BC free diving

[gypsyjim]

Well from what I see here I'll stick with my BC. Grabbing for rocks and working to maintain depth on a safety stop does not sound like fun. I can see no BC at shallow depths but not at 50-60 ft. or in cold water. Thanks for the input and taking time to respond.

As I noted earlier, my friend Herman was recently diving very comfortably to 50-60 feet in Bonaire with just a 80cfAL on a hard plate, with no air bladder at all. He was in a skin I believe, which eliminated any buoyancy loss due to compression. Correctly weighted in such conditions, no BCD should be necessary at all, or collecting rocks to compensate for incorrect weighting

For most diving we do, tho, some form of BCD, jacket style, BP/W, etc is certainly an asset.

 

[Teamcasa]

Well from what I see here I'll stick with my BC. Grabbing for rocks and working to maintain depth on a safety stop does not sound like fun. I can see no BC at shallow depths but not at 50-60 ft. or in cold water. Thanks for the input and taking time to respond.

Picking up rocks here in SoCal was no big deal and we knew nothing about safety stops then. OTOH, most of our ascents we done by following the bottom back to shore.

I don's suggest picking up rocks in Hawaii - most of them were volcanic!

 

[kanonfodr]

I don's suggest picking up rocks in Hawaii - most of them were volcanic!

I never had a problem with picking up a rock or two and taking it for a ride in Hawaii. Only once did I have one threaten to spew lava on me

Peace,
Greg

 

[Teamcasa]

I never had a problem with picking up a rock or two and taking it for a ride in Hawaii. Only once did I have one threaten to spew lava on me

Peace,
Greg

It was a weight thing. On one dive, a diver was underweight by a few pounds and tried in vain to find a rock that has any mass. Being all volcanic, he would have needed a basket-full to add a few pounds.

 

[paddler3d]

Well from what I see here I'll stick with my BC. Grabbing for rocks and working to maintain depth on a safety stop does not sound like fun. I can see no BC at shallow depths but not at 50-60 ft. or in cold water. Thanks for the input and taking time to respond.

Remember when you are properly weighted, you will have no air in your BC for your Safety Stop.