Why no hands?

[dmaziuk]

Do a nice breast stroke, and you might rip your buddies reg out of his mouth.

Is there a youtube video? Inquiring minds would like to see that breast... with buddy's long hose wrapped around it presumably?

 

[Snoweman]

Is there a youtube video? Inquiring minds would like to see that breast... with buddy's long hose wrapped around it presumably?

My wife/buddy has a regrettable habit of hitting my camera or even knocking off my mask with her hands...unintentionally, of course.

It doesn't take much imagination that if a mask can come off, a reg can come out, too.

 

[dmaziuk]

Sorry, my imagination must live in a different gutter from yours. The only way I can imagine knocking someone's reg out while doing a breaststroke pull is if I were aiming to knock the reg out of their mouth.

Full disclosure: I used to be good at breaststroke back when I swam.

 

[AfterDark]

When I have a new student using their hands in confined water, it is never for the right reasons. They are not supplementing their kick, they are not using it to facilitate a turn. I believe it is due to some combination of failing to fin/kick much/correctly or even to kick at all; trying to manage their position in the water column; or just nervousness and habit due to an ingrained default belief that "I will sink and drown if I stop moving in water."

So yeah, stop using your hands and just use your feet, your BCD, and your lungs please. But also, okay, go ahead and use your hands to turn in a tight space. Show me you can do that, and then later on you can try to convince me that using hands to swim on scuba isn't a near complete waste of energy.

Now, who mentioned Mike Nelson? He used his hands ALL the time, both swimming and sculling. But go look at the size of the duck fins he was wearing, and notice that there is no buoyancy device at all, just a wetsuit, a weight belt, and a tank or two strapped to his back. Different needs, different techniques.

I read somewhere they used their hands to exaggerate movement action for the camera. The BCD is the lungs. LLoyd Bridges had no such skills and was never a real diver. Mike Nelson however was and still is THE diver.

I still use a double hose in the shallows to photograph fish. They come right up to me even when I exhale, gently of course. I can control my buoyancy, even hover using my lungs from 7fsw to 25FSW. Here in NE that is the ideal depth range for photography and videos, on a good day, so it works out very well. I hope to be the new owner of a 1970's USD Aqua Lung Royal Aqua Master soon.

 

[Ayisha]

It doesn't take much imagination that if a mask can come off, a reg can come out, too.

Yup, it happened to me years ago. I was diving beside my buddy in the Niagara river and once in a while his hand would come out in a swimming motion. Not only did he pull my reg out of my mouth right after I exhaled, the mouthpiece stayed in my mouth while the 2nd stage floated away just as I had started to inhale. It was confusing and I immediately stopped inhaling as I watched it float away. I switched to the alternate and put the primary back together as we were exiting.

 

[CT-Rich]

I was with a newb diver over the weekend (his 33rd). My observations: he was not using his BCD to maintain trim and he was skulling to maintain position in the water column. It’s not that he wasn’t trained, he just hasn’t developed the habit. He doesn’t know what to do with his hands, so he waves them around. If you tell them what you see, or better film it, they will fix it.

We all suck in the beginning

 

[Snoweman]

I was with a newb diver over the weekend (his 33rd). My observations: he was not using his BCD to maintain trim and he was skulling to maintain position in the water column. It’s not that he wasn’t trained, he just hasn’t developed the habit. He doesn’t know what to do with his hands, so he waves them around. If you tell them what you see, or better film it, they will fix it.

We suck in the beginning

There were four of us diving together for a while. One of the four was criticizing the rest of us during our AOW training. My dive buddy pointed out to him that he "swims" underwater. He flat out denied it. During one of our fun dives, I had blown through my air first and was at my safety stop while the other three stayed down. I didn't know it, but I had forgotten to turn off my GoPro from video. It was an hour of mostly uninteresting stuff, but about 3/4 of the way through, there's the guy doing the breast stroke under my camera. Greatest five seconds I think I have caught on video.

Edit: I looked up the date on the video. It wasn't during our AOW training that I caught the video. It was during a guys' trip to Costa Rica.

 

[AfterDark]

I was with a newb diver over the weekend (his 33rd). My observations: he was not using his BCD to maintain trim and he was skulling to maintain position in the water column. It’s not that he wasn’t trained, he just hasn’t developed the habit. He doesn’t know what to do with his hands, so he waves them around. If you tell them what you see, or better film it, they will fix it.

We all suck in the beginning

Rich, a lot of divers just don't dive enough to affect any improvement. To a lot of divers it's just another thing they do, they enjoy it and couldn't care less what we at SB think of them or their lack of skills, next week they're going kayaking don't ya know!

 

[kelemvor]

This guy. Uses hands.

He has to make up for those fins somehow.

 

[TMHeimer]

I've been away 2 months so apologize if this has been mentioned. Using a breast stroke underwater will move you some. It's an option if your legs cramp up.