The article John refers to, from the Undersea Journal Q2 2011:
Going carefully from a vertical, negatively buoyant posture to a neutral, horizontal posture through a carefully planned sequence is, indeed, how some instructors do it, but some instructors use a different approach. These instructors have students neutrally buoyant from the beginning, even in the first confined water dive, with their legs resting lightly on the floor of the pool. They are in a position similar to a fin pivot, with their upper bodies supported by the air in their BCDs. This doesn’t impede learning because the light contact retains fractionized contact. It is not kneeling, but not having to focus on hovering (at first) that simplifies the skill. This minimal-contact-without-kneeling approach enhances transfer because the transition from this buoyancy state to mid water neutral is a smaller step.
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- Training takes about the same amount of time whether kneeling or neutrally buoyant with light bottom contact.
- Students become comfortable quickly with a neutrally buoyant, horizontal posture and do not need a long adjustment period.
- Many skills are easier for students to perform while neutrally buoyant and horizontal than if they are done kneeling and vertical.
- By staying close to the student, control while neutrally buoyant differs little compared to when kneeling.
One misconception many people have when first hearing of this approach is that it requires students to perform skills while in a full hover throughout the training. As stated earlier, that’s not correct. It’s not reasonable to expect the students to have mastered neutral trim at the early learning stages. Students are generally in light contact with the pool bottom while doing most skills. That is all that is required to take buoyancy from the task load. As their training advances, students will progressively make less contact with the bottom.
And still after all these years, loads of instructors start on their knees, students on their knees as well. Unnecessary. As for the 4th bulletpoint, I disagree. From a neutral midwater position, I can reach a student much faster than from a kneeling position.