When Did You Realise?

[Keysdrifter454]

hmmm... you guys are lucky... with my HUGE lungs, I ascend and descend with each breath.... its like my lungs are an extra bc.... useful for floating over big peices of coral and such..... but what if I wanted to get completely neutral? what should I do?

Learn diaphram breathing. It's not the air in your lungs that causes you to rise and fall, it's the change in your displacement relevant to buoyancy.

For me, on "when it clicked" I had instructors that would point out other problems divers had, so I could see them. I think the first thing I was envious of was divers who could hover at safety stop, and I tried had to learn it. Once I had that down, I finally felt civilized.

 

[jbd]

I'm the SAME way, I have a big chest, huge lungs, and I'm naturally a very slow, deep breather. I ascend and descend a lot, even though I don't move my arms much, futch with my gear, and consider my BCD skills to be very good (meaning how much air to put into the BCD), etc. It's very unnatural for me to breathe smaller breaths. Maybe I'll get better over time, but it will be a slow process.

So, see, you are not alone!

The idea is to breathe naturally and consistently in a relaxed, comfortable manner. Don't try forcing yourself to use smaller breathes. You want your exhalations to counter balance you inhalations. If you are large with big lungs maybe your range will be 12 inches instead of 4 to 6 inches. Thats OK. The important thing is that you are relaxed and comfortable.

The only time you need to change from this consistent respiratory pattern is when you wish to either ascend or descend. At that time you simply inhale slightly longer and deeper or exhale the same depending on which way you want to go, and then resume the relaxed consistent pattern again to maintain the new depth. Of course there may need to be an adjustment to the air in the BC once you settle at the new depth.

 

[jbd]

It's not the air in your lungs that causes you to rise and fall, it's the change in your displacement relevant to buoyancy.

While it is true that changes in displacement effect buoyancy, one must consider that the act of breathing changes your volume by expanding or contracting the rib cage and also the abdomen if you are using diaphram breathing. So the amount of air going into and out of your lungs does affect your buoyancy.

 

[Keysdrifter454]

While it is true that changes in displacement effect buoyancy, one must consider that the act of breathing changes your volume by expanding or contracting the rib cage and also the abdomen if you are using diaphram breathing. So the amount of air going into and out of your lungs does affect your buoyancy.

The amount of air you breath in comes from the amount of air stored on your back, already being bouyant. If it had any effect on your bouyancy, you'd sink, and not rise, with each and every breathing cycle because you've release the positive bouyancy with each breath. While this may cause a bouancy adjustment or two during the overall dive, it certainly doesn't happen with each breath.

 

[SueMermaid]

Took me about 50 dives, and I remember it well. I was in Bonaire, and my air consumption suddenly went to half what I normally used. It was allll about relaxing. I went from ~40 minutes of bottom time to over an hour. It's a great feeling, ain't it? Congratulations!

Baltimoron, like Pete says, it's everyone's problem. The trick to it is to relax enough so you are able to adjust buoyancy to somewhere in the middle of a full breath. Know what I mean? Give it time. Feeeeel the force. It will happen. :japanese:

 

[FatCat]

I first achieved true neutral buoyancy around my twentieth dive in the sense of being able to achieve it on every dive. Or so I thought.

Then I did my rescue course and became aware that there was yet more to learn and that maintaining buoyancy is something you must be able to do while executing a rescue. By the time I did my DM course I had mastered that. I then had done about 100 dives.

Then I switched to drysuit diving. Took me about ten dives to get comfortable with drysuit buoyancy. Once I got used to the drysuit, I noticed I was getting fed up with the ankle weights, so I ditched those and started over again with buoyancy control with the drysuit.

After that, I became an instructor. Whew, lots of new factors to consider. Buoyancy must be controlled in such a way that you can stabilize students without losing your own buoyancy. Took a while to get that under control. Then winter came along and I had to go through the whole learning experience again with students and a drysuit...

So congrats on your first true experience of weightlessness, but remember: you'll probably experience a few more key "learning moments" as you advance in diving.

So here are two tips that may be of some use to those struggling with buoyancy :

First : don't overthink, just do. Just put some air in your BC and vent it again if you think it is necessary. Don't worry too much about waisting air, just dive. Control will get better in time.

Second : relax. Try hanging from your BC like a sack of potatoes, like dead weight. Let your BC do the work.

 

[NauticalbutNice]

So congrats on your first true experience of weightlessness, but remember: you'll probably experience a few more key "learning moments" as you advance in diving.

Thanks! I know there's a long way to go, but that's part of the reason I love diving so much. I know there will always be something more to learn, something that I don't know.

Hopefully the buoyancy will stay fine, but I doubt it!

Nauticalbutnice :fruit:

 

[Wristshot]

I first realized that "got it" on a dive in Cozumel a couple years ago. It was probably around dive 25-ish. We were diving at Palancar Gardens. We were winding around in a series of channels through the reef, almost like a maze. The walls rose about 12 feet above us, but it was not an overhead environment. I was cruising near the sand, when the guide above us motioned that there was a ray swimming by. The guide was up at the top of the surrounding wall, pointing out to sea. I glided right up until I could see over the coral wall out at a magnificent ray gently "flying" through the water. I didn't touch anything, and I didn't continue ascending past the reef surface. It was almost like a prairie dog just popping up out of a hole to look around. The guide and I exchanged excited smiles and big thumbs up about the graceful ray. Then I simply slid back down effortlessly towards the sand.

I realized a minute or two later that I had not even thought about how to rise or to descend, I just did it. No effort, not thought, no conscious action. It was as if I had "willed" myself up and back down. That epiphany was even more exciting than the ray.

So that's my story.


Wristshot

 

[Scuba Leon]

I know exactly what you mean. Experienced it around dive ten after making a couple of long dives at around 8 m. However, it's one year ago that I dove and I stopped smoking since, so a few adjustments to my breathing techniques would be necessary I think...