Buddy Dive - bad attitude?

[Mossman]

May I help. Long before I got into teaching SCUBA I taught swimming, lifesaving, etc. No weights, just a body with a swim suit. One of the requirements was floating for a period of time. During that period of time I discovered that life doesn't always follow norms. One of those norms being preached here is identical people of same weight and height float at the same level. Not true. Some sink to just a nose, others float with almost all the head out, and a whole lot in between. When I got into SCUBA I would council people as to were to start with weights and adjust from there. All the book learning in the world is not a substitute for the real world. The other thing floated about here is comfort level. Again, that is the real world talking. If you want a couple of extra pounds for whatever reason for your comfort go for it. Maybe your BC has a little pocket that is not easy to deflate. Whatever. Book learning and school learning are great, but just a complement to real world obtained knowledge.

I completely agree. Proper weighting is a pain in the butt and as many have posted here, it's really not necessary. Get it right within a few pounds great. Be off by 10 lbs or more, well, as long as you can handle it and it doesn't affect your diving, great. I never suggested proper weighting is a dive essential, but for people trying to get that "perfect" weight I urge them to learn the immutable laws of physics and the basics of physiology as it applies to the calculation. Unlike wetsuit color, proper weighting is truly a mathemetical concept. That said, improper weighting is rarely a concern among experienced divers because they are so good at compensating. We really should be concentrating on valid concerns like man-eating sharks.

 

[boulderjohn]

During that period of time I discovered that life doesn't always follow norms. One of those norms being preached here is identical people of same weight and height float at the same level. Not true. Some sink to just a nose, others float with almost all the head out, and a whole lot in between.

When I was a teenager I worked at a Boy Scout camp for several years. One year we had a new aquatics director who swore that he could teach anyone in the world to float motionlessly in fresh water. He was on the staff for two years. After the second year, he modified his statement slightly. He said he could teach anyone in the world except John Adsit to float motionlessly in fresh water.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Greg Mossman, SPBE (self-professed buoyancy expert)

... do you work for Buddy Dive, by any chance ???

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[adurso]

The discussion on experts always reminds me of the Encyclopedia salesman's attempt at selling me the Britannica......as I told him: I have no need of such things, you see, I have a wife, who for darn sure knows everything......

 

[melissabeads]

Myself, along with a group of 20 will be at Buddy in a week. I will be sure to report back our overall experiences. I plan to have a wonderful trip and finish up my Dive Master requirements while there so I will start off with a fresh perspective.

I know the thread veered off topic.... however I have enjoyed reading ALL of the different perspectives on weight. For someone like myself that is truly trying to soak up every bit of knowledge that I can, each of you have very unique and valid points.

 

[tridacna]

Myself, along with a group of 20 will be at Buddy in a week. I will be sure to report back our overall experiences. I plan to have a wonderful trip and finish up my Dive Master requirements while there so I will start off with a fresh perspective.

Make sure that you ask for about 30lbs when you go get weights... ;-)

 

[morecowbells]

I have been following this thread not because of Buddy Dive(never been to Bonaire) but the discussions regarding weights. I am a 5'4" female who dives wearing 5-6 m.l. wetsuit. I always get a funny look-sometimes an eye roll when I tell the dive op that I need 16 pounds of weight. During the week and after my wetsuit is less buoyant, I will often trim it down a couple of pounds. I have never crashed down on a reef, if anything I struggle to descend the first 15 feet. I once had a dive master talk me into trying 14 # of weight(this was when I was less experienced and more likely to doubt myself), I fought like he!! to stay at 15-20 feet during the safety stop and had to fin downwards the entire time.

There is definitely a culture of bragging rights when it comes to using weights. In Curacao I once had a lady tell me that she required only 6 # of weights and with more experience I will require much less. Her buoyancy sucked so bad that she started picking rocks off the bottom and was stuffing them into her pocket. I was worried that she would accidentally pick up a stone fish. One diver in Cozumel fessed up that packed and kept 4 # weights zipped in his bcd pocket so that he would not get hassled by the dive op for his actual weight requirement. This is just sad. If he were in an emergency situation, ditching his weight belt may not be effective as his other weights are 'hidden'. I think these examples are much more common than many of us realize. I am relieved that people are discussing this issue.

 

[ScubaSteve]

I am relieved that people are discussing this issue.

Sadly, even after this discussion, certain people will state with absolute certainty that "you" (not you specifically) are overweighted because they do not like the amount of weight you carry. Some people are unable to accept that certain people just require (not want) more or less weight than others. The physical make-up of the body has many things that will impact buoyancy and they cannot see those things to differentiate between two seemingly identically shaped people.

C'est la vie. I too have kind of enjoyed the discussion although the noise ratio is quite high.

 

[Jax]

I have been following this thread not because of Buddy Dive(never been to Bonaire) but the discussions regarding weights. I am a 5'4" female who dives wearing 5-6 m.l. wetsuit. I always get a funny look-sometimes an eye roll when I tell the dive op that I need 16 pounds of weight. During the week and after my wetsuit is less buoyant, I will often trim it down a couple of pounds. I have never crashed down on a reef, if anything I struggle to descend the first 15 feet. I once had a dive master talk me into trying 14 # of weight(this was when I was less experienced and more likely to doubt myself), I fought like he!! to stay at 15-20 feet during the safety stop and had to fin downwards the entire time.

There is definitely a culture of bragging rights when it comes to using weights. In Curacao I once had a lady tell me that she required only 6 # of weights and with more experience I will require much less. Her buoyancy sucked so bad that she started picking rocks off the bottom and was stuffing them into her pocket. I was worried that she would accidentally pick up a stone fish. One diver in Cozumel fessed up that packed and kept 4 # weights zipped in his bcd pocket so that he would not get hassled by the dive op for his actual weight requirement. This is just sad. If he were in an emergency situation, ditching his weight belt may not be effective as his other weights are 'hidden'. I think these examples are much more common than many of us realize. I am relieved that people are discussing this issue.

How funny! I'm a 5'4" female diving a 7mm, and I need 16# too! That's so I don't fight like H*** at the safety level stop.

 

[Ump06]

ScubaSteve. I tried. I tried to explain that early on I found identical looking people float differently just swimming. However, some of our "resident" "experts" can not see the forest from the trees, to quote a medaphor, or in this case, that people are different just like trees. TRIDACNA ""Make sure that you ask for about 30lbs when you go get weights... ;-)"" I hope you didn't bite your tongue when you planted it firmly in your cheek. And I still can't get paragraphs to work.