peak performance buoyance

[Becca65]

so about to take AOW - when we bought books we were told peak performance buoyance would be one of the dives we would do for the course - hubby and I were under the impression that particular dive (or course) was usually done in a pool - no problems with visibility - you can just work on your buoyance - but the instructor says all 5 of the dives for AOW are required to be done in lake (or ocean) - is that true and if so why?
Just thinking for that one particular dive seems like we'd get more out of it in a more controlled environment - but what do I know?

 

[tbone1004]

having a dedicated dive to PPB is stupid in my opinion, all dives should be under the premise of peak performance buoyancy, but hovering in a pool doesn't really do much for you, better to have the real world experience of having to ascend and descend and what not. Plus, depending on the lake, it can be considered a controlled environment. Same for some parts of the ocean actually.

 

[vixtor]

PPB cannot be just a dive. It is a collection of various things: correcting bad habits, giving you some hints how to improve your position in water, letting you think more about what's wrong and what you can do to correct it, letting you feel the consequences of various equipment, behavior and procedure changes.

I don't think you can do all that just in a single discussion and one dive (or you can do it if you are already close to perfection). Otherwise, you just need to take this as a gradual process and rather look at all 5 dives as steps in the direction of a real PPB. The same is true for a few more dives to come after the course.

Try to understand what is expected from you, what is the proper position and the expected attitude in water. Now you are not as task loaded as you were in the begining so you can start concentrating on buoyancy improvements. Then, try to check how you really are compared to the correct position. If you cannot feel for yourself, ask a buddy to film you. When you don't like what you see, try to think the root cause. Ask when in doubt.

 

[KevinNM]

The difference between what you think you are doing in the water and what you are actually doing can be pretty astonishing. A short video can be really helpful.

 

[Steve_C]

I retook all the AOW dives as full courses. Point is to dive more not just get the max number of cards. PPB was entirely in open water when I took it. Pool dives do not count toward and certs although all practice is useful.

 

[boulderjohn]

so about to take AOW - when we bought books we were told peak performance buoyance would be one of the dives we would do for the course - hubby and I were under the impression that particular dive (or course) was usually done in a pool - no problems with visibility - you can just work on your buoyance - but the instructor says all 5 of the dives for AOW are required to be done in lake (or ocean) - is that true and if so why?
Just thinking for that one particular dive seems like we'd get more out of it in a more controlled environment - but what do I know?

All AOW dives must be done in the open water. No pool work is required, but some instructors do include pool sessions in the course as an extra.

Peak Performance Buoyancy can be a very good course or not much of a course, depending a lot upon the instructor. An instructor who has technical dive training will usually teach a very different course from one who does not have that training. In addition, it depends upon how much buoyancy control you learned before. Most OW training courses really did not do a good job teaching buoyancy control, and it is very possible for a diver to get certified with very poor buoyancy control. PADI has new standards that are supposed to emphasize buoyancy control much, much more than in the past, but I would bet a lot of instructors are not doing much more than used to be required. In summary, if you have poor buoyancy control now and your instructor is going to work hard on it, it can be an outstanding class. If you already have decent skills and your instructor is going to go for the minimum, it won't help you much.

As for me, when I teach AOW, we work on buoyancy on every dive. If the student chooses PPB, we work on it the first dive, and we keep working on it for the next four dives, too.

 

[RJP]

Just thinking for that one particular dive seems like we'd get more out of it in a more controlled environment - but what do I know?

Another reason to do PPB in open water is the ability to conduct the dive between 0 and 60ft... rather than 0-10ft. Going through depth changes on descents/ascents, working mid-water (ie no visual references) going through thermoclines, transiting across silty bottoms etc makes for a better experience than hovering in a crystal clear pool.

---------- Post added July 6th, 2015 at 06:00 PM ----------

having a dedicated dive to PPB is stupid in my opinion,

Proof that internet advice - from someone who doesn't know anything about you, your abilities, your instructor, or their abilities - is worth exactly what you pay for it.

 

[TSandM]

As Boulderjohn said, if this is PADI AOW, all 5 dives must be done in open water.

Although I agree that buoyancy and control in the water should be part of ALL dives ever done under instruction, I do think it's not a bad idea to start the AOW class with a dive which is completely dedicated to checking proper weighting, weight distribution, and buoyancy control. Then all the subsequent dives will be more productive for the student. In addition, I think it is important to have a sense of the student's degree of buoyancy control before doing a deep dive, for the student's safety.

 

[Becca65]

Thanks - we were just wondering because all the PADI videos we've seen have people in the pool when they show people taking PPB - and photos in the PADI book for that matter. I would like to take the full PPB course at some point and while I know first hand the "how you think you are and how you really are" are two different things we've both been told our buoyancy control is pretty good considering we've been diving under 2 years so we'll see how it goes in AOW

 

[Kharon]

I'm sorry. I just can't understand getting AOW with 5 introductory dives. SDI requires full courses and a minimum number of dives. Even then the certs you get are learners permits. I simply don't see how you can master what you need for deep diving (or any of the other specialities) in a single exploratory dive.