how to be Neutral Buoyancy?

[DevonDiver]

question for the future night dives, should I hold her hands to prevent this from happening again?

Really... I think the best strategy is to limit your diving and the consequent nitrogen accumulation. Novice divers have skill hiccups from time-to-time, it's nearly inevitable. The idea behind the advice to keep your dives conservative... is to make circumstances more forgiving when those hiccups occur. In short, you can't eliminate the errors, but you can limit the repercussions and consequences of those errors.

Some rudimentary investigation into basic deco theory will help you understand the importance of depth, time, surface intervals and repetitive diving in the context of 'conservative diving'.

I was told during my AWO SSI with the course director not to touch her or hold her hands. Let her swim on her own, which she ascent up too quickly during her night dives...

On a training course, the instructor will seek to promote individual dive skills. Each student has to master those skills. Whilst buddy diving and assistance is a core aspect of safe diving, there is a fine line between buddy assistance and compensating for another's deficits. I can understand why on a training course, the instructor might want to maximise the opportunity for your wife to develop independent skills.

That said, I see nothing wrong with mutual support through something as simple as 'holding hands'. It's a perfectly valid diving technique. Just be wary that over-protection can stifle the accumulation of personal experience and competence.

 

[TSandM]

One of the things about night dives is that you are rather more limited in your visual references, which can make it harder to realize that you are getting buoyant before it gets away from you. If you add that to being overweighted because a bit of anxiety made it hard to descend, you have a recipe for unstable buoyancy. Was she really solid on her buoyancy before the night dives? If not, she may just need a bit more time of diving in daylight before challenging her skills in the dark. I had a very bad experience with a night dive early on, and didn't night dive for a few months after that, until a buddy coaxed me into it, and then it went fine.

I concur with the comment that if the symptoms of DCS occurred a week after the last dive, it was vanishingly unlikely that it was actually DCS. Over 90 percent of cases will present within 24 hours.

 

[cool79]

I got her a dive computer which is cressi and had set to the most conservative mode.

Really... I think the best strategy is to limit your diving and the consequent nitrogen accumulation. Novice divers have skill hiccups from time-to-time, it's nearly inevitable. The idea behind the advice to keep your dives conservative... is to make circumstances more forgiving when those hiccups occur. In short, you can't eliminate the errors, but you can limit the repercussions and consequences of those errors.

Some rudimentary investigation into basic deco theory will help you understand the importance of depth, time, surface intervals and repetitive diving in the context of 'conservative diving'.



On a training course, the instructor will seek to promote individual dive skills. Each student has to master those skills. Whilst buddy diving and assistance is a core aspect of safe diving, there is a fine line between buddy assistance and compensating for another's deficits. I can understand why on a training course, the instructor might want to maximise the opportunity for your wife to develop independent skills.

That said, I see nothing wrong with mutual support through something as simple as 'holding hands'. It's a perfectly valid diving technique. Just be wary that over-protection can stifle the accumulation of personal experience and competence.

---------- Post added February 26th, 2013 at 12:24 AM ----------

Correction, the DCS kick in after 2 days later.
she is quite good in her trim during day dives. but she is afraid of worms looking stuff, which may explain why she was anxiety during the night dives.

Would be bring her to Malaysia for some short dives, there isn't much stuff to see there, as the ocean over there isn't that rich in eco. hopefully she will do well during that night dive.

but will be holding her hand. I am worried that she might shot up again

One of the things about night dives is that you are rather more limited in your visual references, which can make it harder to realize that you are getting buoyant before it gets away from you. If you add that to being overweighted because a bit of anxiety made it hard to descend, you have a recipe for unstable buoyancy. Was she really solid on her buoyancy before the night dives? If not, she may just need a bit more time of diving in daylight before challenging her skills in the dark. I had a very bad experience with a night dive early on, and didn't night dive for a few months after that, until a buddy coaxed me into it, and then it went fine.

I concur with the comment that if the symptoms of DCS occurred a week after the last dive, it was vanishingly unlikely that it was actually DCS. Over 90 percent of cases will present within 24 hours.

 

[261311]

Dive computer or not, you need to understand NDL and tables to be able to use them properly and understand what they're telling you. They only help give you real-time readings, they don't do it all for you. The actual fact is dive computers are less conservative because they do give you real time readings. NDL tables make you work from max depth instead of multi-profiles.

Via DCS, it sounds unlikely that 2 days later she experienced this but she may have been doing things that actually encouraged nitrogen to linger. Was she participating in any heavy activity, alcohol or long, hot baths?