Bouyancy in an OW class.

[MikeFerrara]

landlocked once bubbled...
This summer she went to Mexico and did a cavern class. Her eyes were greatly opened. (Of course the upshot was that all this exact bouyancy stuff was way beyond our abilities and best left to her and the other teckies.

Maybe you should ask her who is better prepared to deal with the results of poor bc and trim a new diver or her and the other techies? IMO, avoiding buddy seperations, siltouts, overexertion, and uncontrolled ascents and descents is even more important for a new diver.

You are right when you say she is teaching the way she was taught. The sad thing is that divers aren't being tought this stuff in OW and we know they're not being tought it in AOW and rescue doesn't teach it and DM training doesn't teach it and an IDC doesn't teach it. So my question is, when when divers are supposed to learn it if instructors never have to learn it?

 

[ScubaDan]

I was disappointed in my OW training, bouncy was talk about but never practiced that much and Trim was never talked about. I'm looking forward to my DIRF class in September.

 

[mudguppy]

ScubaDan once bubbled...
I'm looking forward to my DIRF class in September.

Hey...way to plan! Have fun.
I wanna go!......... ;-0

MG
:tree:

 

[landlocked]

mudguppy once bubbled...
DIRF....

Hey...way to plan! Have fun.
I wanna go!......... ;-0

MG
:tree:

I think we got her!

 

[Uncle Pug]

... it... was ... inevitable.

 

[WJL]

Uncle Pug once bubbled...
... it... was ... inevitable.

Inevitable, eh? I bet you a stainless steel double-ender that we will never live to see NetDoc, Genesis or Lawman in a DIRF class.

 

[DiverBuoy]

Mike Ferrara, thanks for the detailed description of your confined water sessions. I wondered how you were teaching certain skills without letting students touch the bottom. I'm relieved that your primary effort is role-model behavior for the pros, and gradual introduction of concepts through games and extra pool time.

Tell me more about the mechanics of the mask game. They get buoyant swim to the first coin, remove their mask and use the mask skirt to scoop the coin (continuously breathing and maintaining buoyancy), then replace and clear the mask (careful not to lose the coin), then move on to the next coin? Is that the idea? More details please...

 

[cudachaser]

In my classes, buoyancy is 2nd to "never hold your breath". It is extremely important. DAN surveys show over weighting as major contributer to diving accidents.

Buoyancy Control doesn't confuse the student any more than anything else they are given. Teaching them buoyany with just the "fin pivot" will not perfect the skill, it's a starting point. They have to know that dumping air from the BC won't work when in an inverted or even a horizontal position (esp with back inflate). They have to learn to be in a vertical position.

One exersize I use after the fin pivot is for them to remove their fins. Then we practice "moon walking" ... no not the Michael Jackson kind. This excercise requires they be a little on the negative side...Just have practice walking and hopping on the bottem and even the sides of the pool. Then we get as close to neutral as possible and I have them practice "flying" ...go to the sides of the pool, kick off and soar thru the water. After that, I have them curl up in ball get themselves neutral again. I have them train their eyes on a stationary object and stay suspended in the water, only movement, up & down with their breathing.

I finish this session having them climb out of the pool and say "welcome back to earth...doesn't gravity suck?"

They love that session. I have had students come back later and tell me they had dreams that evening about being weightless

 

[jbd]

plenty of good responses about teaching bouyancy control in OW courses. But I do have a comment about instructors attitudes towards students.

:box: I would be extremely insulted to think that an instructor I was paying to teach me something thought I was to stupid to learn anything that any other human being could learn simply because I was a student.

There is NOTHING complicated or mystical about learning to scuba dive. There is NOTHING about scuba diving that is beyond the learning capabilities of the average person. The laws of physics that apply to scuba have been well known for hundreds of years and they are concepts that can be easily taught and demonstrated to most any student you will encounter.

If scuba diving was truly that difficult it couldn't be taught at all in the very short time that it takes to teach someone to dive.

We as instructors are simply teaching our students how these laws apply to scuba diving. The students we are teaching are NOT morons.

Stepping off the :box: now

 

[DiveTub]

As an Instructor that used to work for LDS's I was always frustrated with the little amount of time I had to teach students great buoyancy, one of the reasons I now teach private courses…

So the answer I have. My Students complete the OW course as standard

BUT

The following weekend or as soon after the completion of the OW my students come back for a weekend and complete the Peak Performance Buoyancy course in full.

And I can tell you right now, you put my students up against those from any OW class and they will leave them for dust in the buoyancy dept