#2242
MDW - 10/08/2019 5:48 PM
You should definitely NOT arrange your weights and BC for good vertical trim / buoyancy at the surface, as in the real world you will spend maybe 30 seconds at the surface at the beginning of the dive and a few minutes or so at the end of the dive. Meanwhile, you will spend from 30 to 60 minutes or more underwater, where you will want perfect HORIZONTAL trim and esy buoyancy control. To achieve this, weight yourself appropriately for the position you will spend the most time in (horizontal, underwater, with the least air needed in the BC to maintain depth and be able to do a safety stop. Once you achieve that, there may be some tweaks you can do to allow vertical trim at the surface, but make sure these will not mess up your underwater trim, which is far more important.

At the surface, as long as you can keep your head out of the water as needed, it is not really important for the rest of your body to be in a perfectly vertical position or any other particular position.