Divingblueberry
Contributor
It is difficult to give really good advice because we don't know where you are now. There can be a tremendous difference among newly certified divers in terms of buoyancy, depending upon how they were taught. Here are some questions.
- Were you taught to do your skills while you were on your knees and negatively buoyant, or were you neutrally buoyant and horizontal?
- When you practice hovering, are you in a vertical (head up) or horizontal position?
- How close to ideal weighting are you? If you are at the surface in the deep end of the pool, hold a normal breath, and dump all the air out of your BCD, which of the following happens?
- Float at eye level
- Float with your head just below the surface
- Begin to sink very slowly
- Sink rapidly
- When you are swimming slowly in the deep end of the pool, is your body in a truly horizontal position, or is it more at a 45 degree angle?
- If you are swimming slowly in the deep end of the pool and stop kicking completely, what happens?
Well, @boulderjohn, you got me really thinking here. And I thank you for that.
I am working on keeping an horizontal position as much as possible. Unfortunately, I cannot see myself so I cannot confirm it's always the case, but I am pretty sure my body isn't at a 45 degree angle. Same for the hovering : I start by being horizontal at the bottom of the pool and take deeper breaths and practice that way. I also try to keep the same distance from the bottom while swimming, even with the slope (I found following the slope with only my breathing helped me having a better focus). I don't use my arm to turn, only my kicking.
As for the weight, the 16 pounds I had the last time definitely brought me down rather rapidly. I will try 14 and 12 this week and see how it goes.
Thank you very much for you input. Your questions are very helpful.