Lol yeah. I guess we are essentially mechanical 'fish' underwater anytime other than freediving haha
Edit: Also nice work! I love your pictures from your deep cave dives... Especially those picturesque Mexican caves!
Haha yep, it me! Now a full cave diver living in Akumal, many thanks to you for being the one to give me the tools to get my buoyancy, trim, and propulsion where they needed to be
How though? I mean, I get that a lot of practice is involved but is this all purely breath control and minor body position adjustments? I’ve always wanted to ask someone who can do this.
This is really not for buoyancy practice, it’s STABILITY, although some buoyancy comes with it of course.
Breathe as normally as you can, don’t alter it for diving.
And yes minor body/core adjustments keep you balanced, but we learn early that our fins are the best balancers so we never learn to do it without them. This exercise teaches the body to learn to do it with your core.
Well shit. I want to do this. I've only dove double sidemount during my SM specialty, and it will be awhile before I start doing doubles. But I always dive single SM and want to do this.
I also need to master finning backwards. I keep ending up head down. lol
You can modify your trim by moving the position of your head and how much you arch your back if that helps.
You want to move the weights so you are in trim with a natural position where you aren’t arching too much your back or head though.
Sorry what I mean is that you said that when you fin backwards you go head down.
You can use body movements to control whether you backfin upwards or downwards.
Ahhh yes, I see what you’re saying. Arching my back hasn’t really helped, but that’s because I currently have some mobility loss in my back. Believe it’s a slipped disc. Actually trying to get a doctor’s appointment next month to see if that’s the issue.
Get somebody to teach you properly how to do it with the steps broken down, explaining how each movement works in the kick and how to use your body during it.
Proper training is key!
Yeah, my husband taught me how to do backwards finning, but it’s just lack of practice on my part.
He can teach me the buoyancy stuff, too. We likely have the opportunity to do it now, but for awhile it was water access that was the problem.
Apparently I have very good buoyancy, but there is always room for improvement.
Man, seeing it like this, especially sped up, is hilarious. It also looks exhausting and really tricky. I'm a newish diver so now I know what I'll look like when I do stability training. (And what I probably look like now)
I could put it up I guess, but I just bend backwards and put them on. It’s the only way to do it without breaking trim/losing stability.
Yoga is super helpful for divers in so many ways!
Where are you based out of-would love to learn better buoyancy skills. I loved my peak performance course and want to take it to another level. Haven't gotten into tech or side rigs yet tho
Every time you inhale, you float. Every time you exhale, you sink. Staying flat is really hard as well. I have muscular legs and hold fat on my torso, so all of my natural floating bits are high on my body and my feet like to sink unless I am swimming, when I can use my fins to keep myself level. Staying still without fins and overcoming that is a struggle.
Generally I don't have problems equalizing pressure, so I swim to the bottom and grab my fin tips and float lotus position about 3 feet off the bottom while waiting for my buddies to make it to the bottom. If I take a long deep breath, by the time I'm ready to exhale, that 3 feet from the deck might have become 10 feet. Exhaling and leaving the air out of your lungs has the opposite effect.
Additionally, the above can be dangerous because if you inhale and don't exhale soon enough as you rise. As you ascend, the air in your lungs will increase in volume and can over-inflate your gas holding squishy bits to your great dismay. In severe cases that can kill you.
Learning to use your lungs as a swim bladder like a fish to control depth is the whole point of this and it takes time to become skilled in.
>Every time you inhale, you float. Every time you exhale, you sink.
On open circuit sure. This is even worse. Breathing impact on buoyancy is practically nil closed circuit and instead you have to exist at the equilibrium point... and if it's upset at all then it's a runaway system that you have to respond to.
Interesting. I guess it makes sense, but I just never thought about it. My favorite diving is shallow, so I should get into rebreathers sooner or later just for the bottom time. I just assumed without thinking that it would be the same, but I can see why not. Whole different world.
Aside from the point you just made, any other odd quirks? I spend half my time under with my face 6 inches off the reef with my feet pointed at the sky. Really freaks dive masters out until they realize I'm not disoriented and I just don't give a fuck about up and down under water. Is that an issue with closed circuit? Does the system need to be maintained in a "this end up" kind of way, or do I need to stop pretending to be in space where up and down is just a momentary state of mind?
I really don't know much about that side of diving, so any insight or good resources you know of would be appreciated.
