scuba_equipment_considerations

BUOYANCY & TRIM FROG KICK BUOYANCY CONTROL LESSONS

SAFETY STOP PUNTA SUR

photo: maureen miller

EQUIPMENT CONSIDERATIONS....page #1

No performance requirement in SCUBA Diving is more poorly defined or less often achieved....than Buoyancy Control Skills.

DO YOU REALLY LOOK AS GOOD UNDERWATER AS YOU LOOK ON PAPER OR PLASTIC?

ARE YOU THE DIVER THAT ANYONE ELSE WOULD LIKE TO BE?

WE BELIEVE THAT WHAT KIND OF DIVER YOU ARE IS ABOUT YOUR EQUIPMENT....

"only" when you have stuff hanging everywhere....aka "DANGLIES!"

IF you insist on keeping that big ugly console; OK....but here's an idea:

Always hold it with your left hand, close to your torso. Fold your right arm over it and even gather other items such as your inflator hose and hold them close also. You'll be killing many birds here because now you can't use your hands for SCULLING so your will begin to learn more skills with your fins and breathing. AND you won't have any "danglies" either. AND you'll always be able to find your guages quickly if you want to look at them.

"SCUBA HOSE HALOS"

We never heard anyone use this term before we did so perhaps we coined a phrase....who knows? We called them that because they dominate most dive magazine photos. They are "ugly" and the big ones, and some are truly enormous, are big enough to enlarge a divers girth by 50% or more. When you look at divers who have halos you will instantly see how we came to call them by that name. We're pretty sure there's no way to own the term "hose halos" and we expect to see others pick it up
and make it a part of SCUBA Diving jargon.

JUST DON'T ADOPT THEM
as part of your equipment configuration!

SO YOU WANT MORE GADGETS, MORE TOYS & MORE MISCELLANEOUS STUFF?
AND YOU WANT TO BELIEVE THAT YOUR BUOYANCY IS: "GOOD ENOUGH"
BUT.....

"GREAT BUOYANCY CONTROL .... IS NOT ABOUT YOUR EQUIPMENT!"

AT BuoyancyQuest
WE PLACE THE EMPHASIS ON ABILITY....AND ON FUNDAMENTAL DIVE SKILLS

IF you elect to participate in our workshop we will share our opinions about equipment in more detail.

[ What you should and should not bring and other specifics will be part of your pre-trip mentoring. ]

WE DON'T SELL DIVE GEAR..........OUR ADVICE IS NOT RELATED TO OUR INVENTORY

WE BELIEVE IN SCUBA SKILLS....NOT SCUBA GADGETS

" Most new divers choose their first set of gear under the tutelage of a sales person at a local dive center."
MOST DIVERS WEAR TOO MUCH WEIGHT, TOO MUCH BCD & TOO MUCH COLLATERAL EQUIPMENT
When you see your instructor on the sales floor at your local dive shop....you're probably seeing him/her at their best!

WE BELIEVE: that a "Hogarthian" BP&W equipment configuration is best for both technical & recreational diving.

YOU DON'T HAVE TO LIKE IT BECAUSE WE DO

WE LOOKED LIKE THIS (circa 1995) no danglies & no halos.

We have never been DIR. DIR arrived around 1999 and with them arrived the availability of some really good single tank air cells [ small wings]. While we believe that the DIR culture hijacked the hogarthian gear set up....and re-named it to suit their own purposes, we can, at least, give them credit for the development of some equipment improvements. Not to beat a dead horse, but skills are more important than equipment & good buoyancy control "FIRST" is the single most important SKILL.

WE still believe wings are best but the stab jacket style of BCD allows the bubble to migrate to the highest position regardless of body position and so is , perhaps, best of any "jacket style".

For the purpose of this workshop the type of BCD that you wear is not that important.
What is important is the silhouette of the diver who is wearing it.

