Underwater stabilisation

[tomw_n]

Hi - first time poster here but have looked over the shoulder of many a diving friend, most of whom were looking at this page, so I understand it to be an amazing resource!

I am at dive number five in my CMAS here in Corsica and am soon going to be certified.

I am having problems with an exercise that we did today that seems pretty critical to stabilising myself underwater.

We went down to the bed at 15m and I was told to breathe in fully whilst inflating my BCD. Then, as I started to rise, I had to breathe out totally and wait two seconds. When my instructor did this, he stayed level and was 'stable'. When I tried, I just fell back down to the bed.

I am ever-so-slightly heavily weighted (+1KG over what I should have had, apparently). Could this be enough to make the difference?

Diving again in the morning and keen to try out any offered advice. Meanwhile if anyone wants any info on Calvi-area dive sites as info exchange I'd be happy to help.

Cheers!

Tom

 

[Whitelightnin]

This is called Hovering. It takes practice. You will need to vary how long you take between breaths & how long it takes you to exhale. The way that works best for me is once I get situated in the water, I exhale as soon as I start to rise & inhale as soon as I start to sink. It helps to have something to look at that is "fixed" so that you can tell when you start to move up or down. Again, it just takes practice. It will come.

James

 

[Simon L]

Try this?

Breath normally and add air to your BCD until you start to rise on the inhale, then exhale, you should start to fall again, continue to inhale and exhale, but take normal breaths, dont breath too deeply or you will rise artificially too "early". If you thump back to earth on the exhale, try a little more air in the BCD, you should be very gently rising and falling a few centimetres with each respiratory cycle...

Like James says, it takes time and relaxation to get it right, but it will come, dont worry about it.

Hope that helps
Simon

 

[mrgonz]

I have a question too.
If i cross my legs to do the hovering, i'll flip around like a coin, but i can control my buoyancy if i dont cross them... Tips?

 

[tomw_n]

Thanks all for the advice. Simon / James - I'll give it a go today and see what happens.

T

 

[JeffG]

I have a question too.
If i cross my legs to do the hovering, i'll flip around like a coin, but i can control my buoyancy if i dont cross them... Tips?

Don't cross your legs

 

[spectrum]

In addition to what is said remember that the reaction to your lung volume won't be immediate so you will be inflating/deflating your lungs out of phase with your rise and fall in the water.

You take in a breath, you will continue to sink due to momentum. Your bouyancy will overcome the momentum and you will start to rise. Before you rise too much you want to be exhaling since you will now have upward momentum. It's then about breath size and rythym.

For myself I understood the concept in the pool but I'm finding it a lot easier to really get a handle on it now that we're diving in open water with out other students all around. Being a bit deeper and in my own gear also helps.

Have fun, it's part of the art of diving.

Pete

Hi - first time poster here but have looked over the shoulder of many a diving friend, most of whom were looking at this page, so I understand it to be an amazing resource!

I am at dive number five in my CMAS here in Corsica and am soon going to be certified.

I am having problems with an exercise that we did today that seems pretty critical to stabilising myself underwater.

We went down to the bed at 15m and I was told to breathe in fully whilst inflating my BCD. Then, as I started to rise, I had to breathe out totally and wait two seconds. When my instructor did this, he stayed level and was 'stable'. When I tried, I just fell back down to the bed.

I am ever-so-slightly heavily weighted (+1KG over what I should have had, apparently). Could this be enough to make the difference?

Diving again in the morning and keen to try out any offered advice. Meanwhile if anyone wants any info on Calvi-area dive sites as info exchange I'd be happy to help.

Cheers!

Tom

 

[tomw_n]

Thanks all for this invaluable advice.

I lessened my weighting, tried to find the sweet spot as regards the quantity of air in my BCD and it all felt better today. Will try some fin pivoting tomorrow. Hooked!

Tom

 

[Simon L]

Thanks all for this invaluable advice.

I lessened my weighting, tried to find the sweet spot as regards the quantity of air in my BCD and it all felt better today. Will try some fin pivoting tomorrow. Hooked!

Tom

Excellent!!!

Have fun Tom

 

[spectrum]

Great news. your weight, relaxation and your trim will all get into line with a little work. By trim i mean where you put your weight and this includes how how your cylinder rides on your BC.

Pete