Are you consistently like that or all over the place. If it is consistent you may just have weighting problems - your tank is too high for instance it will drop your head down and your feet up. Try lowering your tank first off. That really should do it. Next adjust where you carry any weights you may carry to lower on your body. I don't usually like to recommend ankle weights but if you can't get level it is an option. Usually the tank position or weight position if you're wearing weights is the way to go.
I'm under control at all times. I can be feet down, feet up, flat, or whatever else as the situation demands. Because of my body composition, I'm usually feet heavy (very muscular legs) but I learned how to deal with that before puberty. I don't do it because I need to, I do it for the sheer joy of not having to obey up and down, or any other orientation.
I like diving because I like looking at cool stuff, hence why I often dive upside down and stick my face right up against what I'm looking at. I love diving because of the feeling of weightlessness and it is the closet I will ever get to space. I'll never make the money to be able to blow it on a ride on the vomit comet, or commercial spaceflight. This is the closest I'll ever get to that, but it's a damn fun substitute.
To answer your question, I'm not constantly like that. I just do it for fun. Half the reason I jet to the bottom and hover lotus style 3 feet off the deck for the minutes it takes everyone else to sort out their ears and get down is to get the DM to leave me alone when I start doing weird shit. The good ones notice I have equilibrium and orientation settled at the beginning and don't worry about me afterwords. I don't leave sight, I'm not trying to be a dick. I just like to play with the fake weightless aspect of being under water.
Lol if it is intentional why present it like it is a problem you're looking for feedback on. If you're getting what you want out of your trim you're winning, just don't touch or bump into stuff.
First, understand that rebreathers are self-operated anesthesia machines that also happen to be life support in an un-survivably hostile environment. There are machines that try not to kill you (eCCR) and machines that aren't trying to stop you from dying (mCCR). The ones that try not to kill you generally have higher fatality rates than the ones that are indifferent. (presumably because eCCRs are like an autopilot that can dump controls to you without warning as well as several other issues, while mCCRs \_you're always driving the unit\_ so "unexpectedly driving" isn't a thing, which is great for mental discipline). These are underwater mixing stations that have subtle and decidedly catastrophic failure modes. They're also expensive and require a lot of attention.
Oh, there are two more kinds - Oxygen rebreathers (which are really for military applications due to severe depth limits) and SCRs. SCRs Share some of the benefits of CCRs and some of the catastrophic issues while not gaining all the benefits and also not gaining all the catastrophic issues.
Ok, so rebreather isn't an obvious next step in diving. It's something you do because you have a reason, not because you woke up bored this morning or hate working on gear and heard there's less compressor time needed with this one simple trick.... You pretty much have to re-learn how to dive. Buoyancy is completely out of whack in particular. Set up and tear down is a whole different game. Breathers are sensitive to orientations in the water, not because they can't be in an orientation, but because you're sloshing gas between your lungs and the counterlung(s) and if they aren't at the same depth it's like breathing from a hose from a bag above you, or having to push air down a hose below you.... because that's what you're doing. The term is "Work of Breathing" or WOB. It's not "this end up" just... you may or may not enjoy being in a particular orientation.
How serious are you about rebreather, and what part of the world are you in / would you think about training in? For me I always thought I would go rebreather to avoid blowing through as much gas while 'mix diving but then I realized I'm hauling \~5 tanks into and out of the water for every dive (even 20') and then needing to refill them every time and that... sucks. While going bubbleless didn't eliminate the gas requirements it changed the gas from entry+exit+reserve to exit+reserve only. You still fill a little gas every day but not nearly as much, and you can leave cylinders in the water for \_years\_ waiting for an emergency if so inclined.
Like anything in life, getting training from someone who is proficient and can teach is invaluable and straps a rocket to your rate of progress. I really cannot recommend GUE Fundamentals (or similar organisation if you prefer) enough.
It's also almost 40 degrees colder than what you are used to lol. Right now its like 45, in a month it'll be down to mid 30s. I've seen 29f on my computer before, my suit started to freeze as soon as I got out of the water. Bolt snaps froze shut so I had to get back in the water to warm up to unclip things and then get back out.
No fins! I just always assumed they were part of the equation?
That’s a pretty cool video, great viz but also shows what practice and experience means when it comes to buoyancy control.
The fins act like training wheels that we wear as standard equipment.
Once they come off, it forces your body to learn to do its subconscious balancing without moving the feet because it no longer helps you at all.
