Ankle Weight Discovery

[zf2nt]

One of my little rituals after diving at Monastery has always been to grab a wrench and commence banging on the female quick release of my ankle weights to try to dislodge the monsterberries which always get up inside there and prevent the male prongs from compressing. Often I bang away for 5 minutes or more and still can't get the things to come off. Nowhere else has this ever been a problem but at Monastery, and it's almost always an issue after diving there.

This last weekend I had to use a rental drysuit with bigger feet than my normal suit, so I had to wear heavier ankle weights. I took XS Scuba weights instead of the Seasoft weights I normally use. Lo, those weights came right off after both dives at Monastery with nary a wrench bang necessary! After studying the connectors some, I can see why. The sides of the female QR on the XS Scuba weights have cutouts in them which allow even the coarse grains of sand to fall out rather than stay lodged as they do in the Seasoft weights. Very clever indeed.

 

[mselenaous]

Interesting observation. Thanks for sharing. I have a set of each XSScuba and Seasoft. I have had the same issue at times with sand from beach dives. I'll have to be more observant in the future to see if one is prone to jamming than the other.

 

[micboucher]

Thanks for sharing that Bruce...it's really good to know because I've had that same problem in all sandy environments. Mine aren't Seasoft or XS Scuba but I'll checkout XS Scuba if I need to break my way out of mine someday.

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

Better solution: no training wheels, er, ankle weights. I sure don't feel a
need for them.

 

[micboucher]

Better solution: no training wheels, er, ankle weights. I sure don't feel a
need for them.

Yeah, yeah, yeah...I like my ankle weights.

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

Yeah, yeah, yeah...I like my ankle weights.

But do you NEED them? And what's your trim like with them?

If I wore ankle weights, I'd very definitely have a head-up trim.
Which is bad. I'd have to expend energy when swimming to stay
horizontal. And my fins would be in the sand stirring things up
when taking pictures.

A really important thing to understand about trim, is that the knee
angle is important. When you bend your knees, it shortens the
lever arm of your buoyant feet and your knees go down, your head
goes up. In my case, if I stretch out completely, my feet go a
little up. If I bend my knees 90 degrees, my spine ends up about
30 degrees off vertical.

Also, your drysuit should be pretty well shrink-wrapped. If there's
a mess of loose air in the suit, all bets are off.

 

[micboucher]

But do you NEED them? And what's your trim like with them?

If I wore ankle weights, I'd very definitely have a head-up trim.
Which is bad. I'd have to expend energy when swimming to stay
horizontal. And my fins would be in the sand stirring things up
when taking pictures.

A really important thing to understand about trim, is that the knee
angle is important. When you bend your knees, it shortens the
lever arm of your buoyant feet and your knees go down, your head
goes up. In my case, if I stretch out completely, my feet go a
little up. If I bend my knees 90 degrees, my spine ends up about
30 degrees off vertical.

Also, your drysuit should be pretty well shrink-wrapped. If there's
a mess of loose air in the suit, all bets are off.

I think my trim is fine with them but I may not need them anymore...it may just be a case of being comfortable with what's been working for me. I found myself having to fight to keep my feet down when trying to swim horizontal in my new drysuit and that's why I started using them originally. But I do swim with my knees more bent now, so I may not really need them. But then I have to find space in my pouches to hold that additional weight and it just seems like more hassle than it's worth. Seriously, thanks for the info Chuck! Now that I'm comfortable in my drysuit, I'll try diving without them next time and play with my knee position.

 

[Peter_C]

I think my trim is fine with them but I may not need them anymore...it may just be a case of being comfortable with what's been working for me. I found myself having to fight to keep my feet down when trying to swim horizontal in my new drysuit and that's why I started using them originally. But I do swim with my knees more bent now, so I may not really need them. But then I have to find space in my pouches to hold that additional weight and it just seems like more hassle than it's worth. Seriously, thanks for the info Chuck! Now that I'm comfortable in my drysuit, I'll try diving without them next time and play with my knee position.

Michelle, switching to a BP/W with a weight belt changes your trim yet again in a good way

 

[zf2nt]

"Training Wheels"??? Oooh...very snooty. Very. I really think this is in the same class as the notion that the most "experienced" diver is the one who needs the least amount of weight. Funny how those "experienced" divers keep getting caught in an "updraft" at the end of their dives, though.

Let's be clear: ANYBODY can dive a dry suit without ankle weights. Nobody truly "needs" them. If your feet are a little buoyant, all you have to do is maintain an "angle of attack" (aeronautical term here) which has your feet below your shoulders a sufficient amount that you can maintain that position indefinitely without any motion. But if the angle of attack decreases below a certain minimum, then you are going to tip over unless you do a dolphin kick to get the feet back down. Personally, I prefer a zero degree angle of attack: I like to be perfectly horizontal. The laws of physics on me and my drysuit dictate that if I do go to a zero degree angle of attack and I don't have a 1# weight on each foot, then I will begin to tip over. I can solve the problem by maintaining a 10-15 degree angle of attack, and can hold that position indefinitely without moving a muscle. But I really would prefer to be completely horizontal.

Now to be completely honest, I'll admit to having cold feet. I normally wear a pair of REI Thinsulate socks inside a pair of DC Thinsulate booties, and I can just barely stuff that mass of thermal protection down inside my drysuit. But a week or so ago the REI socks got so stiff that I couldn't stand to wear them any more, so I tried it for a couple of dives without them. It made an amazing difference in my trim. I found I could ditch the ankle weights and still maintain a zero degree angle of attack. But my feet got cold! By the same token, all I would have to do to shed weights is to cut back on the thickness of my undergarment. So let's see: I can win brownie points for not needing training wheels if I give up having warm feet, and I can even get the "experienced diver" sticker by shedding undergarment thickness and going out with way less lead than everybody else. Naah. I'd rather be comfy. And I really don't give a rat's a** about what anybody else thinks about it.

 

[Peter_C]

Ankle weights also do a great job clipped to the top of the tank neck to add more weight forward. Just depends where a person is floaty.