How to go straight down...without looking down?

[jimqpublic]

Yesterday was my first try at freediving and it generally went quite well, getting a good 15 meters of depth many times:
http://forums.deeperblue.net/journal...showentry&e=77

But of course now I have lots of questions. I had some trouble going straight down if I wasn't looking straight at my destination. I found that keeping my chin level or slightly tucked to my chest did make equalization easier. Unfortunately if I wasn't craning my head and looking at the bottom I would get way off track. I seem to have trouble comprehending which way is down.

A few times I dove alongside a bouy rope or stalk of kelp and that made it slightly easier, but I still wandered way off course.

I was mostly diving with one hand on my nose (to equalize) and the other by my side. I wonder if pointing that hand down would be better?

Also I found it to be even worse when I was wearing ankle weights. I joked that I'm going to buy a lead helmet.

Jim

[efattah]

Learning to go straight down is not something which can be accomlished in one day, or even one year!

Even those of us who have been diving for 5 or 10 years still try to improve our ability to go straight down.

If you close your eyes and concentrate, you can actually 'sense' the direction of gravity via the inner ear mechanism. However, most people are not used to sensing the upside-down state, since it is not a state we often live in.

One method you can use which is easier than the 'sense' method, is to use the color gradient of the water. If you look carefully you should see the color gradient (light to dark) which should remain both horizontal, and directly in front of you.

You must learn to treat the surface of the water as the new 'ground' or 'floor', and in the start of the dive, look down towards your feet, and watch the floor drift away (the surface drift away).

Rather than thinking of swimming straight towards the bottom, instead concentrate on swimming straight UP from the floor, as if jumping on a trampoline. On a trampoline, you use the floor (the trampoline) as the reference, not the sky. Likewise, while diving, you may find it better to use the surface as the reference, rather than the bottom.

[jimqpublic]

wow.

That is the most amazing thing I've read all day. Thank you Eric.

[laminar]

One addendum to Eric's advice: slow down a bit. Staying vertical while you have to equalize and kick and decide when to turn around and equalize your mask and stay relaxed can be very hard.

Make sure you are well weighted for the depth you are attempting (so you're not fighting buoyancy too much) and ease up on the pace so you can have more time to sense your orientation.

Oh, and a neck weight does wonders. Two ankle weights on a single strap usually does the trick (3-4 lbs).

Pete

[Ben Gowland]

Great replies guys - It can certainly take years to learn.

I remember teaching two guys that would naturally descend at about 45 degrees or worse - and were convinced that they were going straight down.

Clear water helps a lot - if you can have a target at say 20m and decide that you are going to decend on to it - then at 17-18m see how far of target you actually are....it's great feedback.

You'd also be amazed at how many good divers can't descend straight down as they are so reliant on lines to follow.....a sign of the times....too much line diving and not enough 'free' diving, perhaps?

[AltSaint]

Once you are negatively buoyant, then you can begin your glide phase and then gravity helps to pull you in the right direction. If your profile isn't quite right then although you may veer off to some extent, it won't be as severe as when you are finning.

[fcallagy]

just a suggestion but maybe try to go up and down the rope free immersion style while you get used to it. pulling yourself down may be easier than finning at the start

[jimqpublic]

Originally Posted by efattah

Learning to go straight down is not something which can be accomlished in one day, or even one year!....
You must learn to treat the surface of the water as the new 'ground' or 'floor', and in the start of the dive, look down towards your feet, and watch the floor drift away (the surface drift away)....

I dove again after work yesterday at White Point, Palos Verdes California. I was in a small cove with some pretty big waves surging in- some over 4' as they went over rocks. Depth was from 9 to about 20 feet. 3-6m.

Not deep enough to be neutral on the bottom, plus it was covered with spiny purple urchins (don't want to stick myself). I got more practice though and really worked on hovering upside down in the water column a few feet below the surface. I actually started believing that the air was the floor as Eric suggested.

It worked. Even with the surge and positive bouyancy I got to the point where I could hold position for a few seconds.

Jim

[jome]

I have been telling beginners and students for a long time that "dont look at the bottom, keep your head straight". But only after trying this "trampoline" thing yesterday, did I finally really get it my self.

I have always know it, but no one has ever put it to words quite so logically. I have to say, it immediately improved my diving both performance and the level of enjoyment. Cool to learn something new, even as simple as that...It is so much more comforting to go down and actually having a reference, rather than just sinking to the cold dark depths with just a rope running before your eyes. Of course, when you go deep enough, there is no light at all, but it really helps in the start (and at that part, gravity will take care of the proper direction)

[Bill McIntyre]

Jim,

I'm not sure whether your goal is pure freediving or eventually getting into spearfishing. Just in case its the latter, I'd like to offer a bit of heresy.