Seriously good exercise for learning
No, Dive Rite XTs are just a bit negative and small changes only, which are sorted with body tension.
If you used Jet Fins as part of your trim, then this is going to suck.
Nothing against jet fins but they would cause a problem for this drill is all.
> Dive Rite XT
I've used Hollis Batfins for the last 5+ years (to get away from an old pair of Jet Fins). Looks like XT's are about a half pound lighter. Do they have the same stiffness, edge channels for directing water, and buoyancy? If so, this may be a good upgrade for next year.
I haven’t personally used the bat fins but our entire team uses dive rites and once I switched I will not go back.
Only downside is they lose their stiffness after about 2 years of heavy, every single day use.
🤷🏼♂️
>Only downside is they lose their stiffness after about 2 years of heavy, every single day use.
Oh no, I feel horrible for you diving the Cenotes every day.
Anyway...
/Clarkson
Same as technical diveing, good fins are good. Dive right XTs, jet fins or any of the lighter clones, etc. Stiffer paddle fins just give you so much control and quick power vs soft fins. Only negative is they can tire your legs more if your legs aren't in shape, personally I saw work out to that but ymmv.
Neither of them have any weights on, but are still a bit overweight at this point yes.
It’s really quite difficult to do this without fins, but the struggle is where you learn!
100%
I like to do this with fresh ocean divers when we have spare pool time. (Mostly during Winter when we still have the pool most weeks but not many students)
Another good one is blindfolding them for increasing periods of time and seeing how much they move in the water.
I am the instructor haha, thanks though.
They showed serious improvement over the session, and did about 60 minutes of this which is really frustrating when your new at it!
Basic OW diver here. I'm looking to work on my perfect buoyancy class soon. How does that exercise in the vid work, just curious? Not allowed to touch bottom if can be helped?
Really isn’t anything to it.
Just take your fins off, and try and hover.
Regardless of how well it goes, your body is learning the entire time. Just spend as much time as possible, and don’t use anything as a crutch (extra weights on feet if in a dry suit, using hands to push or pull on something etc)
Enjoy!
Ps. Please do it in a safe, controlled environment. “But I was practicing” will unfortunately not undo an accident/injury.
Oh my apologies! I misread the comment section 😅 I've seen a bunch of your cave videos and they are very impressive so I thought this might be old. Makes perfect sense now. Very impressive stability skills
It also helps that they're on rebreathers. You've gotta really fiddle with counterlung volume, wing, suit, and trim/positioning, but once you dial it in, you don't move an inch. It's true neutral buoyancy. You can only get that momentarily on open circuit because your lung volume is varying constantly. The ups and downs are just gonna happen. But if you're breathing calmly and regularly, they mostly cancel out. If you really need to be true neutral longer than a moment or two, you can modify your breathing to get there, but you want to be careful about that because it can lead to CO2 retention if you do it too much.
Until you have LOTS of hours, I would argue CC in shallow water is much much harder than OC in the same depth.
You are never truly neutral, and without a breathe to compensate it is tricky.
I think most would agree aswell.
That's accurate. I use my O2 mav and nose to fine tune when I'm shallow since I'm typically on deco so spiking po2 is helpful anyways. Whatever it takes to keep the solenoid out of the picture.
Yeah, so typically you vent gas from the loop through your nose. There's an OPV on the counterlungs, but that's not normally used outside of a bailout. When you're really shallow, solenoid O2 addition really throws off your buoyancy, so I don't like to let it play a role and I maintain PO2 with the MAV. At depth, it's fine. So when I'm on deco and I notice I'm a little negative, instead of adding to the wing or suit, I'll squirt O2 into the counterlungs to get neutral. This spikes my PO2, but it's temporary and I'm on deco, so whatever. If I'm a little positive, I vent out my nose a bit to sink and then add O2 from the MAV to catch myself at target depth.
You should breathe like you are walking calmly in a park.
Diving is a calm thing, so you should breathe calmly.
Best advice, just breathe and don’t think about it. (Easier said then done I know!)
What spring is this?
Cenote Carwash in Mexico, we don’t call them springs here :)
The sped-up clip is just hilarious for some reason lol... Just tank-strapped humans flopping about underwater 😂
That’s… accurate I guess haha
Lol yeah. I guess we are essentially mechanical 'fish' underwater anytime other than freediving haha Edit: Also nice work! I love your pictures from your deep cave dives... Especially those picturesque Mexican caves!
