Do experienced divers need to carry less weight?

[JohnN]

I completely agree that many new divers are over-weighted and carry more ballast than they need. This complicates ascents and makes buoyancy control more tenuous. This is primarily because the excess weight causes them to “manage” a bubble in the BC that is larger than would be otherwise needed.

However, I know quite a few very experienced divers who clearly are diving with a modest amount of lead that is greater than would be needed to hang neutral at a shallow depth with their tank low. Why would a diver choose to wear more lead than the absolute minimum?

I can think of a few reasons, one primary one is the ability to drop to the bottom and be stable in a high current environment. Being 6 or 10 lbs heavy on the bottom can greatly reduce exertion by the diver.

Another reason, might be to be able to hang heavily under an smb at the end of the dive and still be able to completely relax and pull the smb down so that one end is submerged and the other end is near vertical. That can be a strenuous task if the diver is neutral or light at 10 or 15 feet.

Another potential benefit of carrying a little extra lead is that it allows the diver to descend more rapidly and with little or no kicking, which can reduce workload and probably air consumption. Of course, this practice presents its’ own challenges, dangers and is presented as something to avoid when new divers are being taught. That doesn’t mean that I don’t see some experienced divers doing it however.

Also some instructors and guides might carry some extra lead that they can donate to a diver who finds himself light. It is often much less inconvenient to pass off a 3-lb weight at the surface (or just below) than to abort the dive, reboard the boat, add lead and then start a new descent.

Wearing extra lead, means the diver must manage the ascent more carefully and the extra lead will be “paid for” by a little extra drag associated with a slightly more inflated BC, so a diver probably should have a good reason why they are deciding to wear more lead than they absolutely could get away with.

If you dive in cold water, extra lead allows more air in your drysuit == extra warmth. Of course, all within reason, too much lead with too much air in the suit can make the bubble very hard to control

 

[CuzzA]

I'll say this, there's not much better than board shorts, a t-shirt, wing and a steel tank with just two hoses on the reg in 85° water. It feels good. About as close as you can get to freediving. No weight needed.

 

[jstreetley]

New divers also sometimes subconsciously fin during the weight check. Not vigorously but just a gentle back/forth that they don't realise but could easily be adding a kg or two to their supposed weight. Learning to stop treading water at the surface and let your BCD support you takes a bit of time in the water and control.

 

[jadairiii]

No, it's not. It's biological fact. ....

A reflex of poor training. Even new divers can be taught to control it, just not something a lazy instructor can do.

 

[johndiver999]

A reflex of poor training. Even new divers can be taught to control it, just not something a lazy instructor can do.

I've taught (or attempted to teach) a few individuals to swim who were very apprehensive of water. Probably would be classified as phobia, I would guess. One of the biggest challenges with them seems to be very poor stamina and based on my observations, it seems to be associated with their breathing.

I have to think that a person's natural protective response to being in the water is to subconsciously maintain a lung volume as great as possible - since this helps them float and not die. It seems to me to be a natural response.

So when trying to teach these people to swim, it was very hard because they would only pant shallowly and never do a good exhale. This type of inefficient respiration, on top of inefficient body motion, caused them to "gas out" in like 45 seconds. The CO2 is hardly vented, they feel worse and panic and exhaustion come quickly. This situation really seemed quite evident, once I realized what was happening. Prior to this observation, I was unable to understand how they would completely exhaust themselves so rapidly, even though they didn't seem to be in terrible aerobic conditioning and they seemed to be breathing rapidly.

I had to work hard on teaching them to exhale completely and learn to adapt to the feeling of reduced buoyancy and momentarily sinking. If I could get them calm enough to breath comfortably and efficiently, then they could BEGIN to learn to actually swim and survive in the water.

I have to wonder if the same effect is not occurring in scuba divers who are excessively apprehensive. I find it hard to believe it is simply muscular tension in legs and torso that is causing the problems.

 

[jadairiii]

I have to wonder if the same effect is not occurring in scuba divers who are excessively apprehensive. I find it hard to believe it is simply muscular tension in legs and torso that is causing the problems.

I believe most new scuba students will be apprehensive when first learning to dive. That is why every training agency starts the training in a pool. And it is the pool that most agencies fail the students, they weight them up an stick them to the bottom.

And if merely the being in the water is causing apprehension in the new scuba student, (as with your students) the scuba student should consider golf.

 

[dumpsterpurrs]

every answer given above is totally incorrect.

the REAL reason instructors can get away with less lead is because we are all extremely fit, muscular, lean, mean, highly trained athletes.

I chuckled out loud! But i swear I once dove with a Russian instructor who was of average height and clearly loved his beer thus the belly while no muscle. He was approaching obesity, clinically speaking. And the dude dove with zero lead. Zero. Vest BCD, AL80, no wetsuit. Physics broke. His bones must be terribly heavy.

 

[boulderjohn]

And if merely the being in the water is causing apprehension in the new scuba student, (as with your students) the scuba student should consider golf.

There are different levels of apprehension. Once on a dive boat I sat next to a buddy team on the way to the dive site and could not help but hear their conversation. These were two gray haired men with well used gear, and when they later dived, it was clear they were highly skilled and experienced. One of them was saying to the other how strange it was that with all his experience, he still feels apprehension before a dive. He said, "Whenever I am gearing up for a dive, I start to get worried." His buddy said, "Whenever I see you gearing up for a dive, I get worried, too."

 

[SlugLife]

For a new diver, being over-weighted is usually better because:

• A buddy or instructor can remove your weights for a rapid ascent.
• It provides a better scenario for practicing neutral-buoyancy including inflating & deflating the BC.
• Positive buoyancy cannot be solved with your BC & really sucks. You can pick up rocks, perhaps, or go deeper, but it's one of my least-favorite things, which I sadly experienced for a bunch of dives because I "loaned" weights to a fellow diver, and then forgot to buy more for about 15 dives. (ouch)
• The worst part is the safety stop. You become more buoyant as your tank empties near the end of a dive, and near the surface (especially with a wet-suit). Swimming down (backwards) is hard & you can't dump air to fix your problem, and holding rocks sucks.

Once you have a number of dives under your belt, you absolutely should be targeting appropriate weighting.

• When changing equipment or environment, you'll need to change weighting. It's better to start with slightly more weight than you think you need. I usually target about 3lbs negative on the first dive with radical equipment changes.
• My ideal buoyancy is: At a safety stop (15-20ft) with 500 psi and empty BC, you should be very-slightly negatively buoyant.
• Being negatively buoyant requires more adjustment to BC, increasing air-consumption & frequency inflating/deflating. Being 4lbs over is only a mild increase in air-consumption, but most of us prefer longer dives.

You don't need to obsess over it. It doesn't make you an elite diver. However, adjusting your weights and thinking about it once per dive is a small low-effort investment with a decent payoff.

 

[Storker]

The more your muscles are tensed, the less they flex under pressure so the more weight you need to get down

Please provide the physiological basis for this, because, frankly, I don't understand how this might be. Are tensed muscles more buoyant than relaxed muscles? Are they more compressive? What are you saying?