Newbie with floaty feet..

[Wrayne]

Hi everyone, I'm new here and have a question. Does anyone else have a problem with their feet flying up in the water? This is when I'm wearing the neoprene booties and fins, wetsuit and full gear. Normally it's not a problem and I can push my feet down, so I'm wondering if it's the booties or fins being so buoyant, or should I let some air out of my BC? I am totally new at this, trying to get my OW certification, and any help will be much appreciated!

[TAH 73]

If you have the ability try pushing the tank a little lower on the tank straps, this will sit the bottom of the tank lower and make you less "head heavy" and should allow you get more balanced.
If that does not work, they do make ankle weights that would resolve your issue with floaty feet as well.

[WV Diver]

00The booties and the fins could both be a little buoyant. Typically hard soled booties are less likely to have positive buoyancy issues. You can purchase your fins either of the positive or negative buoyancy variety depending on your needs.

You should speak with your instructor about this issue or if there is a Divers Direct or similar store close by someone there can help you. Actually just give Joe or Larry a call and they can tell you which set up will be more negatively bouyant.

Otherwise, ankle wieghts come in one and two pound varieties normally. I would advise that, this is a last resort for a new diver. Wait until you have 20 or 30 dives to get comfortable before you go to ankle weights if you can. They can make you uncomfortable if you have to make long surface swims or work against currents getting back to the boat. Most folks can get along fine without the ankle weights, unless they are diving dry, with the proper equipment. I would try to get the correct bootie and fin configuration for you before I would suggest just grabbing ankle wreights.

Good luck.

[greyzen]

Something else to consider, is the bouyency coming from your feet or your 'lower area'. I ask cause someone I know was having 'floaty feet' and we stored 4lbs in the back pocket of her BCD and suddenly her feet quit floating.

You might be blaming your legs for what your butt is doing

[ScubaToys Larry]

And you might just be experiencing "newbie clutziness". I see that a lot... it might just take you a while to get used to the whole weightless positioning thing. I would not freak yet and start buying ankle weights or different fins or boots. Most new divers swim around with their feet too low - so if you can stay horizontal in the water - you are doing better than many!

So hang in there, keep working on it, and I bet it will correct itself in time.

[Wrayne]

Thank you all for your help, I really appreciate it. I will make some adjustments and keep working on it.

My instructor was not much help at all. She informed me that I was just "too weak" to put my feet down. That made me feel really great, let me tell you.. I mean, I don't exercise as much as I should, I am a small person and all, but I'm not a total weakling either!

Well, thanks to all of you and I'll let you know how it goes next time around.

[gtjason2000]

Unless she was jesting that is a sign of a bad instructor to criticize their students. I think students tend to be in the head down position when they are underweighted and have to constantly kick to stay down but it sounds like your feet float when you are not moving them? My fins float but i have never noticed an excesive lifting feeling from them. You should try and do a hover and have an experienced buddy, dm, or that unhelpful instructor look at you to try and diagnose the problem.

[scubasavvy]

Try crossing your feet as you descend. If that doesn't work, you might want to try ankle weights. Not everyone is a big fan of them, but I needed them on my cert dives a few months ago.

[fire diver]

A couple thoughts here. If the problem is the neoprene on your legs and feet, then you will have the "floaty" problem in the last 10 or so feet from the surface. If you are bad here, but fine at depth, then this is the culprit. If you have problems at depth too, then it is one of 3 things.

You need to adjust your trim weight "back" a little.

You need to arch your back. Many new divers simply have bad form. "Arch" your back like you are sitting up very straight in a chair. You may see a huge improvement right there. This is why new divers start out leaning or yawing when they dive, but after a year of diving have great trim. They just got used to how they need to hold their body.

Or lastly, your attitude in the water is different from how it feels to you. Many people feel "head down" when they are really perfectly trimmed.

You will most likely need help from an observer to tell if you are trimmed correctly or not.

One final note on finning. Keep you legs bent at the knees and use a modified flutter kick. If you ever follow behind a group of students you'll see why (or more likey you won't see much of anything from all the silt being kicked up)

FD

[Wrayne]

Ok, I'll keep these things in mind, thanks everyone!