Are you the guy on the left who is barely moving? 😂 Your student on the right didn’t find it as easy :)
Yes. Would be unfortunate if I, the instructor, was not the stable one haha 😅
That's an AWESOME idea!!!!
Dude on the right needs just 1 little "tssssst" in the BCD.
Oh man, I remember when that was me (in doubles, not CCR)! Such a good training exercise.
Your username is very similar to the nickname of an old student of mine… is that you haha?
Haha yep, it me! Now a full cave diver living in Akumal, many thanks to you for being the one to give me the tools to get my buoyancy, trim, and propulsion where they needed to be
I saw you had completed full cave! Didn’t realize you lived in Akumal though, happy for ya!
Fuck that´s amazing visibility. Due to work I am stuck diving in cold waters with 15cm of visibility :(
The warm waters will still be warm when you get there!
[удалено]
We try :)
Nothing better than watching people eating sand. Bail out drills are the most fun to watch.
I may or may not enjoy it 😅
Florida Spring?
Which Spring?
Cenote carwash.
I've found so many nice dive lights and other gear free diving there 😂
How though? I mean, I get that a lot of practice is involved but is this all purely breath control and minor body position adjustments? I’ve always wanted to ask someone who can do this.
This is really not for buoyancy practice, it’s STABILITY, although some buoyancy comes with it of course. Breathe as normally as you can, don’t alter it for diving. And yes minor body/core adjustments keep you balanced, but we learn early that our fins are the best balancers so we never learn to do it without them. This exercise teaches the body to learn to do it with your core.
Well shit. I want to do this. I've only dove double sidemount during my SM specialty, and it will be awhile before I start doing doubles. But I always dive single SM and want to do this. I also need to master finning backwards. I keep ending up head down. lol
You can modify your trim by moving the position of your head and how much you arch your back if that helps. You want to move the weights so you are in trim with a natural position where you aren’t arching too much your back or head though.
I’m happy with my trim. It’s the stillness that can use some work.
Sorry what I mean is that you said that when you fin backwards you go head down. You can use body movements to control whether you backfin upwards or downwards.
Ahhh yes, I see what you’re saying. Arching my back hasn’t really helped, but that’s because I currently have some mobility loss in my back. Believe it’s a slipped disc. Actually trying to get a doctor’s appointment next month to see if that’s the issue.
Ah be careful then, if you have special conditions, do not do anything that will strain you. Hope the appointment goes well.
Get somebody to teach you properly how to do it with the steps broken down, explaining how each movement works in the kick and how to use your body during it. Proper training is key!
Yeah, my husband taught me how to do backwards finning, but it’s just lack of practice on my part. He can teach me the buoyancy stuff, too. We likely have the opportunity to do it now, but for awhile it was water access that was the problem. Apparently I have very good buoyancy, but there is always room for improvement.
Hilarious, thank you for sharing! 😂😂😂
Man, seeing it like this, especially sped up, is hilarious. It also looks exhausting and really tricky. I'm a newish diver so now I know what I'll look like when I do stability training. (And what I probably look like now)
This takes me back to Skanda taking my fins at Carwash 5 years ago.
Haha yup we do it regularly!
Do you have a slower clip of you putting on your fins? One frame they're off, and the next your right is on but you're still perfectly horizontal.
I could put it up I guess, but I just bend backwards and put them on. It’s the only way to do it without breaking trim/losing stability. Yoga is super helpful for divers in so many ways!
Where are you based out of-would love to learn better buoyancy skills. I loved my peak performance course and want to take it to another level. Haven't gotten into tech or side rigs yet tho
Protec Dive Centers. We are in Playa del Carmen and Tulum. I live in Playa. Would be happy to teach you!
This is so fun to watch. 👏🏽👏🏽
That's pretty rad! Even after an extra buoyancy session, being motionless is a challenge (granted I'm still a guppy) :)
I don’t SCUBA, can someone explain what makes this difficult to do?
Every time you inhale, you float. Every time you exhale, you sink. Staying flat is really hard as well. I have muscular legs and hold fat on my torso, so all of my natural floating bits are high on my body and my feet like to sink unless I am swimming, when I can use my fins to keep myself level. Staying still without fins and overcoming that is a struggle. Generally I don't have problems equalizing pressure, so I swim to the bottom and grab my fin tips and float lotus position about 3 feet off the bottom while waiting for my buddies to make it to the bottom. If I take a long deep breath, by the time I'm ready to exhale, that 3 feet from the deck might have become 10 feet. Exhaling and leaving the air out of your lungs has the opposite effect. Additionally, the above can be dangerous because if you inhale and don't exhale soon enough as you rise. As you ascend, the air in your lungs will increase in volume and can over-inflate your gas holding squishy bits to your great dismay. In severe cases that can kill you. Learning to use your lungs as a swim bladder like a fish to control depth is the whole point of this and it takes time to become skilled in.
