Horizontal Obsession

[Scott L]

To be clear on the drag issue; yes, some scuba divers can be more streamlined than others. However, I try not to swim fast enough for streamlining to be an issue.

If I find myself in a position to fight a strong current, my fitness level and finning ability will be tested significantly more than my drag coefficient.

Since embarking upon my thus far very undistinguished tec diving career over a year ago I have been trying to utlilize blade fins while single cylinder diving here in the Palm Beaches. There is no freaking way I can keep up with my buddies who utilize long-blade freediving fins when they decide to criss cross through our currents. As a consquence, I have brought my pair out of retirement....

 

[Peter Guy]

Dale C wrote

If my buddy is below me I maintain pretty good contact as I just swim straight down his/her bubble line.

But Dale, what contact would your buddy have with you? And, what contact would you have with your buddy if YOU were the one below?

Thal -- all the sea creatures I've seen tend to be parallel to their direction of motion -- and when one is diving, more often than not one is swimming along at a (more or less) constant depth -- thus, to use your frame of reference, the person would be "horizontal" if she were to be like a sea creature -- would she not?

Put me in the camp of "What is the obsession with questioning people who like to be horizontal?"

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I didn't use to pay a whole lot of attention to being horizontal in the water, but after reading how important it is (so often), I've been paying more attention to it. However, I often find it somewhat uncomfortable.

I am often hunting for fish which requires me to be constantly scanning the periphery of the visibility range and mostly looking ahead. Trying to remain perfectly horizontal and also looking forward requires that the head be cranked way back which is not comfortable for me. I'm not exactly sure about what angle my body is at, but I would guess maybe 15-20 degrees. In any case, NOT staying perfectly horizontal seems to be better for me.

Also, where I often dive sharks can be a serious issue and it is much, much easier to scan for sharks in a vertical than a horizontal position during the ascent.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Granted, fish are horizontal. But look at the octopus, squid etc.; they are in every position imaginable.

... but when they decide to swim rather than walk, even octopus and squid get horizontal ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[RU4SKUBA]

I haven't seen anybody who was a weak swimmer have very good trim, due to the common aversion to getting their face in the water or ears; however, my view is that every degree off horizontal is one too many and drag is muy mal.

I try to remain horizontal, for practice purposes, on 90% of my dives and use a frog kick as much as possible. Buoyancy control is where its at... IMO, and always practice how you play, develop good habits, and form good fundamentals.

Personally, I'd like to work toward cavern/cave diving and technical diving so I have a goal that's very specific that someone just out for fun might not share. Dive on...

 

[Mike Boswell]

Last year on a dock on Bonaire I watched two divers emerge from the water and climb up the aluminum ladder. They were wearing 3-mil shorties and their legs were scraped and bleeding in several places. The scrapes were the size of your hand, angry, bright red, and they looked extremely painful.

I suppose I should have felt some empathy for them, but in truth all I could think about was the cumulative damage that these klutzy, clueless divers wreak on slow-growing reefs, and how the diving experience will deteriorate year by year, until there is nothing left to see.

 

[denisegg]

Three Years ago:

Now:

I like to swim close to the bottom. I use it as a reference point. So swimming horizontally is what I feel most comfortable doing. I just started bending my knees when I took cave training. With your legs extended as in the first picture even horizontally you are going to silt the bottom with your fins. With your legs bent and fins up doing frog kicks you are less likely to silt. Once I learned this method I find it the most comfortable position in the water and I use it now for all my diving. If you learn the frog kick (which took me a while) you can propel yourself in the water fairly effortlessly. The second pick is at the mouth of a cave where the flow is pretty strong. The horizontal position is not just important to keep from silting the bottom. You displace less water than if you were more vertical therefore you exert less effort. You can really tell the difference in propulsion when it is put to the test as in this environment.

 

[wrybosome]

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Nice squid!

 

[elan]

Scuba is a three dimensional world through which organisms maneuver head first. You've never seen a dolphin or a sea lion stay horizontal have you? Staying almost horizontal whilst maneuvering in a three dimensional environmental is what man-made machines do, it is against nature.

It does not change the point...

 

[captain]

People are confusing the intent of my post. I don't know how to swim horizontal to the bottom unless I am horizontal, that is a no brainer. And if silting up the place is an issue I use a frog kick, but generally only in those conditions not all the time. I don't do elevator diving. If I need to descend from the surface to the bottom then I swim at some downward angle from horizontal and the opposite to ascend.
As Thal said just as the seals and dolphins do