My wife won't sink

[CathyE]

I struggle to sink from the surface until 15 or 20’. Divemasters kept adding weight. :-( I used to have my buddy grab a fin until I was deep enough. With experience I can do it on my own now.
I am bad at retaining air in my lungs (just in case ). I work on overcoming that.
In addition the straps on my BCD trapped air in my wetsuit (female curves), now I leave everything a little loose until the air bubbles rise out, then I tighten straps. It helps.
In my earlier years 24 lbs, in a 3mm and salt water was the norm, now it is 15 lbs in the same scenario. I also no longer feel the need to hurry. If I’m on a charter I’ll either arrange with the dive leader to start descending right away or they will wait for me. Dive leader’s call.
When it is just buddy and me we get there when we get there.

 

[old frogman]

I'm pretty sure she's not a witch. But she has struggled with getting underwater since the beginning. She's a 5'8" runner, about 130+/- pounds, fit, with little fat.

In a 7mm full suit, in fresh water she wears 14 pounds of lead and still struggles getting down that first ten feet underwater. She has worked on buoyancy, I've worked with her on it, we had buoyancy as one of our AOW specialties and spent an entire day working on it, she has continued to work with an instructor with it but still struggles. I on the other hand am 30 pounds overweight and submerge fine in a 5mm with 8# of lead. We'll put more on her because she is getting frustrated but I can't imagine she really needs it. All her instructors believe she has sufficient weight (or too much) and suggest she needs to relax and something about her stance is causing her to have a hard time getting down. Next time we go diving I'm going to see how much lead is required just to sink her wetsuit. Any tips on sinking a buoyant diver without overloading lead?

7mm wetsuit is very buoyant. I suggest 24 lbs weight belt as a starting point.

 

[Saffadiver]

Old thread I know, but my partner has the same issue, you could hang on her and she cant be sunk.... believe me I have tried.

Does she get the wetsuit nice and saturated with water before trying to sink? We always have problems on first dive when everything is bone dry but it starts to 'take' and allow sinking after 2-3 minutes in water or if we open the arms and let water in.
7mm is quite a buoyant suit as others have said so it might be a case of getting re-weighted and adjusting from there.

We track our weighting for every 'situation' and log it in our logs as well eg. Thermoclines I wear 6kg, 5mm wetsuit I wear 8kg and Drysuit I wear 10-12kg depending on undersuit etc.

 

[halocline]

To the OP, a steel backplate/wing might really help. Lots of recreational BCs with padding tend to hold air at the surface. Since BP/Ws are generally better for diving (IMO) anyways, there’s no real downside to trying one.

For technique, there’s always the old ‘cross your legs’ bit, sometimes that helps keep people from finning at the surface. There’s also a bit of zen involved in relaxing enough, slowing your breathing, and being patient. Making sure all the air is out of the wetsuit can be helpful, just pull out the neck seal a little and see if any air burps out. In cold water this is not the most fun!

There is variability in how much lead people need to get down, and a new wetsuit can be pretty spongy. Sometimes it’s just a combination of a few little things; the BC, the new suit, some technique, maybe a little anxiety about getting under the surface. If she has to be a little overweighted on a temporary basis, that’s not the worst thing. Most OW divers are carrying more lead than they need.

 

[Damselfish]

14 pounds with a 7mm does not sound like that much. Sometimes you need what you need and people get too obsessed about using less weight. If less is right she will eventually get there. IMO better to have a little more lead and success, and drop it over time as it feels right. Rather than not have enough for now and struggle.

A different take - You say you are helping her. She should be helping herself. Has she been reading this thread? Are you insisting she has too much weight? You also say you want to transition her to BP/W. What does she want?

Sometimes you can help, sometimes someone else can help, sometimes someone needs to work it out for themselves.

 

[John Bantin]

The human body is neutrally buoyant when there is little of no air in the lungs. Has she tried exhaling before attempting to leave the surface? The reason we see so many divers with too much weight on their belts is that they take a deep breath before leaving the surface.

 

[bradlw]

I guess I've watched too many cop shows on TV over the years... every time I see the title of this post come up I think about an old episode of the original Hawaii Five-O

 

[Saffadiver]

I guess I've watched too many cop shows on TV over the years... every time I see the title of this post come up I think about an old episode of the original Hawaii Five-O

new divers come in daily, its part and parcel of our world.

 

[CycleCat]

You say you are helping her. She should be helping herself. Has she been reading this thread? Are you insisting she has too much weight? You also say you want to transition her to BP/W. What does she want?

She knows of this thread but doesn't do Scubaboard. I've passed over my laptop a few times and she has read some replies. A trusted dive instructor who did our AOW thinks she's overweighted. We have checked buoyancy during safety stops by dumping air to 500 PSI numerous times and she's overweighted. I have not tried to rush her to give up her cozy BCD until she was ready. She asked for something simpler and likes my BP/W so when she was ready, I put one together for her. She has yet to dive it. Maiden voyage may be this weekend at NM Blue Hole.

 

[tridacna]

Does she weigh the same as a duck?