Horribly out of Trim

[Addicted2H2O]

Honestly, trim is a tool. If you can only dive in a horizontal position then you are fortunately stuck in a gear that can take you anywhere, but you are missing out on the joys of diving. Play is free and unreal as defined in philosophy. We make too many rules in diving which is another reason diving is defined as a sport. Diving used to be about looking at the underwater world. Now, it has become about looking at ourselves and others and judging performance. The best diver in the world is the one who is having the most fun. I think your son is learning that for himself. Nice!

I never really thought of it that way but you make a very good point. I often catch myself watching other divers and looking at the form or watching the fin kick to check for bicycling or watching them struggle with neutral buoyancy. Not necessarily judging, which yes I probably am a little, but I have to tell myself that I too was that person not so very long ago. I still by no means have buoyancy perfected, but I'd like to think I'm at least a little more calm, relaxed, and stable in the water. But the point is that while I'm watching other divers, I'm missing what's going on around me. I'm missing the whole reason I became a diver in the first place. And I usually tend to dive in the horizontal position. So maybe I need to take cues from txgoose's son and try being a bit like Buddha. On one particular dive last year with my LDS in Cozumel, I watched the shop owner stay in that position pretty much the entire dive along Santa Rosa Wall. Guess who had the best air consumption that dive...

 

[Trace Malinowski]

Remember when we were kids just playing in the pool, lake or ocean? How much fun was that? Michael Phelps, on the other hand, probably the greatest swimmer that will ever be, was emotionally miserable much of the time in his career. The awesome thing about kids being involved in snorkeling and scuba diving is they find a way to balance the fun with the rules of how to stay safe while freediving or using scuba. As adults, we do dumb things like join social media sites where we find out that we have to dive like a cave diver or we suck. While we are worried about what we look like the kids are looking around going, "Wow! Double Wow!"

 

[Neilwood]

Honestly, trim is a tool. If you can only dive in a horizontal position then you are fortunately stuck in a gear that can take you anywhere, but you are missing out on the joys of diving. Play is free and unreal as defined in philosophy. We make too many rules in diving which is another reason diving is defined as a sport. Diving used to be about looking at the underwater world. Now, it has become about looking at ourselves and others and judging performance. The best diver in the world is the one who is having the most fun. I think your son is learning that for himself. Nice!

Great post - trim is, as you say, a tool. One that we can choose to use or not. Whether that tool is best, for me depends on the situation. If I can achieve something best by being flat & horizontal, great but if I am looking at a reef wall on a drift, all that will do is give me a sore neck - twist the horizontal 90 degrees so I am facing the reef and I will enjoy it better.

I have, when checking my buddy behind me, deliberately gone inverted now and again - great position to see them from and normally gets a smile.

Some situations require good trim and it is a great thing to learn but it shouldn't be the only thing.

I recall a thread from the sadly missed TS&M where she was diving with some of the leading divers from GUE (link). I think it is a good reminder to not take ourselves too seriously all the time

 

[Addicted2H2O]

Remember when we were kids just playing in the pool, lake or ocean? How much fun was that? Michael Phelps, on the other hand, probably the greatest swimmer that will ever be, was emotionally miserable much of the time in his career. The awesome thing about kids being involved in snorkeling and scuba diving is they find a way to balance the fun with the rules of how to stay safe while freediving or using scuba. As adults, we do dumb things like join social media sites where we find out that we have to dive like a cave diver or we suck. While we are worried about what we look like the kids are looking around going, "Wow! Double Wow!"

This is the very reason I got my son (9 in September) involved in the PADI Seal Team training. I mean yes so I can get him comfortable with being underwater and get him some experience breathing on a reg, learning how to flood and clear his mask (He's better at it than I am!), and some of the other need to know things, but also to show him how much fun it really is, even though he's only diving in a 10' deep very small pool that you can hardly turn around in, especially with more than 4-5 people in it. He's done 3 of the missions at this point and he's already getting himself inverted! So to see him having fun with it tells me I made the right choice to get him in it. And when he turns 10, if he decides he wants to pursue his OW, I'll let him do it. Some will say he's too young, too immature, too....pick a term. But the reality is he'll never be diving alone, and likely never with anyone other than me, his mom or his uncle, who got certified with me and has been my dive buddy many many times. I want him to have as much time underwater as he wants. I sort of believe that if I can get him to develop enough discipline to dive, he'll make a better student when it counts and overall just a better kid. And if that means letting him do "dumb" stuff underwater like the Buddha....I'm gonna join him!

 

[Trace Malinowski]

I think it came from the 15 years of fame where DIR dominated social media and everyone was trying to define themselves as a good diver by passing fundies. The inside joke was that fundies was where the fun dies. In some ways that's true. Sure. Having total control and helicopter-like mobility makes diving more fun. But, so does being inverted, spinning upside down with your head on a flat surface like a top when you flutter kick, corkscrewing, dolphin kicking, forward and backward somersaulting, barrel rolling, etc. When I teach trim, buoyancy, and propulsion we begin with no fins walking like commercial divers and hopping like astronauts on the moon. We do front and back flips and have a great time. I begin with play, like in infancy. What we discover on the journey by having fun helps us be serious later for gas sharing in a silty environment.

 

[Trace Malinowski]

One of my trimix students began diving at age 2 when his dad, a NAUI instructor, stuck a reg in his mouth. Now, he's the diving safety officer for a state aquarium.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Remember when we were kids just playing in the pool, lake or ocean? How much fun was that? Michael Phelps, on the other hand, probably the greatest swimmer that will ever be, was emotionally miserable much of the time in his career. The awesome thing about kids being involved in snorkeling and scuba diving is they find a way to balance the fun with the rules of how to stay safe while freediving or using scuba. As adults, we do dumb things like join social media sites where we find out that we have to dive like a cave diver or we suck. While we are worried about what we look like the kids are looking around going, "Wow! Double Wow!"

I can't "Like" this enough!

I recall a boulderjohn anecdote about he and a buddy diligently remaining in horizontal trim while diving along an overhang they really wanted to look under, because diving in horizontal trim had become so ingrained that anything else was unthinkable. We could all do well to let our inner kid come out and play once in a while. When we can no longer "balance the fun with the rules of how to stay safe," we have taken this hobby too far.

 

[Trace Malinowski]

As divers, we traded enjoying the show for showing off. "Look at that!" became "Look at me!"

 

[chillyinCanada]

I have never being able to do the Buddha. No matter how gear trimmed, I would tip to one side, and then a bit more, and then bit more and soon I'd be upside down.

 

[Addicted2H2O]

I have never being able to do the Buddha. No matter how gear trimmed, I would tip to one side, and then a bit more, and then bit more and soon I'd be upside down.

Maybe you didn't get Buddha quite right.....but......I bet you had fun trying didn't you?