ankle weight question

[JeffG]

A new 'guru' wouldn't hurt either, this ones got brown eyes.

What does eye color have to do with it?

I don't believe ankle weights are required. I weaned a couple of buddies to not use them and I mentored a couple of divers in their use of a drysuit...again without the need of ankle weights.

and my eyes are green.

 

[omalley]

If you have to swim on top of kelp to get back to the boat they can make more difficult. Not impossible but they make it alot harder to keep your legs up. IMO.
Tom

 

[CIBDiving]

What does eye color have to do with it?

I don't believe ankle weights are required. I weaned a couple of buddies to not use them and I mentored a couple of divers in their use of a drysuit...again without the need of ankle weights.

and my eyes are green.

I never said they were required. They are a valid option to solve a problem with trim. There are a lot of ways to solve a trim problem. If the problem can be solved without ankle weights so much the better - if it can't then they can and Should be used. The BS about them being a crutch and 'real' divers don't use them is just that BS.

think about the color thing awhile, if you still don't get it I'll PM you the aneswer.

 

[ronrosa]

What's the difference between negatively buoyant fins like the Jets and neutral or positively buoyant fins with ankle weights ? :06:

 

[JeffG]

I never said they were required. They are a valid option to solve a problem with trim. There are a lot of ways to solve a trim problem. If the problem can be solved without ankle weights so much the better - if it can't then they can and Should be used. The BS about them being a crutch and 'real' divers don't use them is just that BS.

On the surface I can buy that, but I would put ankle weights at the very tail end of the "things to do to fix trim" list. And truthfully, I cannot see a situation that ankle weights were the only solution. But I think people use ankle weights...not as a crutch, but more of a quick fix for new drysuit diver and that fix sticks with the diver even though it isn't required.

and yes I "got" the eye color comment the first time I read it.

 

[TSandM]

You know, I think we get way too wrapped up in telling new divers to do it perfectly from the get-go. I used ankle weights at the beginning -- even in the pool, in a wetsuit, and definitely with my drysuit. They helped me be ABLE to dive in trim when I couldn't puzzle everything out for myself. Eventually, I got better skills and sorted out my weight distribution, and I don't use them any more. I don't think there was anything heinous about using them for a while, especially once I realized that it was possible to learn to dive without them. The worst thing that happens is that you are out the cost of a set of ankle weights -- but mine now reside in the weight pouches in my cambands, and give me precisely the three pounds there that I need

For some of us, diving doesn't come easily, and if something helps in the beginning and has little or no downside, let's not make people feel bad about it. Kids use training wheels on bikes at the beginning, too.

 

[Jason B]

Most of the time a person has "floaty legs" they are not floaty at all, the diver is either underweighted or has too much air in their BC.

Not calling you "brown eyed" like some but I'm having a hard time grasping this one. Would you care to expound on this one a bit?



TSandM, you are a breath of fresh air that SB DIR has needed for a while. Keep up the good work!

 

[JeffG]

TSandM, you are a breath of fresh air that SB DIR has needed for a while. Keep up the good work!

and the rest of us are what? Chopped liver?

 

[Jason B]

and the rest of us are what? Chopped liver?

Not at all Jeff. You are very knowledgeable guy, just a bit more 'sharp tongued' shall we say.

(you've been mellow in this thread though...)

 

[JeffG]

(you've been mellow in this thread though...)

shhhhhh...I'm hunting wabbits