay if you're feet are little light.

Keep in mind that some fins float while other are negative. An example is Scuba Pro Twin Jet split fins. The black models are negative which I wear. While the blue, yellow and gray model all float.

My wife had floaty feet and she used ankle weight for a while. After a lot of diving she can dive without them but when doing a long hang at 15 to 20 feet after an hour plus dive she has to balance or she will wind up feet up. She has a pair of TUSA split fins that she likes better than the Scuba Pro fins.

If yiou go with ankle weight you can pick up a pair at WalMart for less than $12. It will take very little weight to get you feet netural so don't get too much weight. A half a pound to a pound may be all you need.

I had a student show up at class that had bought a 10 lbs pair of ankle weight because his feet had floated the previous week. I had him take those back and get a 5 pound pair that had five removable pouches. We took out four and he was balanced.

CherryO:

What did you do to deal with the problem? Recommended brands or models for fins?Thanx

Click to expand...

Regular Jet Fins.