Maybe the dumbest question on SB

[Bratface]

It's an unusual question, but certainly not a dumb one. Maybe a section of a swim noodle that you could thread something through to attach around your neck at the end of the dive. Of course, you would have to deal with it's buoyancy when it was stowed in a BC pocket during the dive.

 

[danvolker]

It's an unusual question, but certainly not a dumb one. Maybe a section of a swim noodle that you could thread something through to attach around your neck at the end of the dive. Of course, you would have to deal with it's buoyancy when it was stowed in a BC pocket during the dive.

Actually, this thread is opening up all the nonsense I always attributed to purposely swimming any real distance on your back...
it is one thing, when it is a bot dive, and you are talking a short swim....
I think it would be really stupid for a diver to elect to swim such long distances on their back that they would get a tired neck.....long before this, they should have turned over on their stomach, and begun using a snorkel.

If you are a scuba diver and you can't easily snorkel, there was something horribly wrong with your training.
Seriously, I see no excuse for not being competent with a snorkel.

 

[Damselfish]

I don't see a problem with a pillow UW - if it's basically empty at the surface it will just get even smaller at depth then get no bigger than it started on ascent. But it sounds like a nuisance to deal with, and not likely to help your swimming speed any. Sticking a SMB under your neck is probably even less streamlined to swim with like that.

Is there a specific reason you're swimming a distance on your back? Some people like to swim that way, but if you're uncomfortable, why do it? Personally I find swimming on my back uncomfortable, plus I can't see where I'm going, and have the sun in my eyes and burning my face, and I don't think a pillow would fix any of that. I'd much rather swim forward with a snorkel (or usually my reg, as I've always got air left.) Long surface swims are exactly what snorkels are for. (I do think stowing it someplace other than your mask during the dive is a good thing to consider though.)

While there's reasons you might surface swim back to a boat occasionally, it seems unusual that you find yourself having to do long swims a lot of the time. If you're having trouble navigating back to the boat UW, it's just something you can work on and learn and this will pass. If you have to, you can always surface to see where you're going then drop back under shallow where swimming with scuba is usually easier - I think pretty much everyone does this once in awhile. If the problem is that you're often coming up far from the boat because you don't have the air to make it back UW, that's a real problem that will bite you sooner or later and you do need to work on turning your dive soon enough.

 

[nolatom]

If you are going to do long surface swims, you should learn how to snorkel......snorkeling back in, would be much more comfortable and effective....Kicking on your back is fine when you really are not going far, or having to do any specific navigation, but is seriously inferior to snorkeling for a long swim.

Really? I feel as though I get more power from my legs/fins on my back than on my tummy, both just plain pool swimming with no fins (the clock agrees with me on this) and surface diving swim with fins. That's one of the reasons I put my snorkel in my pocket after a couple of years.

The orientation part I get, that's easier if you're looking ahead obviously, but you can compensate on your back by using a "stern bearing" object if there is one, or your compass if there isn't.