A question for ladies who dive with doubles

[hsuan]

I have just started to dive with my doubles for about 10 dives and I think my trim seems to be okay underwater (slightly top heavy, but manageable.). However, I felt really uncomfortable to do surface swim. It feels like the tanks are dragging me down that i have to do ab crunch to compensate it. After 20 min kicking on the surface from shore diving, my ab muscles can be sore for days. Is it normal?
I'm 5'4", 120lb. I use steel double 100, Halcyon Evolve 40 wing and Halcyon small aluminum plate.
I don't think my tank band can be raise much higher....
Any suggestion would be appreciated.

[TobinGeorge]

I have just started to dive with my doubles for about 10 dives and I think my trim seems to be okay underwater (slightly top heavy, but manageable.). However, I felt really uncomfortable to do surface swim. It feels like the tanks are dragging me down that i have to do ab crunch to compensate it. After 20 min kicking on the surface from shore diving, my ab muscles can be sore for days. Is it normal?
I'm 5'4", 120lb. I use steel double 100, Halcyon Evolve 40 wing and Halcyon small aluminum plate.
I don't think my tank band can be raise much higher....
Any suggestion would be appreciated.

Are you surface swimming on your back? (That the way the "regular guys" do it )

Tobin

[LCF]

After a 20 minute surface swim in doubles, I'd be down for a week.

But I do swim on my back, and I have never felt the need to do ab crunches. Do you feel like your back is arching too much?

[hsuan]

Yes, I do swim on my back, but with doubles, I feel like I'm a upside down turtle.

[hsuan]

After a 20 minute surface swim in doubles, I'd be down for a week.

But I do swim on my back, and I have never felt the need to do ab crunches. Do you feel like your back is arching too much?

I don't feel my back is arching much, but I felt the rig is pulling and lifting me flat on the surface. If I relax, the rig would stay flat on the surface, and my waist would be right on the surface....

[kevfin]

I'm not a woman and I'm considerably bigger than you. However, I can tell you that diving doubles isn't always as simple as putting them on your back and diving. Because we all come in different shapes and sizes adjustments need to be made... possibly the plate, the wing, additional weighting (keel weights, weight belt), bands, etc.. That you are top heavy underwater tells me that something is off too.

You really need to have a competent person who is familiar with doubles look at what you are doing and help you make corrections.

If it means anything, I've been doing this for a while and I'm still adjusting weighting and trim. I'm a longs ways off from being perfect.

[marci]

i'll just say that surface swims are not a favorite part of diving, backmount or sidemount. larry gets on me for doing them face down using my gas, but i can feel out of control doing them on my back. add that my old wing wasn't big enough and barely held my chin out of the water, and i usually brave larry's disapproval with a hearty hand signal.

but yes, if you're head heavy, fix that part first. you might need a tail weight which would fix some of feeling like a turtle.

[scubamountaingirl]

I would ask, are you trying to get somewhere fast? I know a 20 swim on your back with double 100's is tiring and it takes some time. ( well 20 min) but maybe if you slow down a bit and use your fins ..... are you flutter kicking? in my mind i see an ab crunch with that. if you do a frog kick of any sort what ever propels you forward the pressure is off your abs, but you will go a bit slower.i would check to see how much air you are using in your wing. maybe one or two more breaths and you would not be working so hard....

I hope this helps.

[hsuan]

Hmmmm. I forgot to mention that I wear no weight with doubles. For my single rig, I use 8 lb weight / steel 100 tank / small aluminum plate / DUI TLS350 / Polartec undergarment. I was using flutter kick and now that I think of it, I can try frog kick this weekend... I can also try to loosen the shoulder strap and tighten the crouch strap (it is kind of loose right now)..... I'm not quite sure about the tail weight since I'm negative enough without weight, but I don't mind trying it....

[mikemill]

If you are doing a 20 minute surface kick then you need to get a scooter

[b1gcountry]

Only thing I can think of is to let a little air out of the wing.

Tom

[blondie]

You might be over inflating the wing (common), or you might try moving the bands on the tanks a squidge, so the tanks aren't riding so high.

[scubamountaingirl]

this was my thought that you were too buoyant and doing a flutter kick which will put a lot of pressure on your abs to propel you on your back. noodle around. your almost there. and remember this is not a race. it you get there in 25 min. that is you. that is your personal best.

[marci]

you may well be appropriately negative, but still head-heavy. if so, that needs fixing even though it might not have anything to do with this particular issue. being head-heavy is exhausting to constantly correct.

[scubamountaingirl]

marci has that right. it was a season of noodling with my kit....you might start with your fins. how negative are they? when i first put on doubles, i was diving F1's and they were way too long and too heavy for me and i was feet heavy. equally exhausting on a surface swim....I went through my kit one change at a time to get the right mix. it helped to have a person of greater knowledge ( and thats not hard in my case) to evaluate me and my gear....just more of my 2¢

w