Bag Shooting

[CD_in_Chitown]

The first one goes from your lungs into the bag so nothing happens with your buoyancy. Probably you'll become a little negative because not all the air will go in the bag so you will be able to partially inhale again and control your buoyancy with your lungs.

Two things I've found,
1) if you calculate your ATAs you can easily have the bag full at the surface from any depth. From 33 ft fill it half full, 66 = 1/3, 99 = 1/4, 130 = 1/5, etc.
2) Orally inflating, if you are neutral with a full breath and blow it into the bag you are still neutral. Dump some bc air before inhaling another and blow it into the bag. Repeat as needed. Slow and steady.

As for the reel, until you're shooting from depths in excess of spool quantity I would use the spool for the ease of it.

 

[TSandM]

I think it can be a crutch.

My dirty secret revealed . . . Stay a little negative, hang on the spool (excuse being that you need the marker to stand up, right?) and you, too, can look like Andrew Georgitsis on deco!

If you're diving with a buddy, let him/her hold depth precisely so you don't need to look at your meters. You just look at your buddy.

This can make you look very sharp if your buddy is precise. If he is not, however, this gets pretty funny (or pathetic) very quickly. I speak as someone who has been very glad that nobody had a video camera on some of the ascents we've practiced . . .

 

[Diver0001]

once you're sure nothing's entangled, blow the rest of your lungful of air into the bag. No need to rush the release ... you simply transferred air from your lungs to the bag, so there's no change in buoyancy. Let the bag go as you're replacing your reg ... and before inhaling.

I've found that of you cover one side of the exhaust T with your thumb that you can exhale almost all of the air into the bag without removing the reg.

R..

 

[TSandM]

You're talking about one of the bags with the open bottom?

I can't get my cold lips to seal around the oral inflator on my SMB when that's the only thing I have in my mouth. I can't imagine trying to do it with the reg, too . . .

 

[Diver0001]

Yeah, they have a one way valve in them so any air that gets in stays in. They work very well.

R..

 

[Cacia]

ditto the dirty secret. did not have the guts to say it. great way to "hang out".

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

when i took my fundies, my instructor taught me to release my spool as the balloon shot up to the surface. i would watch it and grab a hold of it when the smb reached thesurface and thespool stopped winding. i however had problems with this method and would sometimes loose sight of the spool momentarily.

Works great in relatively good vis ... unless there's a surface current, in which case the bag will be traveling at a different speed (and possibly in a different direction) than the diver underneath it. Also might not be so good if there's a cross-over in the line somewhere on the spool. Oh ... and don't try it with a stainless spool ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Yeah, they have a one way valve in them so any air that gets in stays in. They work very well.

R..

Yep ... I have successfully filled my semi-closed bag using the exhaust port. However, I find it easier to just switch to the necklace and deploy the primary reg for the bag.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Spoon]

Works great in relatively good vis ... unless there's a surface current, in which case the bag will be traveling at a different speed (and possibly in a different direction) than the diver underneath it. Also might not be so good if there's a cross-over in the line somewhere on the spool. Oh ... and don't try it with a stainless spool ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

yup. we get good viz here and im usually successful in getting a hold of the spool as it stops unwinding. problems i had was when the spool shot with the bag to the surface and unwinded 5 feet above me beyond reach. guess this was attributed to line crossover in the spool.

and i heard those stainless spools are heavy and will sink fast once you let go.