Recently certified - buoyancy a mess. Would PPB help?

[Kendall Raine]

1. Lots of practice. Note that buoyancy control in a pool is harder than at depth because the relative pressure differential per foot of depth is greater shallow.
2. Relax. Being tense makes buoyancy control (and everything else) harder
3. Once you're slightly negative leave the up and down buttons alone and use your lungs to fine tune-not the same as breath holding. Get a feel for this. Full v. empty lung volume. Buoyancy control is more like driving a boat than driving a car. Anticipate and make slight changes.
4. Relax some more and have fun. Perfection is an asymptote.

 

[mcohen1021]

Wetsuits do not absorb water,

If that was true then why aren't they bone dry when you get out of the water?

Holy crap.

 

[tursiops]

If that was true then why aren't they bone dry when you get out of the water?

Holy crap.

The neoprene wetsuit IS dry, but the fabric coverings outside and inside (which are not buoyant) are what is wet.

 

[KenE]

The wetsuit as a whole is wet. The actual neoprene is hydrophobic but only makes up a percentage of the thickness of the suit. That percentage varies as the thickness of the suit varies. The inside and outer coatings are generally consistent and the neoprene changes with suit thickness changes. So, to say a neoprene wetsuit is dry is not completely accurate. The neoprene in a wetsuit remains mostly dry, but the coatings both inner and outer will retain water. As neoprene ages it will start to hold water as well. The micro bubble don't stay sealed and will hold water. Lower quality neoprene will hold water as well.

 

[Zinman]

how deep you go for now ? Do you shallow, deep , square profile or your stay pretty much at same depth ? What kind of exposure suit you are using ?

6-10m. Next dive in march is 15m. 7mm wet suit. My fins are slightly negatively buoyant (I have floaty feet so instructor gave me heavier fins). Gear rented (only my own mask and hood), my last dive where these issues happened, the shop forgot to fit my BCD to me, so it was a mess probably contributing to my float up.

 

[Zinman]

@Zinman, you are one of very few divers with less dives than me. I'm really new, so I can definitely relate to what you're experiencing. Right now, my buoyancy breathing kind of sucks and my sac rate is probably abysmal. I, like you, was yoyo'ing in the water and I had trouble staying a depth near the end of a dive.

Here are the things that made a huge difference for me:
-Properly venting my BC (a wing in my case) by assuming the proper body position. And adding/releasing air in tiny increments patiently waiting for the resultant change.
-Relaxing. Somehow, I got 5-10 lbs more negatively buoyant when I quit tensing up and thrashing around.
-Steel tank. I had been renting or borrowing an AL80. But when I bought an HP100, it was like magic both for my trim and buoyancy, especially toward the end of a dive.
-Help from my diving buddies. I was struggling to plane out on a dive, when my buddy signaled me over to a rock at 30 feet depth and I just held on until I got my buoyance dialed in and had a great dive for the remaining 45 minutes.

My biggest problem now is that I don't get to dive enough. You'll get it figured out.

OMG thank you for commenting. It’s great to have someone who’s been through it recently. I also had a rental BP/W BC - which wasn’t properly fitted (the shop forgot to fit it to me, and since it was my first time renting outside of the course, I forgot to ask as well). I think relaxing would be a big one for me! What’s “plane out on a dive” - is that a position?

 

[Zinman]

T

Honestly, when I see several divers all checking out the same thing, I say screw it and keep going. Don't care what it is bc honestly I've either seen it before or I don't find it worth it to get beat down by the other divers all jockeying for position to get a better look or the perfect pic.



You don't need to.



Tanks get more buoyant as they get empty.

My best advice to you is to find a pool with a deep end to practice buoyancy. My training facility was at the local junior college and their pool had a 15' pit.

Wetsuits are buoyant until they're fully saturated. So it might take a bit of time / effort to get down when it's dry. The thicker it is the more weight you'll need.

It's OK to go down with too much weight to learn how much you need or don't need. Start out with 12#. See if you plummet or go down slowly as you exhale. Lose 2#, try it again. Repeat until you find you descend slowly. For me, I know I have the right amount of weight when I completely deflate my BC and I'm very slightly negative. That way when it's safety stop time, I'm not fighting to stay down. I could actually do a Caribbean dive with 0# but I wear 3# to account for the empty tank.

In am sure the almighty King Scuba will get on here and tell you what I am saying is all wrong but I'm just telling you what works for me.

Feel free to PM anytime.

So helpful thankyou. My LDS has asked me to come along to the 4.5m deep pool (where I regulary swim and did my course), and potter around while they teach their next batch of OW divers. So I will be doing that, and playing around with different configurations. My descent has been ok so far (did almost 10-15 hours on training - in the pool - during my course - on descent alone cos’ for the life of me, I couldn’t go down at the start. No extra weights, just needed to change breath pattern). Thank you for the offer to PM

 

[RobPNW]

Honestly, when I see several divers all checking out the same thing, I say screw it and keep going. Don't care what it is bc honestly I've either seen it before or I don't find it worth it to get beat down by the other divers all jockeying for position to get a better look or the perfect pic.

This is frustrating. I find myself hovering over something else nearby for minutes waiting for people to get out of the way. Meanwhile you have the persistent DM tapping away with his stick about something interesting. I’m thinking to myself no thanks not interested in the group wrestling match. Then I’ll go in after people are done banging the reef and stirring up silt to see if anything is still visible.

 

[lowwall]

My LDS has asked me to come along to the 4.5m deep pool (where I regulary swim and did my course), and potter around while they teach their next batch of OW divers. So I will be doing that, and playing around with different configurations. My descent has been ok so far (did almost 10-15 hours on training - in the pool - during my course - on descent alone cos’ for the life of me, I couldn’t go down at the start. No extra weights, just needed to change breath pattern). Thank you for the offer to PM

Definitely take advantage of this. You want to especially work on hovering mid-water while motionless and adding and dumping air while slowly swimming. Don't sweat the trim just yet, but getting buoyancy under control is vital.

 

[Litefoot]

What’s “plane out on a dive” - is that a position?

That’s my neophyte slang for hovering horizontally in good trim. I think I speak for everyone here that we would love to read follow-up posts regarding your progress. I’ve had little victories along the way that keep me encouraged.