"Look......No Hands ! "
Tough Talk about
Buoyancy Control
- Using the hands for scooping water to propel oneself or to change
direction while SCUBA Diving is called SCULLING.
- SCULLING is the
signature of poor diving skills.
- If you use your hands for this purpose, even once a year, you are
guilty of SCULLING.
- If you resort to using your hands while diving, regardless of how
famous or experienced you may be, you are using a crutch and you
have much to learn.
Poor buoyancy skills are not
limited to beginners.
All too often, poor buoyancy skills
are learned from a trusted teacher. The view held by big training
agencies that all of their instructors are buoyancy experts is folly.
Water skills cannot be ignored in favor of marketing skills with the
expectation of creating a cadre of dive leaders who are anywhere near
first rate underwater. The instructor may tell the class not to use
their hands (this information is in the book) but when they see him/her
do exactly that in the water, the sculling will be what is remembered
and adopted. There is no shortage of people who can talk about
good buoyancy skills. Dive leaders as well as prolific magazine writers
are quick to point out the rules for proper weighting and provide the
same plethora of hints to improve buoyancy but always omit what they
cannot master which is a complete departure from sculling.
Making a commitment to NEVER using
the hands is the key that unlocks learning. Great buoyancy control can
be learned, it can sometimes be mentored but it can seldom be taught,
especially by persons who have not mastered it themselves. By totally
eliminating the hands the diver forces himself to master other skills
like breathing and fin techniques. He literally teaches himself to
operate with only those very useful tools. The analogy of persons born
without arms who learn to dress themselves cannot be overstated here.
The diver who succeeds truly looks different even if others cannot
identify the difference. Recognition of achievement is instinctive. Envy
may prevent acknowledgement but cannot diminish the proficiency. By the
same token, the diver who has really mastered Buoyancy Control
recognizes the diver who hasn’t by the latter’s hand signals. Sculling
shows the person who has mastered buoyancy skills what the limitations
are of the diver who hasn’t yet made that commitment. While the diver
who sculls may have mastered countless other aspects of his sport and
may even enjoy a huge reputation, he has unwittingly told what he
doesn’t know, using sign language.
If you scull, you tell those
of us who have made the choice to learn, that you have not learned and
do not know what we do.
Now the indignation may commence:
Cyber divers unite! Dive professionals ignore and debunk. Magazine
editors may ask: “Who does he think he is?” “We are the experts!” “Who
ever heard of some nobody getting it right?” None of which changes the
truth which is that divers scull because they must. We just put a
spotlight on divers who scull, some of whom look very good on paper. We
don’t expect them to thank us. For the not yet famous divers who
read this, there is nothing to loose and everything to gain from giving
it a shot. Try it on your own if that’s what works best. Buoyancy Skills
and Frog Kick are where we excel. NO HANDS is a big part of what
we are selling. We didn’t invent it and it isn’t new and it isn’t a
gimmick. It is about work. Hard work like learning to ride a unicycle or
walking on one’s hands. Not using the hands is the signature of Great
Buoyancy just as sculling is the signature of something else. Pretending
or trying to convince others that it doesn’t count or isn’t important
won’t improve dive skills. Concentrating on trim and addressing proper
weighting is primary. Learning to use breathing as a tool to adjust
one’s position within the water column is a very important concept.
These are always included in every tutorial to be found just as surly
as every expert who attempts to publish a piece on buoyancy will fail
to mention eliminating the hands or relegate that information to an
inferior status . And by now the reader should be able to guess why. Why
is it missing? Why is it not included. Perhaps for the same reason that
we don’t see many unicycles.
At
BuoyancyQuest
we practice what we preach!
"WE NEVER USE OUR HANDS"
We offer expert buoyancy training
starting with Open Water Training
and up to and
including our colleagues.
CONTACT US:
BuoyancyQuest@comcast.net
