Ankle weights

[charlieo]

Again,, IF your gear is properly sized to you, and it should be.
And IF you learn how to properly weight yourself, and you should.
And IF you learn proper technique in shifting air in the suit at will to accomodate your trim at any given time.
You should not need ankle weights. They are a crutch, that hides poor weighting and training. Or poor equipment fit. If you need them, then you most likely have issues that should be addressed. Only my humble opinion.

I'm seeing a lot of "if"s and "should"s. You read my post and I read your profile. I'm not trying to start a fight here,but since I have the ear of someone very experienced I'd like to take advantage of it. Some additional info on what I experience. My problem with trim is when I wear a heavy undergarment. I use just enough argon in the suit to first take away the uncomfortable squeeze and then a little more for warmth. I can get along without the ankle weights if I do not go completely horizontial. But, if I have to swim down or go horizontal to tie off a reel my feet go up. Okay, one last thing I haven't tried is putting more weight on the bottom of the back plate. I dive OMS double 98's and AL plate Bare gaitors on the suit and Jet fins. I resigned myself to the ankle weights because I think that having 2 or 3 pounds out there on my feet will mean much less on my waist or plate. So, I went for the overall less lead solution. I appreciate your help.

 

[bradshsi]

Wow, what a set of posts, nothing like setting a hostile tone….

Et tu ?....

I am loving this discussion, a bunch of divers who love diving, but have no real experience telling other divers that they don’t know what they are talking about or are incompetent if they use a certain piece of gear….

Well, I’ll just throw in, I use ankle weights, for almost all of my 3000+ dry suit dives, and can dive three one hour 60 foot dives on a single AL 80.

Many of the arguments here, both for and against are specious, yes, putting mass at the end of a lever increases the force needed to accelerate that lever, but if you are still scissor kicking, you are still diving like a beginner, (unless it is an emergency or a race). Intermediate divers can frog kick which reduces the amount of distance the ankle has to travel and thereby reduces the fatigue. Very advanced divers scull, the ankle hardly moves at all, there is no additional work load for having mass at the end of the legs, because the weight is above the moving and motive part.

Well you've got me there. I'm some 12,950+ dives behind you so my analysis must be specious because (according to you) I claimed/implied it was significant.

Except that if you actually read the post, you'll see that I implied no such thing. What I said was that Ceteris Paribus adding mass would increase work. I did not imply that the effect was significant.

Personally I think String, Spectrum et al are spot on when they say that correct trim is the most important factor. Maybe after another 12,950 dives I'll know for sure, although I'd be a poor excuse for an engineer if I wasn't able to validate it a little sooner than that.


BTW your SAC rate is impressive given that someone sleeping at the same depth would drain an AL80 after about 2 hours (before being rudely awakened). What are you actually doing down there ?

 

[vetdiver]

I like my ankle weights. If nothing else, that's less weight that I have to carry elsewhere. And I really couldn't care less what anyone else thinks about it. So there.

 

[Dive1Dennis]

All this talk about an inferior type of diver wearing ankle weights....... we should start a support group. We could call it AWWA (Ankle Weight Wearer Anonymous).
I for one judge a diver's skill by observing how he/she dives. If they are wearing AW or not has nothing to do with my judgment.

 

[String]

Use ankle weights if you want to; however, there are probably other solutions that would help:

-Drysuit fit in the legs, ankles, and feet.

Yes but not everyone can afford perfectly made custom suits. Even if they can there are still issues such as undergarment or boot composition (neoprene vs rubber etc)

-Fins that are not postively bouyant.

.. or more negatively buoyant. Changing fins is just changing the weight on the feet - same thing ankle weights manage

-Gaitors (shin straps that keep the drysuit from ballooning).

Thats if the floaty feet is caused by air migration - it isnt always.

-Rearrangement of your existing weights (i.e. move the center of gravity).

Thats exactly what ankle weights do - move it from the belt to a different location to help with trim.

Since I am an engineer, I am a fan of the moment arm. Adding weights at the end of your legs just creates more work. Since water is what, 800 times more dense than air, that equates to more work. It may not be noticeable in reality, but still something to think about.

Arm and leg waving and finning effort to maintain trim can use a LOT more air than the weights are responsible for so a diver in trim with ankle weights could use less air than a diver without struggling to stay flat.

 

[GDCB]

Ankle weights on forehead/ no ankle weights on forehead?

 

[grazie42]

Ankle weights are about 15$.
Gaitors about 30$
JetFins about 60$
Drysuit mods xxx$

If you want to be a diving "fashionista" then go ahead and splurge for the other solutions...

Me? I don´t use AW so I don´t really know why I posted except that all those people claiming to be so logical (engineers and what not) that didn´t seem to think about the cost/benefit analysis sort of annoyed me...maybe it´s because I work a lot with that kind of people and they exhibit the same kind of "failings"...

 

[mccabe]

By adding ankle weights helps to redistribute some weight over a larger area but most commonly used when a suit doesnt quite fit around the legs and you find yourself with a lot of air in your legs!!
Some drysuits have intergrated pockets for some small lead weights but I am a big fan of Scubapro Jetfins and Turtle Fins which are negatively buoyant.

 

[ScubaMike14]

Fred R wrote: "Well, I’ll just throw in, I use ankle weights, for almost all of my 3000+ dry suit dives, and can dive three one hour 60 foot dives on a single AL 80."

That's only 16.6lbs of air per minute. Roughly 1000psi per dive at a fill pressure of 3200psi in an AL80. For an experienced diver with excellent breathing that's quite reasonable. I believe that's a SAC of about .20cuft/min on an AL80.

Oh yeah, I don't dive with any weight, only my LP Steel 95.

Mike Rushton

 

[Bobbin-along]

I am a proud owner and wearer of ankle weights. Will you call me mean names like "ankle weighter" or "floaty feet"? Go ahead, I've already been teased about my yellow fins and blue dry suit. Ankle weights are not like Mopeds and ugly girls, it's ok if you sport them at public venues.

Ankle Weighters and Floaty Feet Unite!