DIR- GUE Balanced rig with a thick wetsuit - mathematically impossible?

[johndiver999]

This ain't DIR, but you could wear a thick suit while deep.... have a wing failure, lose a buddy, have no anchor line to climb or shoreline to crawl up, and then just drop maybe half your (ditchable) lead and then gently swim up, stop around 30 feet, do your off gassing with less than filled lungs, then exhale, flair out and SLOWLY float up from the neutral depth. I have practiced buoyant, flaired ascents - not that hard.

Thick wet suits, deep water and tank(s) so heavy you have no ditchable lead seem like a bad game to play, but I tend to avoid much deco.

If the idea is simply don't drown, then you might also consider carrying an smb with an op valve and inflate at depth and just ride that up by holding it and or dumping air as needed. That sounds a lot more practical than over exerting yourself and kicking like a wild man when 20 plus pounds negative from 130 feet. I've never had to actually use one for that purpose and never even practiced it, but I am pretty sure I could do it.

If you are serious about this question with respect to your specific gear and your own physical fitness, just go deep, dump all the air from the BC and swim up. This extraordinarily simple exercise will tell you more than 1000 internet experts.

 

[JoeTPhilly]

The need to ditch weights to swim up is by definition an unbalanced rig. Therefore, if a 7mm suit is needed the diver would use the correct tool for the job; a drysuit.

 

[johndiver999]

The need to ditch weights to swim up is by definition an unbalanced rig. Therefore, if a 7mm suit is needed the diver would use the correct tool for the job; a drysuit.

so wearing a weightbelt is unbalanced? Is that the definition? I'm so confused? So it is ok to drop a $1500 canister light, but not 8 lbs of lead in an emergency? Is that the situation?

 

[JoeTPhilly]

so wearing a weightbelt is unbalanced? Is that the definition? I'm so confused? So it is ok to drop a $1500 canister light, but not 8 lbs of lead in an emergency? Is that the situation?

It means to be properly weighted and not overweighted. If one needs to ditch weights to swim up the diver is overweighted. A heavy wetsuit requiring a lot of weight to descend and necessitating "ditch-able" weights to be able to swim up is unbalanced and a drysuit is recommended.

 

[formernuke]

I'm not DIR, but everyone I know who is doesn't dive ditchable lead especially in doubles......

 

[mariosx]

It has not been discussed in this thread I think, but to my limited "DIR" understanding, no open water emergency takes place solo. In the edge cases presented in this thread, there are other devices that could be utilized to store your 1500$ canister light, provide you with buoyancy control, etc. Most people call them buddies.

 

[johndiver999]

It means to be properly weighted and not overweighted. If one needs to ditch weights to swim up the diver is overweighted. A heavy wetsuit requiring a lot of weight to descend and necessitating "ditch-able" weights to be able to swim up is unbalanced and a drysuit is recommended.

again it is ok to drop a $1500 can light though right? Doing that would not be outside the definition of balanced?

 

[johndiver999]

It has not been discussed in this thread I think, but to my limited "DIR" understanding, no open water emergency takes place solo. In the edge cases presented in this thread, there are other devices that could be utilized to store your 1500$ canister light, provide you with buoyancy control, etc. Most people call them buddies.

OK so all solutions REQUIRE help of a buddy for DIR diving? No thought to be able to extricate yourself from a bad situation should your buddy die or something?

 

[JoeTPhilly]

again it is ok to drop a $1500 can light though right? Doing that would not be outside the definition of balanced?

Why would you have to drop your light to swim up if you are properly weighted?

 

[mariosx]

OK so all solutions REQUIRE help of a buddy for DIR diving? No thought to be able to extricate yourself from a bad situation should your buddy die or something?

Unified team is a core concept. In case that in a single dive, your highly trained buddy just... dies, your wing fails, your drysuit fails, and the only thing keeping you from going up is your 1500$ canister light for some reason, I see no problem dropping it. Not the most tragic thing that happened in that dive.

++Edit: I am accepting a pretty probabilistically speaking ridiculous edge case. I don't claim that a buddy is required or anything, but a buddy is expected to help and should be trusted assuming they are needed.