Comments on: FIN PIVOT

By: barney

barney — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 14:17:16 +0000

Tobi, I think your article was spot on from a training perspective. That wasn’t my quote but I don’t see them, the people who said it, having an objection with it being pasted. I saw it as a caution to divers (a heads up) like “just because your instructor overweighted you and introduced you to buoyancy by fin pivoting, doesn’t mean you continue diving that way” some , not all, instructors make that distinction.

By: Tobi1kanoby

Tobi1kanoby — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 13:48:37 +0000

You have a valid point there barnley,
“skills” are scuba instructors names for the drills an open water diver has to prove capable of before certification. Fin pivot is Negative buoyancy but some newbies find it easier to grasp first than neutral buoyancy such as hovering, while it is somewhat safer to practice first compared to hovering. It also demonstrates easily the affect of you lung volume on your buoyancy. You’re right on the point about most diver are diving negatively buoyant which we mentioned in some articles.
Again, thanks for the clarification and your concern. Will be happy to hear from you again.

By: barney

barney — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 13:25:45 +0000

This is from a website that specializes in buoyancy mentoring:
Fin pivoting or fin tip pivoting…is presented as a skill when it is nothing more than a trick by which the instructor demonstrates the role that breathing plays in fine tuning buoyancy. Fin pivoting is negative buoyancy! Touching is touching! It doesn’t matter if knees touch or fin tips touch…..it is still negative buoyancy. It is not a skill! It is an instructor tool. There are divers who still believe that they should begin each dive with a decent to the bottom and a fin pivot….preferably performed over a sandy spot. Good or great buoyancy, actually requires that you unlearn some of what you learned in your beginners course. Most divers are over weighted because that is how they started diving. ONCE MORE….fin pivoting is not a buoyancy control skill! Fin tip pivoting is an instructor tool! Divers who really understand about buoyancy will understand that!
Now that I think back , I have seen divers actually doing fin pivots on tropical dives. Now I have to ask why? Why not practice neutral buoyancy?