Does buoyancy and proper trim come easier with backmount as opposed to sidemount?

[Great White7]

I spent a day with a razor sidemount instructor and its almost sorted out.
I did have a little roll to the right but when I arrived home weighed the weights and one of the 4 pounders was almost half a pound heavier than the other one.
So that might have been the reason for that.
My feet seemed a little heavy so I put 2 x 2 pounds across the back and 2 x 2 pounds up the spine.
Hopefully it will be very close now.

[Great White7]

John (the main Hog guy) just happened to be in Playa on holiday, so I took him the reg and he took it back with him to the USA and will send it to me.
He loaned me another in the meantime also.

[chrpai]

I've never dove SM and I'm not an instructor with hundreds of data points but he's my perspective....


I dove BM for years. I developed really good buoyancy and trim but not stabile platform. I had just a bit of instability which caused tiny little fin skulls that I called "happy feet". This resulted in slow forward motion that I likened to "creeper gear" on a tractor. I'd try to hover and do skills in front of someone and I'd have to do back kicks to reposition myself. Very frustrating. I was given advice to go see a joga instructor to get feedback on my body English and imbalances. At the time that seemed like completely useless advice but looking back I can see that might have helped.


I remember the day I accidentally achieved perfection. I was wearing a different pair of (lighter) fins and while I was diving I noticed I wasn't skulling while hanging. On the next dive I put on my original (heavier) and I still wasn't skulling. I switched from swim trunks to wetsuit to drysuit, AL, steel, singles, doubles, slung 40 and so on.... no skulling. It seems I broke over some threshold and finally learned how to ride a bike after years and years of thinking I already knew how.


I suspect that if I went and gave SM a try and had a good instructor or mentor assist me in dialing everything in correctly that I'd very soon have perfect trim in that to.


So with all that said.... my hunch is that both SM and BM are probably similar in getting to good trim but to go from good trim to great trim the answer lies within yourself and not your gear.

[Great White7]

to go from good trim to great trim the answer lies within yourself and not your gear.

I had perfect (or almost) buoyancy and trim in the pool without a wetsuit, but poor b and t the moment I put a wetsuit on.
So obviously gear was playing a big part.

Having the right gear is a step in the right direction, as is having it fitted correctly IMHO.

[chrpai]

I had perfect (or almost) buoyancy and trim in the pool

Almost isn't perfect. That's the subtlety I'm trying to describe. Configuring the equipment optimally for each configuration will get you back to that almost perfect / good trim but it comes within to go from there to perfect.

[Great White7]

Almost isn't perfect. That's the subtlety I'm trying to describe. Configuring the equipment optimally for each configuration will get you back to that almost perfect / good trim but it comes within to go from there to perfect.

Yeah but it was about 95% (slight forward creep, no roll, no up/down pull).
And in the cenote with a wetsuit on it was about 20% and bad enough that I could not concentrate on anything and just wanted to give up.

[Great White7]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfTj...ature=youtu.be

Its not very long but something might stand out (apart from my efforts to frog kick).

[PfcAJ]

Its not very long but something might stand out (apart from my efforts to frog kick).

Your frog kick really stands out. I'm not sure the internet is the best place to be. Some hands on instructor time is what's needed, imo.

[Great White7]

Your frog kick really stands out. I'm not sure the internet is the best place to be. Some hands on instructor time is what's needed, imo.

Just getting as much info as possible.

I have had around 500 dives and never learned, or taught, how to frogkick, so its like starting over.

And the rolling issues did not help much as I would kick a little, go to glide, and then roll to one side, and have to kick my old way to stay level.

[chrpai]

I'm not sure why you are dropping your knees 45 degrees everytime you kick. It really throws off your trim. I'd keep the knees up. Minor trim issues are easily masked while on the move. Try to hover motionless without any skulling at all.