Buoyancy Questions

[Random Dude]

Hi all, newly minted OW diver here, took the chance to ingrain all the basic skills and tried some other more advanced skills in the pool after my certification.

Had success in trying out frog kicks, back kicks, helicopter turns, and holding my position relatively still in the water, but was unable to duplicate those success when faced with current in a few recent open water dives.

Are there any tips to maintaining stationary in current while in trim, specifically how to counteract the currents that pushes you sideways? (Could maintain forward and backward position, but not my lateral position)

Hope to get hear from all of you!

 

[Diver0001]

The biggest tip I can think of off the top of my head is to face into the current.

R..

 

[tbone1004]

moving laterally is incredibly difficult to do and takes arguably years of practice. Even then, you can only ever move so fast sideways because of where the propulsion is going. If you're familiar with canoeing it's similar to trying to move a canoe sideways. It's possible, but it's very slow.

I can move sideways, I can't move sideways fast. If there is any sort of current, I just face the current and stabilize that way

 

[Random Dude]

Cool, thanks for shedding some light on this as I seldom read or hear about people discuss about lateral movement and currents when discussing buoyancy.

 

[wKkaY]

Do you mean stationary as in not making any body movements (while drifting along with the current), Or stationary as in keeping yourself over a specific position over the bottom?

 

[Random Dude]

@wKkaY Stationary as in maintaining a specific position over the bottom.
For example, when observing some critter on a man made reef. When not perpendicular to the current, I will slowly drift away, or even collide with other reefs, requiring larger adjustments that distract me from other things.

 

[Diver0001]

Melvin,

"holding station" can only be done in current if you are able to counter act the current. As tbone expressed, that is exceedingly difficult (if not impossible) to do laterally even for highly experienced divers with 1000's of dives. In addition it can be very difficult if you are facing away from the current. When facing away from the current I always tip forward because my configuration is streamlined for swimming forward. When facing away from current the current catches my fins and pushes my head down.

The only way you can really hold station in current is to face into the current and swim into it. If you swim at just the right speed you will be able to stay where you are.

In addition, divers are only able to swim so fast and currents can easily be too strong to swim against. In that case station holding is only possible if you anchor yourself to the bottom using something like a reef hook.

R..

 

[Random Dude]

@Diver0001
Thanks a lot for fleshing out your prior answer, interesting to know how equipment configuration can affect position in current.

Nice pointing out the fundamental concept of holding position being possible only if thrust sufficient to counteract current is accessible too. Going on that line of thought, fighting to hold lateral position in all but for the smallest of currents would seem futile.

Might get a reef hook or a muck stick for the next dive, have seen divers using gloves and grabbing reefs to hold station before, but definitely not a fan of that.