Upside Down Turtle - Please don't Laugh!

[SNorman]

What to do when the XS ladies BCDs still fit like a t-shirt?

Go to the store and get a couple dozen gallons of ice cream, and start digging!!

 

[Jafo123]

My wife the same problem when we first started diving. We found out over time and a few dives that her BCD was fitting to loose alowing it to slide around on her body. A few adjustments and all was OK after that. Just a guess but might be something to look at.

 

[TSandM]

What to do when the XS ladies BCDs still fit like a t-shirt?

This really is the beauty of the backplate/wing/Hog harness system. Infinite adjustability! That's why I ended up in one . . .

To the OP: Was it just on descent that you ended up turtling, or could you not stay supine after you got there? If it was on descent, man, do I know THAT problem. I did all my descents on my back for my first 20 + dives. The problem was that, when I let the air out of my BC, the tank was heavier than I was, and it headed for the bottom first.

NWGratefulDiver helped me through that one. A big tip is to bend your knees as you begin to descend. That puts the big planes of your fins behind you. They resist the water, and therefore tend to tip you out of the vertical position into a horizontal one. That helped me a lot.

If you are turtling while diving, I think you've gotten a lot of good ideas: Move weight forward toward your midline (the more the weight stacks up above you, the more unstable it is). Make sure your BC is adjusted snugly, so the tank has fewer degrees of freedom. Make sure your negative gear is balanced from side to side. I don't have a lot of other ideas, because that's perhaps the only diving problem I didn't have.

 

[Bubble Junky]

To the OP: Was it just on descent that you ended up turtling, or could you not stay supine after you got there?

Don't mean to be picky, but he doesn't want to stay supine. Supine is lying on your back, a la turtle.

A big tip is to bend your knees as you begin to descend. That puts the big planes of your fins behind you. They resist the water, and therefore tend to tip you out of the vertical position into a horizontal one.

I teach my students to descend with one leg bent behind them, as you described, and to point the toes on the other foot, so the fin points straight down. I find this works well in that if they have a equalisation problem, they can just bring the legs together again in a kicking motion, to bring them back up a meter or two.

 

[Ronniemu]

I exchanged my 100 cu ft steel tank to an 80 cu ft steel tank. This works out great, as I am short and the 100 cu ft tank was no longer hitting my head or butt. I normally would dive in a quarry with an 80 Al and would use 14 lbs of weights. This time I further reduced my weights down to 8 pounds and preformed a buoyancy check at the surface, it appeared, I am still over weighted, but I gave it a try. Things this time were much better. Trim wasn't too bad. At least I was managed to prevent myself from landing on my back. After swimming around, I reduced my weight to a total of 4 pounds and was surprised to find my buoyancy check on the surface being very good. I descended vertical, my trim was excellent. I did have a slight tendency to roll from side to side as I hovered. This was not an issue as long as I was swimming. When I stopped and started to hover this tendency to roll returned. I then realized that if I bend the opposite knee I could stop the roll. Most of my problems was being overweighted with my new tank. Normally when I surface swim, I swim on my back, I believe I have a habit of not getting vertical before descending . With the correct weight and by me getting more vertical or a swimming position, I no longer have that problem of landing on my back.

Thanks to everyone who have responded here, everyone has been so helpful in helping me solve my problem, REGARDS, Ronnie

 

[TSandM]

Oh, Bubble Junky, you are so right. Prone, I meant and should have written.

 

[tep]

NWGratefulDiver helped me through that one. A big tip is to bend your knees as you begin to descend. That puts the big planes of your fins behind you. They resist the water, and therefore tend to tip you out of the vertical position into a horizontal one. That helped me a lot.

When properly weighted (I hope!) I've often find myself in "skydiver" position on the descent: horizontal in a semi-starfish position. It's comfortable, and I seem to be able to slow my descent by just moving a little more head-up, or descend faster by going more head down. I don't think I'm over-weighted, because I'm pretty neutral at the surface and throughout the dive. I often kick down the first 10-15 feet sometimes if I'm still a little too positive.

Is this a good position, or should I be more vertical and feet down?

 

[D_B]

Skydiver position is better ... you can see the bottom, see your buddy, better able to swim to buddies assistance in a heartbeat
... although there may reasons to descend vertical at times with head up, but I can't think of one

 

[divinginn]

i had the same problem,it was caused by more air on one side of the wing than the other,now i just roll a sholder and let the air balance out,it took quite a few dives just to figure out what was causing the problem.

 

[Bubble Junky]

Is this a good position, or should I be more vertical and feet down?

Skydiver position is better ... you can see the bottom, see your buddy, better able to swim to buddies assistance in a heartbeat
... although there may reasons to descend vertical at times with head up, but I can't think of one

It depends on situation/conditions. If there's poor vis and you cannot see the bottom, it's probably best to be vertical and face to face with your buddy. Also when learning to dive I believe feet first descents are better as you can kick up a meter or so to aid equalisation. It is actually easier to equalise in a head up poition anyhow, as the air is headed 'up' (ie. towards the surface) your eustachian tubes. There are also times when it's better to descend head first, eg. in strong currents when a quick descent is needed.