How do you teach new divers to stay horizontal?

[captndale]

Deborah, you had a good instructor.

 

[RoyalScubaAustin]

ddeborahdelamar ... what your instructor did was a great way to help keep you horizontal. i wish more did things that way.

As far as answering the OP, one thing I have found to help is to explain to divers why they might have a tendency to assume a vertical position. First of all, being vertical is what feels natural to new divers, if only due to the fact that we walk around vertical and that orientation just feels natural. If we crawled around on our bellies we would probably not have that problem.

Also, some class materials say that during ascent and descent thatr most efficient way to go is vertically. According to these texts, clearing your ears is more efficient in a vertical position, safety stops are shown in a vertical position, etc. Seeing this translates to doing this in the water.

As a last point, think of the typical gear set-up. I am not meaning the difference between BP/W and jacket. That is an argument that is for other places. Think of how things are arranged. Even in a weight-integrated BC the majority of the weight is placed around the hips. Some BC's have trim pockets, but I have seen these rarely mentioned or used. If you have the weight pulling your hips down, naturally your shoulders rise, thus putting the sir in the BC near your shoulders, thus pulling you into a more vertical position. Offsetting this tendency is the trick that experienced divers use to pull off horizontal trim in ANY BC. BP/W just helps with this. The trick isn't the BC, its how you arrange your gear and weight. To illustrate this show a side view of a diver and imagine them as a see-saw, with the pivot point between the hips and shoulders. We all played on them as kids and in my experiencem using something that is familiar to people can help explain almost any subject.

 

[farsidefan1]

Responses like "It just feels natural " indicates that they don't understand that what feels natural is not acceptable. I suggest hitting them with a 2 X 4 in the head and saying something to the effect that, I don't give a rats butt what you think feels normal. When diving you do it this way or I'll hit you harder next time" followed with a simple explanation of why, keeps them from touching bottom, preserves coral which someone else might want to see later etc.

 

[24940]

I would say the first step should be to inform them why horizontal is better than vertical.

Once they are aware of the advantages, model it for them.


Next, make sure their weighting is correct.

Once weighting is correct, see what happens when they assume proper positioning. If they are properly weighted and their body position is good, it's simply a matter of distributing the weight properly.

I do use a drill that forces students into trim. I use a variety of weights and attach hooks to them. The weights are spread across the bottom of the pool and the students are given hooks to hang from the chest strap on their BCDs. the hooks hang down about 8" from their chest and they use them to snag the hooks on the weights. They are instructed that they are not allowed to touch the bottom and they should raise the weight to the shallow end, drop it off and then pick it back up and return it to the deep end. It forces them into trim and also require a degree of buoyancy control as a result of the shift in ballast. I have some video somewhere....


All my students are taught to be in horizontal trim. Whether they continue down that path is up to them.

 

[ruready7]

Gently hit them on the nose when they're vertical, and give them treats when they're horizontal.

You might suggest that if they really like to be vertical, they should trade in their fins for ankle weights, and walk in the sand. Other than that, if they want to be vertical, what can you do?

That funny. Guess it goes along with 'Dog paddling' at the surface...lol

 

[RJP]

How do you teach new divers to stay horizontal?

The sort of "easy answer" is that you DON'T teach them to stay vertical!

The way it works now is we take someone who knows nothing about diving and introduce them to a new environment in a vertical position, train them in a vertical position, evaluate them in a vertical position, certify them in a vertical position, and then wonder why they don't immediately adopt a horizontal trim on their first open water dive after getting certified.

Don't teach skills kneeling vertically on the bottom. Vertical is for begining and ending dives. Pretty much everything else is horizontal. And it can be trained this way.

Enter water giant stride into deep end, do weight check and 5pt descent with direction to get horizontal as approaching bottom. Let them lay on the bottom at first if needed, but get them used to being horizontal. They can then swim to shallow end where you can teach them LAYING on the bottom where possible/necessary. I've had luck having new students lay in the shallow end with "chest/arms and up" hanging over the incline down to the deep end. You can do mask skills, reg skills, etc in this position no problem. Then from there you can take them into "round the pool" swims in horizontal position, ending back in the shallow end horizontally on the bottom to do more skills. Or end in the deep end horizontal on the bottom to do fin pivots. Go from fin pivot into neutral hover, from hover into round-the-pool swims. Do more skills as needed, then swim to deep end where you signal thumbs up and do 5pt ascent, only getting vertical to begin ascent.

I'm not saying you can - or should even try - to get OW students to get perfect bouyancy from the very first minute and do all skills in a neutral hover midwater. There's also the logistical issue of it being easier to have several students kneeling in the deep end than it is to have them laying in the deep end.

But the goal should be to start horizontal, then get them off the bottom, then get them neutral.

It can be done.

 

[RJP]

The first step is giving them an appreciation of what a diver in correct trim looks like.

Good point - role model!

One of the things I adopted as a DM is something I learned from my own OW instructor "way back when." Though he would have us newbie's kneeling on the bottom, he never did. He was always horizontal and neutral. Without him having to tell us, it was immediately obvious to us "kneelers" what real divers looked like. We "aspired" to dive like he did.

Of course we still had to be TAUGHT to dive that way, but we didn't need to be TOLD to dive that way!

 

[DennisS]

I was diving with 4 new divers (2-jr ow) and kept trying to get them to stay horizontal, with their fins out of the sand. Inevitably, they turned head up when not swimming to "talk" underwater or just to rest.

How do I break them of this habit? On the debriefing, they said it just felt normal. I've tried to adjust their tank higher on their back, and they were diving weight integrated (too heavy, IMO) rental BC's.

Comments on BP/W are not necessary.

I see a lot of divers that go vertical in the water. I've never felt a need to break them of this habit. I do my dive, they do theirs.

 

[Tigerman]

Introduce them to the game "how little weight can you dive with". The winner is the person who can subtract the most from the weight they're diving now and still complete a dive.

That is in my opinion the worst advice Ive ever heard.
Weighting is not about how little weight you can dive with (and ending up not being able to keep a safety stop because you dont have enough), its about having the right ammount of weight - What you need and not more, nor less. Not enough is just as bad as too much and in some cases worse..

 

[RJP]

Introduce them to the game "how little weight can you dive with". The winner is the person who can subtract the most from the weight they're diving now and still complete a dive.

That is in my opinion the worst advice Ive ever heard.

Yeah, but first prize is a ride in a big red helicopter!