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when I was 150 lbs and dove a single al 80 and a 3mm jumpsuit I needed 4 lbs of weight. I could have got by with less but 2 lb weights are the smallest you can buy + I felt 4 lbs of ditchable weights would be the safer approach. diving side by side cannot be overpreached, when ever someone is trusting me with there life the last thing I am going to do is fail them. When you expect me to take the lead then I have to keep looking back to see if your still there and are still ok. get your buddy beside you and if something goes wrong he/she is only 5 ft away. Besides most quarries have 5 - 10 foot of viz. I am 5'4" if you were to stay 2 foot behind me in those conditions I may not be able to see you. And in your case you found out that your buddy could not see you and obviously just assumed you were there. One other piece of advice, when diving with an unfamiliar buddy do a good safety breif ie.. let them know about the side by side approach, go over hand signals you use and most of all what to do in an emergency. Glad you are learning from this experience but dont waste it by not making adjustments to your dive plan. I wish you a long happy dive career.
That can be a decent point from which to start, but since everybody's body mass index is different, everybody's weight is different... And so you need to tune it yourself in real conditions.
I personally asked the dive shop about this when purchasing those soft weights.
Well, that may be true. In fact, it's possible that you are correctly weighted at 22 pounds... Although that really sounds like an inordinate amount to me.
But it's no biggie either way... Give it a shot and tell us the results.
There are a number of things that can mislead you when checking Weight in a pool. Main ones are:
1. Air trapped in wetsuit and other gear
2. Failure to fully evacuate the BC
There are so many variables that effect bouyancy (wetsuit thickness, tank material, BMI etc.) that a simplistic formula like 15% of BW is hogwash.
Use SeaJay's method as follows: Try twelve pounds to get you down in the pool. Put eight of them in your BC pockets or somewhere you can get rid of them individually. Make sure you have really got all the air out of your system. Sit on the bottom with a 500 - 800psi tank and take the free weights out one at a time. You will know when you have it right.
Dxtreme once bubbled...
** IF I WOULD HAVE A GOOD BUDDY, ALL OF THESE WOULD HAVE NOT HAPPENED. FIRST, A GOOD BUDDY WOULD NOT HAVE ALLOWED ME TO DIVE WITH A 2/3mm SUIT UNDER THAT CONDITION. SECOND WITH A LITTLE ASSURANCE AND A LITTLE MORE AIR ON MY BC, I WOULD NOT HAVE BE STAGNANT UNDERWATER.
A LESSON THAT I WOULD NOT FORGET FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE.
How can you blame your buddy for your lack of proper diving attire?
I would have a problem with a buddy abandoning me, but if I dive with the wrong exposure coverage by choice I can't expect my buddy to be the blame.
A perfect example, I dove with my buddy once when he suggested that I didn't need my hood. It had been a comfortable day temperature wise and the water temp was relatively warm during the day, but this was a late afternoon dive and he said, "you don't need your hood." We got into the water and the temperature had dropped considerably. It was now in the low 60s in the water not low 70s. Neither of us expected that much drop. My body temperature dropped right away and I was so cold I couldn't hold my light still underwater. I thumbed the dive and when we surfaced and I told him I had to put on my hood. It was not his fault just because he told me I didn't need my hood. I ultimately made the decision. It is better to be prepare than not. And, it is not your buddy's fault if you make a bad judgement. Maybe your buddy thought you could take it.
Take responsibility for your judgement call. Get proper exposure equipment.
As divers, we must use good judgement and we can't always blame someone else when we make bad judgements. Remember that and you will have learned something important from this. Next, remember not to panic. You have more control over the situation if you are calm. Next make sure that your buddy understands, "do not run off and leave me."
Another tip on getting weighted correctly, make absolutely sure that you are not finning while you are trying to descend. I know that sounds strange, but I've seen instances where someone couldn't drop down and upon getting underneath them and watching, they were finning like mad for the surface while "trying" to drop. Cross your legs if you have to so you can make sure that you aren't finning without realizing it...
On not being able to get positive on the bottom, you may have very well been punching the deflate button instead of the inflate button in your state of panic and not realized it. Go back and read your OW manual (not being condescending here, I do the same thing from time to time with all manuals) and burn your options into your mind. You didn't mention the possibility of weightbelt release (not a good option at 60 feet, but better than sleeping with the fishes), oral inflation of your BC, or critical thinking methods.
Glad you're safe, don't give up on scuba, learn from this incident and become a safer diver.
That's about what I require for weight in a full 7mm hooded suit + 5mm core warmer and an Al80 in salt water. I'm 150 lbs and 6'0". That's a crazy amount of weight.
I used to think that, there is nothing to be panic about underwater, you got the regs on the mouth and O2 from the tanks. Now i learned to respect the diving and its inherit danger.
Unless you are on deco in 20 feet of water (max), if you are breathing O2, you've got even bigger problems. We breathe AIR in our tanks (or Nitrox if you've done that training). O2 below around 20 feet can result in Central Nervous System O2 Toxicity...convulsions, blacking out, and likely drowning. Basically, think of it this way: Under water, 100% O2 will kill you.
FOr your info, on the state of panic, i lost 600 -800 Psi in less than 6 minutes. Upon reaching the surface, i swam 1 mile and a half and only used up 300 PSI.
It's not your buddy or the dive shop that's responsible for YOU going diving with a totally inappropriate suit and enough lead for 3 people...
Focusing your efforts on blame assessment isn't going to teach you anything.
Make a written list of everything you did wrong. Mentally review the dive and see where each mistake was made and the logic errors that allowed you to continue to proceed with making the dive. Ignorance, pride, peer pressure...these factors can get you hurt.
First off, i blamed myself for not abandoning the dive when everybody shoes up with hoods, glove and 6 mm long johns. I you looked at my original post, i stressed * FOOLISHLY *
Second, i think my buddy should not have abandoned me in the first place.
Especially when my buddy knew that i am only on dive no 6, just got certified last oct-nov and this is my first dive after the long winter break.
However, my buddy did asked me if i was cold in that 2/3 mm suit but did not advised me against it. In fact we are all on the 2nd dive after the incident. However, i decided myself to call it quits for the day after hitting the first thermocline and the feeling of deja vu.
After all this, i truly realized the importance of the buddy system, provided it is a *Buddy*
i also decided to take it to the pool * A LOT * to practice and work on the buoyancy and weighthing.
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