Surface dive tips with bad visibility

[Kevin Kao]

Hi,

Just want to get some tips and advice on this problem I am experiencing. When I surface dive on water with bad visibility, I tend to over shot my angle, where instead on entering the water at 90 degree, I enter the water at like 120 degree. I really couldn't see where i am going (with good visibility i tend to look down to see where i am going which i know i am not supposed to...)

Do i just need more practice to get the feeling down, or can someone provide any tips or advice on how to correctly perform a surface dive.

Thanks in advance.

K

 

[Hobelf]

Take a torch with you &let it hang from the lanyard.

 

[Kevin Kao]

Take a torch with you &let it hang from the lanyard.

thx for the reply. i am thinking maybe i need to work on my technique more.

how do people make sure they are not too narrow or overshot when they are performing surface dive?

 

[Trelawney]

Use a float with an anchor/dropweight. You can follow the line down and remain in position.

 

[doyenofcastle]

USE A FLOATER AND HOLD A WEIGHT BY A ROPE AT LEAST 75% OF THE DEPTH YOU DIVE AND WHEN YOU DESENDING JUST LOOK AT THAT ROPE

 

[sanso]

You're very likely falling over because you are arching your back and/or bending your knees, both commonly resulting from an over extended neck (looking at the bottom)

Instead, point the top of your head at the bottom of the sea and make sure you stabilise your body by engaging core muscles and pointing your toes at the sky as you descend.

 

[Charles Clements]

Your description of your dive does not sound safe at all. One should never lunge into unknown water. There might be a rock under there. Usually, most people do a step off when using an object like a pier or a boat. If you are preferring to do a head first dive, check out the area to make sure that there is not any obstruction (that rock that I was talking about). Once that you know that the water is safe, and you want to do a head first dive into the water, (assuming that you may have never been shown the proper way to dive) you position your body as if you were going to wash your hair - that is bending over forward with your head down. Most beginners make the mistake of raising their head as they go into the water. You have your hands reaching over your head which is used to break the water and protect your head in the event that there is something in your way. Actually your body is going to make a soft S as you enter the water. The curves will not be so pronounced as the letter, but you would arch over as you enter the surface and then after you you head has broken the surface of the water, you would arch up to direct you back you to the surface. Remember that which ever way your head goes, that is the way your body will go. If this is not what you were looking for, please be more descriptive.

 

[growingupninja]

Your description of your dive does not sound safe at all. One should never lunge into unknown water. There might be a rock under there. Usually, most people do a step off when using an object like a pier or a boat. If you are preferring to do a head first dive, check out the area to make sure that there is not any obstruction (that rock that I was talking about). Once that you know that the water is safe, and you want to do a head first dive into the water, (assuming that you may have never been shown the proper way to dive) you position your body as if you were going to wash your hair - that is bending over forward with your head down. Most beginners make the mistake of raising their head as they go into the water. You have your hands reaching over your head which is used to break the water and protect your head in the event that there is something in your way. Actually your body is going to make a soft S as you enter the water. The curves will not be so pronounced as the letter, but you would arch over as you enter the surface and then after you you head has broken the surface of the water, you would arch up to direct you back you to the surface. Remember that which ever way your head goes, that is the way your body will go. If this is not what you were looking for, please be more descriptive.

That is a terrifically thorough response but I think the OP was not talking about a dive in your sense but rather a duck-dive...

 

[myfish]

Simply practice the angle and go into the dive 'slowly' and with purpose.
Practice doing this as quietly as possible. It will pay dividends later on.

In coloured water, awareness of angles and up/down etc simply means you will rely on your internal gravity clock. When neutral buoyancy, to go straight UP, blow a small bubble. That knows the way. lol

 

[baiyoke]

Simply practice the angle and go into the dive 'slowly' and with purpose.
Practice doing this as quietly as possible. It will pay dividends later on.

In coloured water, awareness of angles and up/down etc simply means you will rely on your internal gravity clock. When neutral buoyancy, to go straight UP, blow a small bubble. That knows the way. lol

An idea popped up in my mind from your post: Perhaps it is possible to train that "internal gravity clock" in a swimming pool... Or train awareness about it. Do duckdives with eyes closed, and see if you can develop that sense by trial and error...

Pay attention to

1) that " internal gravity clock" or Sense of Balance / Equilibrioception

2) your body movements doing the duckdive

Doing it slowly might be a good idea. Just an idea...

EDIT: Look for a deep pool, and remember to open your eyes in time

 

[myfish]

I believe you can train your body to know, or at least know better, it's position in the water.
If you night dive to around 8 - 12 meters so you go neutral and you 'feel' for the bottom, your brain immediately knows UP.

However, go into a hover at such depths and, even if you switch on a light after a blind dive, you might not.
However, with training, and experience, this is better acquired.

Of course, an absolutely solid way, and one we use on deep dives anyway especially on dark dives is to remove the belt and hold it in one hand. Again, a simple yet efficient way. Of course, way easier to do if freediving but still possible spearfishing too.

Doubles for safety as in he past, most guns sank if you let them go and they had a spear loaded. Recently, this is not always true and some like the Sporasub SK for instance, float with a loaded spear but, very slowly at depth.

Dirty water simply makes visual markers, harder to find. In the sea, even in really mucky water, you can make out weeds and rocks but in the emptiness of some freshwaters, not so straightforward.

 

[Charles Clements]

That is a terrifically thorough response but I think the OP was not talking about a dive in your sense but rather a duck-dive...

Ooops! Excuse me. Sorry about that. Thank you for correcting me. I do not know why but I would have never thought that any one would have had such a problem.

 

[doyenofcastle]

In arab gulf small wind in shallow depth 23 m make vis really bad and current very strong even u are expe. or not current will make it angle dive so practically we drop weight to 17m hold by rope to my floater then hold gun and dive looking straight at the white rope ,before this i keep going to 16m max but by that technique reach 22m easy and stay there for some seconds

Sent from my GT-I9003 using Tapatalk 2

 

[sanso]

as threads here develop over the years, here's a relevant video and commentary:

https://wefreedive.com/blog/47-ninja-freediving-duckdives

Sent from my E2312 using Tapatalk

 

[Kevin Kao]

You're very likely falling over because you are arching your back and/or bending your knees, both commonly resulting from an over extended neck (looking at the bottom)

Instead, point the top of your head at the bottom of the sea and make sure you stabilise your body by engaging core muscles and pointing your toes at the sky as you descend.

this was very helpful! thanks for the tip!

 

[WhiteMamba]

I used to have the same problem and the first two solutions in this thread were really helpful. Thanks!

 

[spearoprelsey]

Take a torch with you &let it hang from the lanyard.

In my opinion this is the most helpful advice.

 

[sanso]

Hi,

Just want to get some tips and advice on this problem I am experiencing. When I surface dive on water with bad visibility, I tend to over shot my angle, where instead on entering the water at 90 degree, I enter the water at like 120 degree. I really couldn't see where i am going (with good visibility i tend to look down to see where i am going which i know i am not supposed to...)

Do i just need more practice to get the feeling down, or can someone provide any tips or advice on how to correctly perform a surface dive.

Thanks in advance.

K

also, basic aquaticity training, such a good swimming coach would give you will make a huge difference.

Richard Wonka
wefreedive.com -- richardwonka.com -- fb.com/TheRichardWonka