Balanced Rig - GUE - NEWB

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You don’t want to drop weight at depth. I would say check what swimming off the bottom would be like if you had a complete wing failure, better to know that from the start. You want to know the worst case first. IMHO, once on the surface, you want to be able dump enough weight to remain at the surface with minimal effort. Being able to tread water in your rig for 10 minutes is a test of endurance, not survival. If you have to wait fifteen minutes for a pick up, ten minutes is irrelevant.

Ditchable lead is the most fool proof form of redundant buoyancy. If it is enough to keep you at the surface and you know what you can realistically swim up, you just can disperse ditchable weight however you like.

Not tech certified but this, I think a core safety issue. The DM was probably concerned that you didn’t have enough ditchables if you hat to wait for a pick up. He is the one who gets to answer if your dive goes sideways.
 
You can easily find yourself 10kg negative in that situation. I am not saying that is not possible, just saying that it is certainly not for everyone.
kicking up 10kg with fins on is not really that difficult as you only have to go up 5m and you are less and less negative fast. if your wing genuinely fails you'd be surprised how motivated you get. worst case is the elbow disconnecting from the hose or wing.

having something to ditch on the surface if you have a disabled wing and the boat isnt close etc is more important - lots of DAN fatality reports of divers sinking back down after an issue without ditching their lead.
 
If it’s you or the rig on the surface, dump the rig. On the surface in a wet suit alone you’ll be very boyant. You can come back later to get it.

Certainly not ideal, but it will work.
 
If it’s you or the rig on the surface, dump the rig. On the surface in a wet suit alone you’ll be very boyant. You can come back later to get it.

Certainly not ideal, but it will work.
That has to be the single worst option I ever heard...

you get to the surface. You are tired.., everything is going sideways. You struggle to stay at the surface... you you still have 2/3 of a tank... The swell has picked up. You. Need to deploy your DSMB, because you were swimming up your rig. If stop kicking you start to sink....you need to find your marker and then fill it.... you can’t see the boat..... are facing away from it or have you drifted on the swim up.... you need to keep on the surface while you **** around with th DSMB. Keep kicking.... You still have air.... where the **** is the boat.... damn the neck on this wetsuit never seemed that tight....

When it goes sideways, you think those eight or ten pounds of lead being out of reach are a better choice than just giving a tug and catching your breath?
Training doesn’t take away the fear you might not get to go home. It will be there. Training gets you past it. It may never happen to you, but you will not want to throw away an almost full bottle of air on the surface. It is so easy to drop weights and know that no matter how much you f*cked up, you are staying on the surface.

If you splash in with your air off and you start sinking like a rock... a quick tug on a handle a you a heading home.

Dying for the tiny, transient advantage of perfect trim makes no sense at all. Lead is cheap.
 
That has to be the single worst option I ever heard...

you get to the surface. You are tired.., everything is going sideways. You struggle to stay at the surface... you you still have 2/3 of a tank... The swell has picked up. You. Need to deploy your DSMB, because you were swimming up your rig. If stop kicking you start to sink....you need to find your marker and then fill it.... you can’t see the boat..... are facing away from it or have you drifted on the swim up.... you need to keep on the surface while you **** around with th DSMB. Keep kicking.... You still have air.... where the **** is the boat.... damn the neck on this wetsuit never seemed that tight....

When it goes sideways, you think those eight or ten pounds of lead being out of reach are a better choice than just giving a tug and catching your breath?
Training doesn’t take away the fear you might not get to go home. It will be there. Training gets you past it. It may never happen to you, but you will not want to throw away an almost full bottle of air on the surface. It is so easy to drop weights and know that no matter how much you f*cked up, you are staying on the surface.

If you splash in with your air off and you start sinking like a rock... a quick tug on a handle a you a heading home.

Dying for the tiny, transient advantage of perfect trim makes no sense at all. Lead is cheap.
Wtf is your buddy?
 
Wtf is your buddy?

My one and only wing bladder related failure (non power inflator)…
  1. Wife's corrugated hose completely disconnects from the wing after rolling off the boat (full double al80s, bunch of lead, and drysuit). Lead was split between the V weight and the weightbelt but this was over 14 yrs ago and I don't know the total. At least 20lbs plus 5lb SS plate.
  2. Drysuit not that helpful as it all wants to burp out her neck
  3. Realized the issue as she is kicking to stay on the surface grabbing for the boat and squeaks out a "help" for a moment her mouth is clear and the reg isn't in.
  4. Lean over the gunnel and grab her shoulder strap and drag her to the stern of the boat where there's a swim platform to hang onto.
  5. She holds onto the swim step while tipping back to give access to the weight belt buckle and remove it
  6. Now she floats enough to move to the ladder and climb out
Take home? It can be a two person job to manage a wing failure. In theory she could have ditched her lead herself -she had once before in a single tank when her neck seal blew out. But practically speaking, she immediately focused on grabbing the boat (which wasn't necessarily unwise)
 
My one and only wing bladder related failure (non power inflator)…
  1. Wife's corrugated hose completely disconnects from the wing after rolling off the boat (full double al80s, bunch of lead, and drysuit). Lead was split between the V weight and the weightbelt but this was over 14 yrs ago and I don't know the total. At least 20lbs plus 5lb SS plate.
  2. Drysuit not that helpful as it all wants to burp out her neck
  3. Realized the issue as she is kicking to stay on the surface grabbing for the boat and squeaks out a "help" for a moment her mouth is clear and the reg isn't in.
  4. Lean over the gunnel and grab her shoulder strap and drag her to the stern of the boat where there's a swim platform to hang onto.
  5. She holds onto the swim step while tipping back to give access to the weight belt buckle and remove it
  6. Now she floats enough to move to the ladder and climb out
Take home? It can be a two person job to manage a wing failure. In theory she could have ditched her lead herself -she had once before in a single tank when her neck seal blew out. But practically speaking, she immediately focused on grabbing the boat (which wasn't necessarily unwise)
Neckseal doesn’t burp if you go flat.

can def be a two man deal, though.
 
Wtf is your buddy?
This was a hypothetical scene. When a dive goes sideways, it is easy to say “yeah, I can swim it up and.....”. Should you plan on being able to get to and stay at the surface on your own or should you be relying on your buddy to help?

Basic premise is you should be able to save yourself. In real life, a buddy on hand will make life a lot easier. But he may not be there or he may have his own set of problems....
 
This was a hypothetical scene. When a dive goes sideways, it is easy to say “yeah, I can swim it up and.....”. Should you plan on being able to get to and stay at the surface on your own or should you be relying on your buddy to help?

Basic premise is you should be able to save yourself. In real life, a buddy on hand will make life a lot easier. But he may not be there or he may have his own set of problems....
Sure, but cooking up multiple-major failure doomsday scenarios is a great way to end up hiding under the covers for your whole life.

Swim yer butt to the surface. Keep the reg in your mouth, use whatever means you can to get positive. If your rig is so heavy that you just can’t, refer back to my balanced rig primer a few posts back.
 
Neckseal doesn’t burp if you go flat.

can def be a two man deal, though.
Either the neck or the shoulder dump, doesnt really matter. Its pretty hard to float yourself with your mouth out of the water enough to cry for help with just your suit and full tanks. Having at least some ditchable lead is useful even if you can swim up without ditching.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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