Underwater Skills For Scuba Diving
Develop Scuba Skills And Techniques To Increase Enjoyment Underwater
Aug 2, 2008
In nearly every other sport there is a great reliance on technique and style. Footballers practise their techniques during the week for the weekend games. A trip to the ski-fields isn’t complete without a ski lesson. But what about scuba diving? Are there techniques and skills that can be practised or learnt? Are there any dry-land activities that can lead to enhanced diving enjoyment ?
Skills in the Basic Course
The basic dive course teaches a novice diver to enter the water and commence diving safely – mask clearing, backward roll, neutral buoyancy, and the host of other skills required to start the sport.
Buoyancy Control the Primary Underwater Skill
The functional skills of diving are left to the individual to develop. Adaptation to the underwater world is the primary skill or technique that a diver should develop. The three dimensional world of the fishes allows for a wider variety of movement than on land.
Controlling buoyancy is the most important skill a diver can learn. For detailed information on developing this skill, refer to the Suite 101 article on Buoyancy Control.
Technique for Access to the Water
Entry sites change with every dive site. Sometimes it might be a backward roll off a boat; the next dive might be a battle through the surf, or a difficult entry off a rocky shore. The object for these difficult entry sites is to get underwater as quickly as possible.
After the ascent, and when heading back to the boat or shore exit point, it is usually easier to swim under waves than to try to battle through them. In the same way it is usually easier to swim to the anchor line just below the surface to start the descent than battling a chop on the surface.
The main technique, is to always have enough air in the tank for this last swim to the exit point at the end of a dive.
Developing Fitness for Scuba Diving
When away from the water, the main activity to improve diving enjoyment is to keep fit. Anything that builds strength, aerobic capability and flexibility is important, as diving uses different parts of the body in different ways. Swimming, lugging heavy tanks, scrambling over rocks in bulky scuba gear, all require different physical capabilities.
Swimming is one of the best exercises as it builds the chest and arms that should be used as much as fins to move through the water. It also develops lungpower, fitness and stamina.
Stretching and loosening exercises are also useful. Many divers go through a routine of stretching before a dive to ensure their arms and legs are loose and ready for the rigours of the dive.
How Much Diving is Enough?
The skills necessary for safe and enjoyable diving are mainly acquired while under the water. So how much diving should be done to keep in touch? The answer really depends on the individual. Diving is like the proverbial bicycle: you never forget. It might be a couple of years between dives, but after a few dives the old skills will start flowing back.
As with any sport, the more you do it the better you get. Some divers say one dive a month is adequate, others say two or three is best to retain the necessary skills and confidence.
Whatever number of dives, a diver should always be aware of how to improve presence and technique in the underwater world. The diver’s enjoyment, the environment and enjoyment of diving buddies, will benefit.
 |
