It should be noted that the paper John submitted to PADI and the ensuing discussion became the impetus for the changes that lead to the new OW standard. Yes, it started right here on Scubaboard.
R..
Buoyancy skills
- Thread starter buiszie
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It should be noted that the paper John submitted to PADI and the ensuing discussion became the impetus for the changes that lead to the new OW standard. Yes, it started right here on Scubaboard.
R..
The Chairman
Chairman of the Board
We have some smart people here on SB! Somehow, Diver0001 and myself have slipped in with them! 
MichaelMc
Working toward Cenotes
By skin gear gear I mean mask, snorkel, fins, wetsuit, weights. @Jim Lapenta mentioned teaching buoyancy and trim that way, swimming in neutral trim, and diving down for a moment and settling for a few seconds, before going to scuba. We do some mask drills in skin gear before scuba, but the trim, when stationary to do the drill, is usually rather vertical, due to the weight belt being low, or there is a lot of kicking to hold trim. My personal experience is you can tune skin buoyancy exactly, for example for ditch and recover/don of mask/snorkel/fins on bottom, but non-swimming trim is very hard with just a weight belt.
@NorCalDM we train in Monterey but we do our skills checkouts at Del Monte beach, which is typically calm water. But it is also a very boring beach with sand and a bit of sea grass. The downside of Del Monte is divers think they have seen Nor Cal diving, but all they’ve seen so far is a cold underwater sand lot with some grass. That may influence why people use Breakwater for checkout dives. This last class we did checkouts mid water, but we had an instructor and 1 or 2 DM/TAs per dive team and students come to us as OW or AOW already. In low vis we've cycled student teams through being down with the instructor to do the checkout drills. We do a day of checkouts + Nav, then Nav, then a day of rescues at that beach. For later dives we are often at Breakwater, and see the large groups wading into the surf to do drills. Edit:
. The only other groups we've seen using Del Monte are other universities.
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The Chairman
Chairman of the Board
OK, that's not a method I use. I do mask skills in the Kiddie pool and then it's all Scuba.
By skin gear gear I mean mask, snorkel, fins, wetsuit, weights. @Jim Lapenta mentioned teaching buoyancy and trim that way, swimming in neutral trim, and diving down for a moment and settling for a few seconds, before going to scuba. We do some mask drills in skin gear before scuba, but the trim, when stationary to do the drill, is usually rather vertical, due to the weight belt being low, or there is a lot of kicking to hold trim. My personal experience is you can tune skin buoyancy exactly, for example for ditch and recover/don of mask/snorkel/fins on bottom, but non-swimming trim is very hard with just a weight belt.
@NorCalDM we train in Monterey but we do our skills checkouts at Del Monte beach, which is typically calm water. But it is also a very boring beach with sand and a bit of sea grass. The downside of Del Monte is divers think they have seen Nor Cal diving, but all they’ve seen so far is a cold underwater sand lot with some grass. That may influence why people use Breakwater for checkout dives. This last class we did checkouts mid water, but we had an instructor and 1 or 2 DM/TAs per dive team and students come to us as OW or AOW already. In low vis we've cycled student teams through being down with the instructor to do the checkout drills. We do a day of checkouts + Nav, then Nav, then a day of rescues at that beach. For later dives we are often at Breakwater, and see the large groups wading into the surf to do drills. Edit:
We have used Del Monte as well when we can't get in elsewhere Macabee is usually our go to. We try to avoid Breakwater kind of like diving in rush hour traffic!
Would you share your teaching method?
Sure. Please bear in mind that I NEVER do more than 4 students at a time, obviously if you have more the timescale will extend
I start off with a dry demo of the basic positioning:
Then I get them to do some weighting exercises with mask and snorkel, what they are doing is exhaling until lung mid point, they start getting short hovers around here:
The next step is to get a reg in their mouth and work on breathing neutral. I use a long hose from a tank on the side of the pool ala UTD ESM course, keeps it gradual with them and allows to focus on the buoyancy without the distractions of the gear. This is also where I get them to do reg remove and replace and mask clear. They are holding weights in their hands, prevents sculling and allows them to move forward and backward to assess trim. We use this info to distribute weight once they are in gear:
After that its gear up and hover neutral. This is all done in the first 2 hour session:
They are usually pretty tired by then, the next training day is 5 min hovering to recap, followed by all the usual CW skills, all done neutral.
I start off with a dry demo of the basic positioning:
Then I get them to do some weighting exercises with mask and snorkel, what they are doing is exhaling until lung mid point, they start getting short hovers around here:
The next step is to get a reg in their mouth and work on breathing neutral. I use a long hose from a tank on the side of the pool ala UTD ESM course, keeps it gradual with them and allows to focus on the buoyancy without the distractions of the gear. This is also where I get them to do reg remove and replace and mask clear. They are holding weights in their hands, prevents sculling and allows them to move forward and backward to assess trim. We use this info to distribute weight once they are in gear:
After that its gear up and hover neutral. This is all done in the first 2 hour session:
They are usually pretty tired by then, the next training day is 5 min hovering to recap, followed by all the usual CW skills, all done neutral.
Attachments
As long as they don't know being neutral in the water is difficult, they wont find it's difficult. If the instructor starts off by telling them something is complicated, students will struggle.
(they have dangly spg syndrome!)
(they have dangly spg syndrome!)
Well... that's partly right. Many instructors find it difficult to teach neutrally buoyant and express this to the student either directly or indirectly through body language etc. Setting expectations is important, as you mentioned.
However, the instructor really does need to "do something" to get students diving. It's not something in my experience that happens automatically by just not telling them that it's difficult. They need to be shown how and in any process of learning, the student will usually need to work toward a goal. Assuming that by just telling them that it's easy will make it easy isn't entirely accurate.
R..
However, the instructor really does need to "do something" to get students diving. It's not something in my experience that happens automatically by just not telling them that it's difficult. They need to be shown how and in any process of learning, the student will usually need to work toward a goal. Assuming that by just telling them that it's easy will make it easy isn't entirely accurate.
R..
Yes I know the SPGs are dangly. Baby steps, baby steps. By the end of day 2 they are streamlined.
I saw that comment coming as I uploaded the pics, sigh.
I saw that comment coming as I uploaded the pics, sigh.
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