A Newbie Ascends

[holdfast]

Hey all,

Got a newbie question for you. I'm a pretty new diver, and initially, ascending and maintaining a safety stop was a pretty damn clumsy affair. I've made improvements in my buoyancy control and that has changed the way I ascend.

On my past few dives, I've essentially breathed my way to the surface. Breath in, rise a bit. Breath out to slow or stop ascent. Breath in, rise a little more, let some air out of BC, and so on and so forth. I've never felt more controlled on my ascent. I got to thinking about lung overexpansion and whatnot, and I just wanted to check in and see if there was anything objectively wrong with my approach and see if there is a better approach to the controlled ascent.

Also, happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate. Happy Thursday if you don't.

 

[00wabbit]

Welcome to the club.

What you are doing sounds right to me based on what I have learned, but I'm still in the newer phases myself so I'll wait for the more experienced to confirm.

Just don't hold that breath.

 

[David Hamburg]

I am also new but the thing that sticks in my mind is " its not an elevator button" refering to your power inflator. swim up, safety stop, then surface. if you can do that with breath control you have your buoyancy dialed in much better than I do!

 

[herbdb]

Ideally, you should work to stay neutrally buoyant and swim to the surface. Riding positive buoyancy to the surface can get away from you.

 

[krawlings]

there is nothing wrong with what you are doing , but keep in mind to not hold your breath . all ways let small bubbles exit (as in your training) As you get shallower the greater the expansion of air in lungs , BCD/BPW / DRY SUIT.I swim up and use breath control I feel in more control this way and I don't have to be concerned with lung over expansion

 

[UrbanJungle1966]

Not much to add as I am in the very new stage as well but to go up I just swim up. Slightly different angle on my fins and away I go either up or down. I try not to use my breath to control anything. It does but I am not sure it should to the extent I use it.

Hey I am still in the damn breath out stage as sometimes I forget when taking a photo and I start to rise .

 

[Steve_C]

Try to work some more pauses in.that is, a couple slow breaths between each rise.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Hey all,

Got a newbie question for you. I'm a pretty new diver, and initially, ascending and maintaining a safety stop was a pretty damn clumsy affair. I've made improvements in my buoyancy control and that has changed the way I ascend.

On my past few dives, I've essentially breathed my way to the surface. Breath in, rise a bit. Breath out to slow or stop ascent. Breath in, rise a little more, let some air out of BC, and so on and so forth. I've never felt more controlled on my ascent. I got to thinking about lung overexpansion and whatnot, and I just wanted to check in and see if there was anything objectively wrong with my approach and see if there is a better approach to the controlled ascent.

Also, happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate. Happy Thursday if you don't.

That is the perfect, no stress and controlled way to ascend. I do it like that as well. However, when I have completed my safety stop, I discontinue this method because it is not best or really safe.


As I leave the SS to make the last portion of the ascent, I will dump air from the BC and become slightly negative. Then I will very slowly and gently kick to the surface, but I will be negative. The primary reason is that if I pop up and a boat is bearing down on me, I may be able to exhale sink down, and spin and kick down. If you passively float to the surface using your lungs, you will be more vulnerable to being hit. Also, as you get very shallow, like 5 ft, you don't want the lungs to really be full and if there is significant wave heights.. you don't want to be riding full lungs.... Below 20 feet the relative pressure change is much less for each foot of vertical ascent.

 

[TSandM]

Holdfast, that's PERFECT! The only thing you want to be careful about is that you don't completely hold your breath while you are going up. Fill your lungs and then do little breaths in and out to make sure your airway is open.

 

[boulderjohn]

As others have said, what you are doing is just fine. Let me add a little about the concern about lung overexpansion.

A student once asked me "If it is wrong to hold your breath while ascending, why is it OK to inhale while ascending? Isn't it pretty much the same thing?"

Good question.

We never hold our breath while ascending because of the fear of a lung overexpansion injury. If our lungs are full when we hold our breath, the expanding air has no where to go, and we will be injured. On the other hand, if our lungs are not full, a little expansion won't hurt us. You don't want to take a chance, though, so you develop the habit--never hold your breath.

Now, let's look at inhaling. How do we inhale? We inhale by expanding the chest cavity with our airway open, which causes air to be pulled into the lungs. If our lungs are full, we can't inhale. If our lungs are full and our airway is open in the hope of inhaling, then air will come out. Thus, if we have the ability to inhale, then we don't have a problem. That is why it is safe for us to breathe continuously as we ascend. They key is the open airway. If we keep our airway open and don't clamp down as in holding our breath we can inhale and even pause our breathing temporarily without danger.