dry suit hover need instructor help

[s7595]

hi
I am haveing some trouble and need some good advice from some of the instructors on here.I have been taking my aow course here in canada at a cold mountain lake.the dry suit is one of the specialty's ,can do the fin pivot okay .the hover seems to get me .I get netural (or I think I am ) try to control my breathing and 2 things happen .1 runaway got to vent air (gettting real good at that skill).2 keep crashing into bottom .the depth we are doing this is actual depth 18' add 1500' above sea level makeing depth 21.6'.my instrutor is good ,not much advice,he seems to thing breathing not in sinc. so I ask for tips and he says pratice. okay do not have regular buddy ,would love to go do some dives and just swim and hover but most buddy's will not go for that.anyway I hope some other instrutor might have had astudent who was just like me loves the sport owns his gear and finds some skills hard and others very easy.thanks for any help

 

[Boogie711]

Stop using your suyit for bouyancy and use it to stay dry. Use your BC for bouyancy, which is what it's there for.

You can keep a better handle on how much air is going out, and also you don't have to "ride the bubble." The only reason PADI teaches you to use your suit for bouyancy is because they assume students are too taskloaded to be able to handle both a BC and a drysuit.

 

[LUBOLD8431]

Ok, A couple of things: First, are you using the drysuit to control your buoyancy, or the BC? I would recommend using the BC to control your buoyancy, and only put enough air in the drysuit to provide loft to the undergarments. You are probably using too much air in the drysuit. Keep practicing, sometimes you just need more practice.

 

[Rick Inman]

hi
I am haveing some trouble and need some good advice from some of the instructors on here.I have been taking my aow course here in canada at a cold mountain lake.the dry suit is one of the specialty's ,can do the fin pivot okay .the hover seems to get me .I get netural (or I think I am ) try to control my breathing and 2 things happen .1 runaway got to vent air (gettting real good at that skill).2 keep crashing into bottom .the depth we are doing this is actual depth 18' add 1500' above sea level makeing depth 21.6'.my instructor is good ,not much advice,he seems to thing breathing not in since. so I ask for tips and he says practice. okay do not have regular buddy ,would love to go do some dives and just swim and hover but most buddy's will not go for that.anyway I hope some other instrutor might have had astudent who was just like me loves the sport owns his gear and finds some skills hard and others very easy.thanks for any help

I'm not an instructor (just play one on TV), but when I had this issue it was because I was overweighted. You really have to squeeze every bit of air you can out of your DS and BC to do the weight check. I've dumped 18#s of lead since I first got my DS.

 

[matt_unique]

hi
I am haveing some trouble and need some good advice from some of the instructors on here.I have been taking my aow course here in canada at a cold mountain lake.the dry suit is one of the specialty's ,can do the fin pivot okay .the hover seems to get me .I get netural (or I think I am ) try to control my breathing and 2 things happen .1 runaway got to vent air (gettting real good at that skill).2 keep crashing into bottom .

When you have a runaway ascent you have too much air, when you sink to the bottom you have too little of course. Try adding air in short bursts and then see how that affects your buoyancy. It may seem tedious at first to add short bursts and out of frustration I think people blast a lot of air in (or dump all the air when they are a bit too positive). Once you have it down and have lots of practice under your belt you will be able to do this more quickly. You will need this skill regardless of your weighting or your choice of buoyancy tools.

Once you get it you will love the feeling. It is really cool to be able to hover.

--Matt

 

[Diver0001]

hi
I am haveing some trouble and need some good advice from some of the instructors on here.I have been taking my aow course here in canada at a cold mountain lake.the dry suit is one of the specialty's ,can do the fin pivot okay .the hover seems to get me .I get netural (or I think I am ) try to control my breathing and 2 things happen .1 runaway got to vent air (gettting real good at that skill).2 keep crashing into bottom .the depth we are doing this is actual depth 18' add 1500' above sea level makeing depth 21.6'.my instrutor is good ,not much advice,he seems to thing breathing not in sinc. so I ask for tips and he says pratice. okay do not have regular buddy ,would love to go do some dives and just swim and hover but most buddy's will not go for that.anyway I hope some other instrutor might have had astudent who was just like me loves the sport owns his gear and finds some skills hard and others very easy.thanks for any help

I'll second what Boogie711 said but I'll add that it's clear to me that your adjustments are too large probably as a result of having a much too large bubble in your suit when you're neutral in the fin pivot. This makes me think you have too much weight to begin with. Do a thorough buoyancy check.

R..

 

[jbd]

Ditto what Boogie711 and other said about using the BC for its purpose and the DS to keep you dry. If you are able to hover in a wetsuit then with a well "burped" DS and proper weighting you won't have trouble hovering with the DS.

I also agree with Diver0001 in that the adjustments you are making are too large. Make very small adjustments in the amount of air in the BC and give each adjustment time to take effect before doing more. Keep practicing and it will come to you.

 

[Deo]

Is the whole "BC or DS for buoyancy" debate even relevant here?

With single tank at 18' at the beginning of the dive one should be only 5lbs overweight. It seems that it doesn't really matter *where* you put 5 pounds of lift' worth of air. 5# may be less than the range you cover through the breathing cycle

 

[String]

Main problem sounds like too much weight resulting in too much air needed to stabilise things.

If single tank, properly weighted you can use suit OR bc for buoyancy. If its twins you need to use bc/wing and just remove squeeze.

Dont breathe full lungs>empty lungs either.

Yo-yoing is a common symptom of overweighting.

 

[MechDiver]

Is the whole "BC or DS for buoyancy" debate even relevant here?

Yes. Even if the poster wasn't overweighted (which it appears), adjusting air in a BC or wing is much more precise than a DS. Especially for a novice.

MD