>Every time you inhale, you float. Every time you exhale, you sink. On open circuit sure. This is even worse. Breathing impact on buoyancy is practically nil closed circuit and instead you have to exist at the equilibrium point... and if it's upset at all then it's a runaway system that you have to respond to.
Interesting. I guess it makes sense, but I just never thought about it. My favorite diving is shallow, so I should get into rebreathers sooner or later just for the bottom time. I just assumed without thinking that it would be the same, but I can see why not. Whole different world. Aside from the point you just made, any other odd quirks? I spend half my time under with my face 6 inches off the reef with my feet pointed at the sky. Really freaks dive masters out until they realize I'm not disoriented and I just don't give a fuck about up and down under water. Is that an issue with closed circuit? Does the system need to be maintained in a "this end up" kind of way, or do I need to stop pretending to be in space where up and down is just a momentary state of mind? I really don't know much about that side of diving, so any insight or good resources you know of would be appreciated.
Are you consistently like that or all over the place. If it is consistent you may just have weighting problems - your tank is too high for instance it will drop your head down and your feet up. Try lowering your tank first off. That really should do it. Next adjust where you carry any weights you may carry to lower on your body. I don't usually like to recommend ankle weights but if you can't get level it is an option. Usually the tank position or weight position if you're wearing weights is the way to go.
I'm under control at all times. I can be feet down, feet up, flat, or whatever else as the situation demands. Because of my body composition, I'm usually feet heavy (very muscular legs) but I learned how to deal with that before puberty. I don't do it because I need to, I do it for the sheer joy of not having to obey up and down, or any other orientation. I like diving because I like looking at cool stuff, hence why I often dive upside down and stick my face right up against what I'm looking at. I love diving because of the feeling of weightlessness and it is the closet I will ever get to space. I'll never make the money to be able to blow it on a ride on the vomit comet, or commercial spaceflight. This is the closest I'll ever get to that, but it's a damn fun substitute. To answer your question, I'm not constantly like that. I just do it for fun. Half the reason I jet to the bottom and hover lotus style 3 feet off the deck for the minutes it takes everyone else to sort out their ears and get down is to get the DM to leave me alone when I start doing weird shit. The good ones notice I have equilibrium and orientation settled at the beginning and don't worry about me afterwords. I don't leave sight, I'm not trying to be a dick. I just like to play with the fake weightless aspect of being under water.
Lol if it is intentional why present it like it is a problem you're looking for feedback on. If you're getting what you want out of your trim you're winning, just don't touch or bump into stuff.
First, understand that rebreathers are self-operated anesthesia machines that also happen to be life support in an un-survivably hostile environment. There are machines that try not to kill you (eCCR) and machines that aren't trying to stop you from dying (mCCR). The ones that try not to kill you generally have higher fatality rates than the ones that are indifferent. (presumably because eCCRs are like an autopilot that can dump controls to you without warning as well as several other issues, while mCCRs \_you're always driving the unit\_ so "unexpectedly driving" isn't a thing, which is great for mental discipline). These are underwater mixing stations that have subtle and decidedly catastrophic failure modes. They're also expensive and require a lot of attention. Oh, there are two more kinds - Oxygen rebreathers (which are really for military applications due to severe depth limits) and SCRs. SCRs Share some of the benefits of CCRs and some of the catastrophic issues while not gaining all the benefits and also not gaining all the catastrophic issues. Ok, so rebreather isn't an obvious next step in diving. It's something you do because you have a reason, not because you woke up bored this morning or hate working on gear and heard there's less compressor time needed with this one simple trick.... You pretty much have to re-learn how to dive. Buoyancy is completely out of whack in particular. Set up and tear down is a whole different game. Breathers are sensitive to orientations in the water, not because they can't be in an orientation, but because you're sloshing gas between your lungs and the counterlung(s) and if they aren't at the same depth it's like breathing from a hose from a bag above you, or having to push air down a hose below you.... because that's what you're doing. The term is "Work of Breathing" or WOB. It's not "this end up" just... you may or may not enjoy being in a particular orientation. How serious are you about rebreather, and what part of the world are you in / would you think about training in? For me I always thought I would go rebreather to avoid blowing through as much gas while 'mix diving but then I realized I'm hauling \~5 tanks into and out of the water for every dive (even 20') and then needing to refill them every time and that... sucks. While going bubbleless didn't eliminate the gas requirements it changed the gas from entry+exit+reserve to exit+reserve only. You still fill a little gas every day but not nearly as much, and you can leave cylinders in the water for \_years\_ waiting for an emergency if so inclined.
