Tail swimming and exhale dives?

[Echidna]

Not sure whether to put it here or in Freediving, but here goes.

I don't use weightbelts anymore, instead I rely on breath control to stay put underwater
(especially difficult near the surface for photoshoots and the like).

In deeper waters, I sometimes have run into trouble when accidentally exhaling a bit too much while moving downward (I went straight down several metres and had a lot of pressure on my chest suddenly, I barely escaped a lung squeeze).

Reading up on DeeperBlue about it, diving just a few metres without having fully inhaled is the equivalent to shooting into a depth of around 50m within just a second (scary!), and it's recommended to take around 2 minutes to descend to the pool bottom when having exhaled.

I'm sure that's great advice, but it's not feasible to achieve for me when swimming in a tail
(there are also precious few freediving ropes attached to pools...).

How do mers with access to deeper water handle this?
Do you use ropes or something to control descent and ascent?
Do you never exhale, and use weight belts instead?

Or are you all sinkers? (best option probably)

[Mermaid Galene]

I don't have any answers for you, Echidna, but I share your question. I'm able to take a breath and swim underwater with neutral buoyancy. But if I take a breath and try to stay stationary underwater to blow bubble rings, I bob to the surface like a cork. Haven't figured out how to deal with that.

[MermaidCora]

I am by far no expert, but personally I would go with the weight belt! I'm sure the mer-experts will tell all when they return from the great mer-con! ;D
I'd like answers to this too! :)

[Mermaid Jaffa]

I don't use weights as I swim alone, without a buddy. Lifeguards don't count as a buddy.

When I take a breath, I can stay underwater for a little while, but as soon as I stop moving... *Gloop* Back to the surface!

I started using this as a way to propel myself from the near the bottom of the pool, 2 m depth, to launch myself out of the water. Like the guy in the pro monofin doing that massive jump. Except mine is more like a little hop!

[Mermaid Jessica Pearl]

I struggle with being really buoyant. I'm a little better with silicone instead of a neoprene tail but I still need weights to stay down. Not even exhaling is enough :(

[Mermaid Kelda]

That's something I have worried about, as I am so buoyant in the water that I worry I might shoot up to the surface far too quickly in a deep pool. As far as I'm aware it's not good to descend or ascend more than a metre or so very quickly. Something we should learn at mermaid conventions is how to properly breathe before, during, and after diving!

[AptaMer]

If you're freediving, Melaina, it's OK. The air you had at the surface compresses, and then swells back up to its original size when you come back up. Some freedivers ascend as fast as 1 metre per second.

As long as you don't repeatedly dive really deep without taking rest intervals on the surface, you're in no danger of developing decompression sickness either.

It's when you are using SCUBA gear-breathing compressed air- that you have to come up carefully. The maximum recommended ascent rate for SCUBA divers is 10 metres/minute, or 1 metre every six seconds.

Also, when you ascend on SCUBA, you have to keep your airway open so any excess expanding air can escape as you go up.

[AptaMer]

Something we should learn at mermaid conventions is how to properly breathe before, during, and after diving!

I wonder if there would be interest in a "Freediving for Mermaids" course taught by certified freediving instructors?

[Miyu]

TOTALLY INTERESTED. I feel so under-educated about diving things - most of my friends (both locally and mer) seem to have had scuba/lifeguard training as children, and I never thought I'd have a need to learn proper diving techniques, LOL!

[Mermaid Jaffa]

I wonder if there would be interest in a "Freediving for Mermaids" course taught by certified freediving instructors?

I have been thinking... "Where do the freedivers go to learn?"
Then I'll just show up there in my tail and get a free class... :lol::lol:

[Mermaid Jessica Pearl]

I'm doing a free dive course next week and I'm really nervous and excited! I'm hoping my buoyancy won't be a problem!

[AptaMer]

I have been thinking... "Where do the freedivers go to learn?"
Then I'll just show up there in my tail and get a free class...

Well, here in Toronto, you can join the Freedive Toronto Club

http://freedivetoronto.com/about/

Membership is $50/year

They have courses, outings to dive spots in the summer, and practice nights once a week (you have to pay the entry fee to the pool for practice nights.)

The more experienced divers put on great training sessions on practice nights. About half the people wear monofins, so I suppose they're halfway to being mermaids anyway . . . Hmmm . . . I don't know if the leaders would find mermaids distracting or not.

I'm so averse to cold water I even wear a black dive suit in the pool that kind of makes me look like the black mer-creature I've always envisaged myself to be.

[AptaMer]

I'm doing a free dive course next week and I'm really nervous and excited!

So glad for you Jessica Pearl!

Everyone starts out with the jitters when learning, but they usually leave their first class exhilarated.

Have fun!

[Merman Chatfish]

If you're freediving, Melaina, it's OK. The air you had at the surface compresses, and then swells back up to its original size when you come back up. Some freedivers ascend as fast as 1 metre per second.

As long as you don't repeatedly dive really deep without taking rest intervals on the surface, you're in no danger of developing decompression sickness either.

It's when you are using SCUBA gear-breathing compressed air- that you have to come up carefully. The maximum recommended ascent rate for SCUBA divers is 10 metres/minute, or 1 metre every six seconds.

Also, when you ascend on SCUBA, you have to keep your airway open so any excess expanding air can escape as you go up.

Agreed. As long as your not breathing compressed air your ok coming up.

[Echidna]

I'm doing a free dive course next week and I'm really nervous and excited! I'm hoping my buoyancy won't be a problem!

It probably won't be a problem.
Freedivers almost always use weight belts. You can use as many weights as you need to be neutrally buoyant.
(They also use wetsuits, which is nice when the pool is cold)

A fast ascent as a freediver is not a problem, because you don't inhale compressed air underwater.
However, a fast descent can be risky, especially if your lungs aren't filled.
I know many freedivers practicing in a pool suffered lung squeezes already in depths around 3m.

[Merman Chatfish]

It probably won't be a problem.
Freedivers almost always use weight belts. You can use as many weights as you need to be neutrally buoyant.
(They also use wetsuits, which is nice when the pool is cold)

A fast ascent as a freediver is not a problem, because you don't inhale compressed air underwater.
However, a fast descent can be risky, especially if your lungs aren't filled.
I know many freedivers practicing in a pool suffered lung squeezes already in depths around 3m.

Ive never heard about that happening and I train lifeguards to rush down to about 3m to rescue someone.

[Echidna]

Ive never heard about that happening and I train lifeguards to rush down to about 3m to rescue someone.

It's when you exhale...what the thread is about.

[Mermaid Jessica Pearl]

Thanks guys. I'm actually already supposed to have it but it keeps getting pushed back. And I keep forgetting we have plenty of weight belts to help! I just never wear them with my tail because even though I have covered them in net and sparkly fabric they just look bulky. But I won't be wearing my tail when doing the certification. Doh!