Bouyancy issue - any ideas?

[kidspot]

I am finally getting my bouyancy and trim down while in prone, inverted and vertical positions... But the one that seems to elude me is the ability to maintain my bouyancy while supine. There are a number of times when it would be quite nice to lay on my back in the water column, primarily on ascents. What I find is that as soon as I roll over onto my back I start ascending, not rapidly but steadily - I usually roll back over and regain control after ascending about 10ft... I also notice that my breathing pattern changes, partly due to the way my reg breathes when it's upside down. I assume the two are related, perhaps I am not exhaling as much as when face down?

So any tricks or ideas others have used to master this aspect of bouyancy/trim?

I feel like when I first started target shooting, I'd flinch just before a shot... so I started loading 5 dummy cartriges with 1 live round thrown randomly into the mix... never knew when the live round would show up, It let me see when I was flinching and eliminate that bad habit... Anything like that I might try with this issue?

Thanks, Tim

 

[Cacia]

definetly its in the lungs. try exhaling a little faster when you start to drift up. Start to sink? inhale a little faster. Pause when you have compensated. Kidspot, try this. unhook your inflator. Now just dive by blowing orally. See how great??

 

[Rick Inman]

Hopefully OE2X will chime in here. He likes to spend more time on his back looking up than any diver I've ever seen.

 

[SheriffMedic]

Another trick is body position, try pulling your knees up a little while your on your back. Breathing control is essential.

 

[thesassyrabbit]

Hopefully OE2X will chime in here. He likes to spend more time on his back looking up than any diver I've ever seen.

In or out of the water? :evil:

I am finally getting my bouyancy and trim down while in prone, inverted and vertical positions... But the one that seems to elude me is the ability to maintain my bouyancy while supine. There are a number of times when it would be quite nice to lay on my back in the water column, primarily on ascents. What I find is that as soon as I roll over onto my back I start ascending, not rapidly but steadily - I usually roll back over and regain control after ascending about 10ft... I also notice that my breathing pattern changes, partly due to the way my reg breathes when it's upside down. I assume the two are related, perhaps I am not exhaling as much as when face down?

Breathing... breathing is key. Don't know what type of set up your diving with, but you might also consider moving a few weights to the back.

 

[OE2X]

One thing your feet will be down - not quite like an inverted frog, but sort of. Keep your arms in front of you so that you can see your depth guage at all times. Eventually you will be able to focus on your ears and know if you are going up or down, but for the time watch your guage.

I have found than finning in a supine frog works really well to keep your buoyancy established. Not much different than if you were just starting out horizontal. Remember how hard it was just to hover at 15' motionless? Same thing is true starting out supine. I like doing this when I'm on a wall. Fin along and look at the surface.

To hold your 15' stop - your breathing is really critical. Slow and shallower breaths - Zen like... Look at the surface waves or when it's raining and calm, that will give you all sorts of visual excitement but concentrate on your breathing. When you become a master at it, you will resemble someone freefalling on their back - arms and legs outstretched.

 

[kidspot]

Thanks for the ideas - looks like I'll have lots of opportunity tomorrow to practice ... 4 dives scheduled...

Watching U.P. do a 10min ascent supine while we were diving together inspired me to get this figured out... Now if I can just keep that little bit of water in my mask from inevitably running down my nose and gagging me

I'll let ya' all know any progress I see tomorrow...

Aloha, Tim

 

[TSandM]

OK, now I'm REALLY intimidated about tomorrow -- I consider I'm doing well when I mail my buoyancy in NORMAL positions

 

[Chad Carney]

Tim,

That's funny you float more on your back, I've noticed more divers have a tendancy to sink in this position. Probably for a number of reasons, like the tank's ballast pulling them, no sculling possible anymore, and maybe the added difficulty pulling air down about a foot to the chest level.

Maybe you just compensate by taking huge breaths?

I often cross my extended legs in this position while watching my students practice buoyancy control. I also find it's one of the hardest positions, which forces me to do it all with breathing control.

Chad

 

[John C. Ratliff]

Remember that when you are on your back, your second stage is in your mouth and there is a large water column between your second stage and your lungs. That means that you have to breath harder (up to 12 inches of water pressure) to initiate flow. But with modern regulators having high flow, you will be then getting a huge amount of air from your regulator in this position. So maybe you need to "sip" the air rather than try to overcome the water pressure all at once. This may be why you are getting higher lung inflation, and therefore greater buoyancy, when you are on your back.

SeaRat