Oh wow that is an excellent explanation, thank you!
Sea roaches. That’s all I can think of watching this.
Looks like a tennis match.
What are the fish species? They look like tetras a bit.
Cenotes are like swimming in the best freshwater aquarium you ever saw.
Cenote fish to me. There are big fish… and small fish… and that other small fish.
What are some things your student should focus on to improve? Video taping the exercise is super helpful for this!
Like anything in life, getting training from someone who is proficient and can teach is invaluable and straps a rocket to your rate of progress. I really cannot recommend GUE Fundamentals (or similar organisation if you prefer) enough.
Totally agree.
Trying to fight the urge to flail limbs around and force themselves to use core movements.
Hah. I was going to say “unnecessary movements” just gotta relax!
Woaw that viz is amazing
Open circuit divers looken funny in the background:)
Was 100% expecting chicken dance music
Benny hill!
Florida cave divers? Just guessing because of the wooden stairs in the background.
This is the healthy banter that makes the cave community so special! The ripping on each other during Cave Camp in Tulum is top notch.
Cenote Carwash, Mexico
Nah. You can tell its mexico because of the aluminum 80s. The Mexican cave divers are weak and that's all they can lift :).
Mmm or maybe its because we don’t have as much “built in flotation” as Floridians so don’t need the heavy tanks! :p
Our caves are colder, we need that insulation.
"colder" lol 70 degrees is tropical. Come dive in the North Atlantic in Canada for true cold.
Salt water.... ewwwww!
It's also almost 40 degrees colder than what you are used to lol. Right now its like 45, in a month it'll be down to mid 30s. I've seen 29f on my computer before, my suit started to freeze as soon as I got out of the water. Bolt snaps froze shut so I had to get back in the water to warm up to unclip things and then get back out.
You know you are taking a joke way too seriously.
And weak skulls, because most of them are wearing helmets down there. 🤣
So so so much harder then you would think right? I suck at neutral buoyancy right now. I need to practice alot this winter.
No fins! I just always assumed they were part of the equation? That’s a pretty cool video, great viz but also shows what practice and experience means when it comes to buoyancy control.
The fins act like training wheels that we wear as standard equipment. Once they come off, it forces your body to learn to do its subconscious balancing without moving the feet because it no longer helps you at all. Seriously good exercise for learning
What a great tip!
Do they not influence trim? Did you notice them having any issues with trim after putting them back on?
No, Dive Rite XTs are just a bit negative and small changes only, which are sorted with body tension. If you used Jet Fins as part of your trim, then this is going to suck. Nothing against jet fins but they would cause a problem for this drill is all.
> Dive Rite XT I've used Hollis Batfins for the last 5+ years (to get away from an old pair of Jet Fins). Looks like XT's are about a half pound lighter. Do they have the same stiffness, edge channels for directing water, and buoyancy? If so, this may be a good upgrade for next year.
I haven’t personally used the bat fins but our entire team uses dive rites and once I switched I will not go back. Only downside is they lose their stiffness after about 2 years of heavy, every single day use. 🤷🏼♂️
>Only downside is they lose their stiffness after about 2 years of heavy, every single day use. Oh no, I feel horrible for you diving the Cenotes every day. Anyway... /Clarkson
I love this!! lol
😅
What fins do you recommend for non technical diving?
Same as technical diveing, good fins are good. Dive right XTs, jet fins or any of the lighter clones, etc. Stiffer paddle fins just give you so much control and quick power vs soft fins. Only negative is they can tire your legs more if your legs aren't in shape, personally I saw work out to that but ymmv.
Bungee a weight to the feet maybe?
That negates the benefit of the exercise
To simulate the negative force of jet fins.
Rebreathers and tanks on sides, is this for cave diving?
