Maintaining proper form on the surface

I have trouble getting relaxed because I seem to float vertically. The only way that I can get balanced to float horizontally is to wear only the bottom half of a two piece suit, which isn't practical except in the very warmest months here. Otherwise, I'm very leg heavy. I feel like I can't relax because I am constantly finning to stay horizontal, or else allow myself to float vertically and have to do a 180° turn to start the dive.

I'm pretty new to this, so any thoughts would be appreciated. I'm hoping that I'm overlooking the obvious.

Quote from pantoja

when i exale i cant stay still because i tend to sink a bit , so i have to kick a couple of times to stay afloat. I don't really have a set technique , sometimes I do one way sometimes another. I don't really know why i do it one way or another.

sounds like you have too much weight on your belt which is very common in freediving spearos.

What kinda wetsuit do you have? Open cell or closed cell

Whats your weight?

I'm not sure how fast your legs sink Jeff. For me it's like what Pantoja said. I like enough weight on to have an easy descent. I feel that more energy is expended when breaking the surface than throughout the whole dive. It is at the very beginning of the descent when I know if I'm going to have a good dive or not. So I like to have enough weight on to facilitate breaking the surface. It may go against conventional safety procedures but I float vertically, with the top of my head just on the surface, with my lungs full. When I exhale about half of my air I start to sink slowly.

This goes with what Pantoja said. During breathup in order to relax I put emphasis on a long exhale, to clear the lungs for the next breath. As I do this I start to sink so I must kick a little to stay horizontal. Ideally to relax you don't want to kick too much. Evidence of this is trying to breath up in current while swimming or even maintaining position, it's almost impossible to breath up properly in those conditions. So breathing up is a balance of relaxing and at the same time doing some minimal kicking to stay in position.

When I think about all this now I'm tempted to experiment with less weight. This theoretically will make less kicking necessary to stay horizontal on the surface and should facilitate breathup. However I suspect that as the weight belt is located on the lower portion of the body the legs will sink first regardless if all of you doesn't end up sinking and so kicking will still be necessary. Honestly I don't pay attention any more to kicking while breathing up. I am however looking forward to losing weight. Then I will require less weight on the belt and be better balanced overall.

Sounds like maybe I'm not that different then. For now, I'm using a two piece 3mm farmer john closed cell suit. When I wear just the bottoms, and about 2-4 lbs, I float very comfortably and horizontally on the surface. Beginning the dive feels easy and relaxed.

But if I wear the top half as well, in combination with needing more weight, I go vertical quickly. Beginning the dive seems to take more effort, and I can feel myself getting "un relaxed". Maybe it's just something to get accustomed to.

Like Pargo said. how much weight you have on your belt is important to stay horizontal. To stay flat at the surface i have to use one small kick at a time from any leg to keep me horizintal position. Now all this also depend on current and chop water. Very slow motions with your legs will keep you horizontal. But when you want to really get those relaxing big gulps of air. is recommended to be still. So i let my legs sink while i do some of the last breaths then a small kick to get back in position 2 more breaths then the Big long breath and down i go. I know some people like it different . I used to be like Pargo and used to much weight to break the surface fast and reach my gliding status fast. But with time i notice how hard was for me to come up from the bottom. So i switch to less weight and i was feeling better. Once i break that 30 feet and reach my gliding status i'm a happy camper. That is where i notice how much i'm going to last or how deep i will be able to reach.

Quote from Tin Man

When I wear just the bottoms, and about 2-4 lbs, I float very comfortably and horizontally on the surface. Beginning the dive feels easy and relaxed.

I've never heard of using parts of the wetsuit as a means of balancing but I guess that goes along with being better balanced overall as I mentioned earlier. Interesting observation. The tendency is however to wear minimal thermal protection in response to cold/warm conditions not as a means to balance. The wetsuit itself can impede breathup as it constricts the torso and you have to overcome this pressure when you're expanding the lungs.

Quote

But if I wear the top half as well, in combination with needing more weight, I go vertical quickly.

Hey Tin Man Because your 2 piece is complete your chest will have more neoprene than usual when your legs still have the same amount. that probably cause your legs to sink with the weight on it. And your chest do to the extra wetsuit will float more. And remember that is where your lungs are. Material plus lung = lots of bouyancy. We usually cut the farmer john at the waist to reduce the ammount of neoprene in the chest area. That way the material is more even around the body, and makes the wetsuit more comfortable. That will probably will help you a bit with staying horizontal. Use enough weight to be neutral at 30 feet. then frediving deeper is easier.

The water was warm enough on my last dive that I really didn't need any thermal protection for a reasonable period of time. Part of the reason I wore anything was due to my own inexperience. I felt more comfortable having a little positive buoyancy once I passed about 20-25' on my way up. I was probably more buoyant than I needed to be, but being new, the peace of mind helped me relax, and have a more enjoyable dive.

For most of the year, I'll need a suit of some kind, but I certainly see your point about minimizing.

Core - I also thought about the double layer adding extra buoyancy, but didn't really want to cut the only suit I own.

Quote from pantoja

greek i don't like wearing suits, I have a rashguard which i use most of the times , wich is just the upper part and some tight shorts, I also have a suit , it's a 0.5 but i don't really wear it much. i feel I move smoother when no suit on. I also like to descent easy so i wear like 8 pounds on the belt. and I weigh 168 or so.

8 pounds for not wearing anything is alot of weight considering you weigh 168lbs. We never use to use weight belts/suits when I was younger. When I started using a belt for freediving I used 4-6 lbs and I weighed 220 lbs. One thing though, I use to sink on a full breath in freshwater, and would start to sink with half breath in salt. Eso era cuando estaba musculoso....:laughing3:

Take off 2 lbs and try it again. I think you probably have a large lung volume, but 6lbs should be more than enough.

Quote from pargo

When I think about all this now I'm tempted to experiment with less weight. This theoretically will make less kicking necessary to stay horizontal on the surface and should facilitate breathup. However I suspect that as the weight belt is located on the lower portion of the body the legs will sink first regardless if all of you doesn't end up sinking and so kicking will still be necessary. Honestly I don't pay attention any more to kicking while breathing up. I am however looking forward to losing weight. Then I will require less weight on the belt and be better balanced overall.

I used to wear 12-15 lbs with my wetsuit but I have been trying out less. While diving 50-70 most of the day I was using 6.25 lbs and it is a definite improvement. I can float on the surface without having to kick forward, I barely notice the belt at all, and to surface I only do a couple light kicks to float effortlessly to the surface (very nice feeling) and conserve air when you most need it.

I have been diving shallower so I switched to 7.5lbs. Last week I was diving very shallow, 10-20ft, and holding on to a rock was enough to keep me on the bottom comfortably. When the water warms up I will try very little or no weight at all and see how it goes.

pantoja,

You are easily using way too much weight. If i were to guess, you need like 3-4lbs. I use 3 lbs with a 2.5mm close cell shorty. I have more body fat on me, and but i have more muscle(muscle sinks and fat floats). I weigh 190lbs.

Once you get used to less weight, you won't go back to more weight.