"We mean "NO DANGLIES!"
& [no halos]

We will share with you our preferences and coach you if you have an interest in adopting the hogarthian BP&W method of diving but, if not, you should be able to use your BCD as long as you find a way to address any and all appendages. By that we mean hanging consoles, octopus second stages and excessive loops of hose.

[ We call them HALOS ]

A neat & trim diver is a Happy Diver!

We do not need to show you examples of what we don't like.

There is no shortage of bad examples.

Open any dive magazine!

"Look at "ALMOST" any photo!"

Dangling gear, hose halos, loose tank straps & gloves on warm water dives, all tell us what that person doesn't know and are examples of a substandard diver.

You wouldn't bring a knife to a gunfight!
DON'T BRING SPLIT FINS TO OUR WORKSHOP!

You can call them blades or you can call them boards but traditional or conventional fins are the best choice for learning and practicing frog kick and for precise maneuvering in close quarters. There are many to pick from in both full foot and open heel. Full foot should fit like loafers. Open heel strap fins need a pocket that can accommodate the boot with no more than two inches of heel protruding from the back. You cannot wear your fins on your toes and expect suitable results. There are short rubber jet fins, that are the favorite of many tech divers, or the long full foot fins that you see in our videos and many choices in between.
We are not selling tech diving here but let's be sensible. Tech divers do not use these Dive Industry Marketing Fins or Fad Fins because they do not measure up to the skill demands of penetration diving and our goal is to develop fundamental skills that most tech divers would pay handsomely to have.
We think we are flexible about most of the equipment choices that people make. We can work around most but not.... incorrect fins. If you are not sure you can ask us for clarification.

We are rigid on this point and will not waste effort quarreling!

NO SPLIT FINS, NO HINGED FINS, NO FORCE FINS OR OTHER TYPES OF FAD FOOTWEAR

Give yourself a fighting chance to learn to:

FROG KICK

BP&W [backplate and wings]

In our videos, Maureen is diving a 27# air cell in a donut configuration. This size and shape is likely the most practical choice for most divers.
Larger air cells in combination with single tanks usually spell management problems or indicate a diver who might be wearing too much weight.

We dive BP&W [back plate & wings] that have been scaled down to size for use with single tanks. This is a very neat streamlined and efficient equipment configuration that is also popular with the "DIR Followers".

We began adapting Hogarthian Concepts into our own open water diving back in 1995. We have always been willing to share what we are doing but we try to stop short of imposing our will on others. IF you have an interest in converting your style at the same time that you are improving your skills, we will try to help with that as well.

We favor the use of a 5 foot (cavern hose) with single tank diving in open water. You can use a 7 foot cave hose but management is a bit more complicated. A 5 foot hose will afford the needed control to the donor in an OOA situation. We also prefer a tuned down or adjustable 2nd stage on a necklace. Once upon a time we combined the long hose with an alternate inflator type back up but actual events taught us that these "nifty tools" breath a bit wet in some positions.

PLASTIC BACKPLATES

ABS plastic backplates are, to our knowledge, no longer manufactured or sold through any dive shops or retail outlets. We "DO NOT" believe that they are a good choice to use with double tanks. Even aluminum doubles! They are, however, a good choice to use with single tanks and small air cells for warm water diving. They weigh about the same as aluminum, have no issues with corrosion, and are very forgiving to webbing. They can be found, from time to time, on ebay and represent an item of dive equipment that even a novice can buy without professional guidance. They make for a good DIY project and since the holes are 11 inches on center, they work for almost any "store bought" air cell & STA (single tank adapter) If you are interested in bp&w, building your own single tank travel BC brings with it the bonus of, not only knowing your equipment better, but the possibility of packing it for travel in seperate pcs.

SCUBA EQUIPMENT CONSIDERATIONS....page 2

There's no such thing as Buoyancy Control that's:"GOOD ENOUGH!"
CLICK HERE TO: read our list of SCUBA Diving DO'S & DON'TS