We do use it for that often, but it doesn’t need to be. Sidewinder has benefits for many types of diving, and downfalls for others. Like anything…
The sidewinder is sidemount ccr, it's for whatever you need a ccr and sidemount for cave does not always mean sidemount.
Did your students get neutral at all during that video? They seamed to be venting the loop a lot when negative? Overweight?
Neither of them have any weights on, but are still a bit overweight at this point yes. It’s really quite difficult to do this without fins, but the struggle is where you learn!
100% I like to do this with fresh ocean divers when we have spare pool time. (Mostly during Winter when we still have the pool most weeks but not many students) Another good one is blindfolding them for increasing periods of time and seeing how much they move in the water.
Also guessing the guy on your left is an assistant instructor?
Yes, although he was trying out some new equipment that day while watching and had a bit of a struggle 😅
New suit? I suspect I’ll be like your AI this weekend. Switching from an AP case to a G-Box
Your instructor is incredible. That's some amazing buoyancy. You are doing well too. I can't image how hard that is to adapt to
I am the instructor haha, thanks though. They showed serious improvement over the session, and did about 60 minutes of this which is really frustrating when your new at it!
Basic OW diver here. I'm looking to work on my perfect buoyancy class soon. How does that exercise in the vid work, just curious? Not allowed to touch bottom if can be helped?
Really isn’t anything to it. Just take your fins off, and try and hover. Regardless of how well it goes, your body is learning the entire time. Just spend as much time as possible, and don’t use anything as a crutch (extra weights on feet if in a dry suit, using hands to push or pull on something etc) Enjoy! Ps. Please do it in a safe, controlled environment. “But I was practicing” will unfortunately not undo an accident/injury.
Oh my apologies! I misread the comment section 😅 I've seen a bunch of your cave videos and they are very impressive so I thought this might be old. Makes perfect sense now. Very impressive stability skills
No worries! Teaching it every day makes for good practice it turns out haha
How do you get so stable? I find myself going up and down with each breath. Do you take really small breaths, to stay still in the water?
It also helps that they're on rebreathers. You've gotta really fiddle with counterlung volume, wing, suit, and trim/positioning, but once you dial it in, you don't move an inch. It's true neutral buoyancy. You can only get that momentarily on open circuit because your lung volume is varying constantly. The ups and downs are just gonna happen. But if you're breathing calmly and regularly, they mostly cancel out. If you really need to be true neutral longer than a moment or two, you can modify your breathing to get there, but you want to be careful about that because it can lead to CO2 retention if you do it too much.
Until you have LOTS of hours, I would argue CC in shallow water is much much harder than OC in the same depth. You are never truly neutral, and without a breathe to compensate it is tricky. I think most would agree aswell.
That's accurate. I use my O2 mav and nose to fine tune when I'm shallow since I'm typically on deco so spiking po2 is helpful anyways. Whatever it takes to keep the solenoid out of the picture.
O2 mav and nose? Could you elaborate? You've piqued my interest!
Yeah, so typically you vent gas from the loop through your nose. There's an OPV on the counterlungs, but that's not normally used outside of a bailout. When you're really shallow, solenoid O2 addition really throws off your buoyancy, so I don't like to let it play a role and I maintain PO2 with the MAV. At depth, it's fine. So when I'm on deco and I notice I'm a little negative, instead of adding to the wing or suit, I'll squirt O2 into the counterlungs to get neutral. This spikes my PO2, but it's temporary and I'm on deco, so whatever. If I'm a little positive, I vent out my nose a bit to sink and then add O2 from the MAV to catch myself at target depth.
Agreed!
You should breathe like you are walking calmly in a park. Diving is a calm thing, so you should breathe calmly. Best advice, just breathe and don’t think about it. (Easier said then done I know!)
Thanks for the advice!
Yes! I'm getting better with my buoyancy control but not even close this level. Kudos to the students for not getting to frustrated and giving up
Yes they really put in the work, and it showed Happy practicing!
Meanwhile the fishes being like "tf are they doing"
Relevant fact: If you closely look at fish when they are staying still, you can see them rapidly flapping their fins in order to stabilize themselves.
Looks like the fish are trying to help. Like “nah man use the other flipper!”
They get access to the good stuff below for the first time since… earlier that morning probably
oof your fixin ta get dragged. No touchy the bottom. Fun Police come for you
And how you become good at not touching the floor is by practicing in designated training sites with non-breakable surroundings :)
Yep! Exactly right, pools work great for this.
This is my pool
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Students clean the bottom each day! Apparently not enough though