In Southern California spearfishing for white sea bass in a kelp bed I'm typically only diving to a neutral depth of 20 feet, and I see a lot of fish by looking ahead of me on the way down. In fact, I usually don't even try to go straight down, but angle a bit forward to make it easier to get my head back enough to see. If I were not looking where I was going, I'd spook a lot of fish that I never saw.

But on the other hand, just yesterday I was diving a spot at Catalina where the fish seem to be out on bare sand with no kelp, and the object is to go straight to the bottom at 40 to 50 feet and just sit there waiting for them to come by. In that case, I do keep my head in line with the body so that I can get to the bottom as quickly as possible.

There is no doubt that the best way to go deep is with the head straight, but I just wanted to point out that in spearfishing in the area where you live, it isn't always the best way to spear fish.

[SEDATE]

Originally Posted by efattah

Learning to go straight down is not something which can be accomlished in one day, or even one year!

Even those of us who have been diving for 5 or 10 years still try to improve our ability to go straight down.

If you close your eyes and concentrate, you can actually 'sense' the direction of gravity via the inner ear mechanism. However, most people are not used to sensing the upside-down state, since it is not a state we often live in.

One method you can use which is easier than the 'sense' method, is to use the color gradient of the water. If you look carefully you should see the color gradient (light to dark) which should remain both horizontal, and directly in front of you.

You must learn to treat the surface of the water as the new 'ground' or 'floor', and in the start of the dive, look down towards your feet, and watch the floor drift away (the surface drift away).

Rather than thinking of swimming straight towards the bottom, instead concentrate on swimming straight UP from the floor, as if jumping on a trampoline. On a trampoline, you use the floor (the trampoline) as the reference, not the sky. Likewise, while diving, you may find it better to use the surface as the reference, rather than the bottom.

the most amazing thing I've read up to now
Tomorrow, i am gonna check in the clear/deep water the color gradient of the the sea, thnx eric

[jimqpublic]

Originally Posted by Bill McIntyre

Jim,

I'm not sure whether your goal is pure freediving or eventually getting into spearfishing. Just in case its the latter, I'd like to offer a bit of heresy.

In Southern California spearfishing for white sea bass in a kelp bed I'm typically only diving to a neutral depth of 20 feet, and I see a lot of fish by looking ahead of me on the way down. In fact, I usually don't even try to go straight down, but angle a bit forward to make it easier to get my head back enough to see. If I were not looking where I was going, I'd spook a lot of fish that I never saw.
...

My goal is initially to enjoy the ocean while developing better and better skills. Eventually I may get into fishing (I do like to eat fish) but whether or not I'm fishing, I want to enjoy seeing the fish. I can see how at 20' deep it isn't as critical to go straight down.

Bill,

Thanks for the responses. I really appreciate your input from a local perspective.

Jim

[Huw]

This help seems to have been benifiting you greatly,

but local or not ( i am from the UK), some of those techniques mentioned in erics post are phenomenally valuable, and i cannot thank you enough eric for sharing them with us.

Cheers,
Huw

[wet]

Originally Posted by efattah

Learning to go straight down is not something which can be accomlished in one day, or even one year!

Even those of us who have been diving for 5 or 10 years still try to improve our ability to go straight down.

If you close your eyes and concentrate, you can actually 'sense' the direction of gravity via the inner ear mechanism. However, most people are not used to sensing the upside-down state, since it is not a state we often live in.

One method you can use which is easier than the 'sense' method, is to use the color gradient of the water. If you look carefully you should see the color gradient (light to dark) which should remain both horizontal, and directly in front of you.

You must learn to treat the surface of the water as the new 'ground' or 'floor', and in the start of the dive, look down towards your feet, and watch the floor drift away (the surface drift away).

Rather than thinking of swimming straight towards the bottom, instead concentrate on swimming straight UP from the floor, as if jumping on a trampoline. On a trampoline, you use the floor (the trampoline) as the reference, not the sky. Likewise, while diving, you may find it better to use the surface as the reference, rather than the bottom.

Thanks Eric, for sharing this simple yet profound insight.

While snorkeling and shallow diving (15') in Malaysia long ago, I got only a slight feeling of this surface-floor effect, then later while apnea shallow diving (15') in a bay in Japan, I got a much stronger feeling of it, in part because I wasn't focused on sight-seeing coral, but rather on the peaceful feeling just below the action of the waves.

To look "down" (actually skyward) and see the "floor" swirling in patterns "beneath" my feet was mind-blowing. Quite different than typical surface swimming and snorkeling or bobbing along on a fishing boat! I really felt as if I was "standing" on the outside liquid shell of the Earth's hydrosphere. DDeden