Ideally you should swim horizontally through the water for less resistance. Your tank should be parallel to your spine so make sure that your BCD cummerbund or waist strap is tight so that the bottom of your tank doesn’t float up and pull your backside up with it (and bang the valve into the back of your head at the same time).

You may also be able to arrange your weights for better trim. This will take experimentation but many divers like to remove weights from their weight belt and move them to rear pockets on their BCD or onto the tank band to prevent their feet being pulled down. Different equipment has different buoyancy characteristics. Some fins are positively buoyant and others are negative. What works for you is a matter of preference.

When setting up your equipment before a dive check carefully for leaks. It is a good idea to carry spare o rings with you to replace worn ones.

Make sure that your mask isn’t leaking or fogging up constantly. Apart from the annoyance it will waste air every time you have to clear the mask and the stress will elevate your breathing rate and use up more valuable air.

You should also be warm in the water. Your body will burn energy to stay warm so make sure that you have suitable exposure protection.

Finning Technique:

Once you’ve mastered neutral buoyancy you may want to adjust your finning style. When you were taught to dive you were probably taught what PADI calls the flutter kick. That is, full up and down leg kicks from the hips. That’s a good powerful swimming kick and will move you through the water at a good speed. If performed correctly with the movement coming from the hips it is possible to kick and glide, kick and glide, in a very efficient manner. You should not kick from the knee, as if riding a bicycle as that will just push you upwards.

However, slowing down your finning speed will save you energy and therefore air.

More experienced divers soon adopt the more relaxed frog kick style of finning as used when swimming breast stroke. If you watch your divemaster you will rarely see them use the flutter kick in normal circumstances. Even in strong currents they can happily frog kick their way along the reef, moving slowly, pausing and hovering if they see something of interest. With a tiny reverse flip of their fins they can even fin backwards.

Continued >>

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