Apeks bp/w + Reg set package enough lift? (30lbs)
- Thread starter Berry Ke
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I suspect that is VERY dependent on the instructor.
I would also say that when I did Solo, the only thing I really felt like I got out of the course was the training on using a lift bag for buoyancy. The entire rest of the course was simply me demonstrating the required skills which I had already learned in my technical training. The course requirements can be satisfied by diving in a drysuit and demonstrating how to use it as your buoyancy in case of wing failure. I was diving dry, so I did not have to do the lift bag thing at all. The instructor just thought it would be fun (and it was). He did not even demonstrate it. He just told me the basics of what to do and then we went down and I simulated a wing failure and demonstrated what he had just described.
Thus, I would highly recommend at least entry level technical training to anyone that wants to improve their dive skills. Something like TDI Intro to Tech, GUE Fundamentals, or PADI Tec 40. Which specific agency and course is not that important. Finding a good instructor is really the key there. After a course like that, with a good instructor, and then some time on your own to hone what you learned, a Solo Diver course should be just like mine. Nothing new to learn, really. Just demonstrating that you have the required skills.
Long before I signed up for my Solo course, I talked to the instructor I ended up taking the course from. He told me, "I don't teach you anything in Solo. I am just there to make sure you already have the skills and the knowledge. If you don't, then you are not ready to dive solo." I don't know if everyone takes that approach to teaching solo, but I appreciated the basic sentiment he was expressing. If there is a skill you need (whether it's an in-water skill or a topside skill like dive planning) in order to dive solo safely, and someone just taught it to you, you are probably not ready to dive solo yet. All the required skills should be ones that you are competent and comfortable with in a buddy diving situation before you ever start diving solo. And even then, what you feel competent and comfortable with might suddenly feel really weird and awkward when you are in the water and are totally alone. I.e. "what was that noise?!?!"
It seems like the air in the part that was between his legs and sticking up behind would be really hard to vent. And I noticed there was a camera cut between showing that and showing him venting some gas. If you were really low on gas and thus close to neutral it seems like gas back there, hard to vent, could make it really difficult to control your ascent as you get shallow.
I have that same plate and wing and works great for me with an 8mm wetsuit and hood, alum 80 neutral cylinder and 10 lbs of lead in salt water and I weigh 185 lbs. I do use an STA and if you are going to use those weight pockets you may want to get the attachments for them so they won't slide around on the waist band. The attachment bolts to the plate and the pockets bolt to the attachment and can be moved forward or back to adjust just makes it easier to deal with.
The example I gave (Saint Lawrence), I was diving dry. But, the questions were not predicated on being in cold water. What if you were in warm water with some kind of overhead restriction that prevented you from being able to send an SMB to the surface? Whether it was a swimthrough of a reef or a wreck, or simply in an area with boat traffic overhead?
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