BC full or not - Split from overweight

[DeepSeaDan]

...have you seen divers enter the water without filling their bcd half-full, as is taught in most o/w courses? This simple act should negate the potential IMMEDIATE consequences over-weighting, by keeping the diver's head above water upon entry. Then, if the diver has the savvy to do a buoyancy check prior to submerging, they will be in a calm relaxed state to correct an overweighting issue.

A good Divemaster will give every diver the once over prior to entry & this act must include a prompt to inflate the bcd if the diver has not remembered to do so.

An exception to this rule is a diver who informs the DM they wish to submerge immediately upon entry, though I personally like to discourage this behaviour as it eliminates the opportunity to do a last check on surface.

DSD

 

[Walter]

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This thread is a split from over weighting death in the forum Accidents and Incidents.
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Pre dive checks should be completed on the boat. If you need to do a weight check, that should be conducted with an empty BC. If you are not prepared to submerge upon entry, stay on the boat. There's rarely a legitimate reason to inflate a BC prior to entry.

 

[crosing]

I agree with a previous post: the only problem with over weighting would be she would sink to the bottom.

Does anyone know if her air was on?

 

[kirwoodd]

Pre dive checks should be completed on the boat. If you need to do a weight check, that should be conducted with an empty BC. If you are not prepared to submerge upon entry, stay on the boat. There's rarely a legitimate reason to inflate a BC prior to entry.

WOW!
I 100% agree that pre dive checks should occur on the boat, and I also agree that when I hit the water I am fully prepared to submerge, but no way in hell would I jump off a boat without my bc half inflated. Do I *need* to? Maybe only in my mind, but thats ok with me. I am currently averaging 30 dives a year, maybe in a year or two I will feel different, but today, as a n00b.....

 

[Walter]

WOW!
I 100% agree that pre dive checks should occur on the boat, and I also agree that when I hit the water I am fully prepared to submerge, but no way in hell would I jump off a boat without my bc half inflated. Do I *need* to? Maybe only in my mind, but thats ok with me. I am currently averaging 30 dives a year, maybe in a year or two I will feel different, but today, as a n00b.....

Go ahead, but it is a crutch.

 

[lord1234]

I completely disagree with you walter. And agree with Kirwoodd. The reason to keep your BC inflated is so that people on the boat know that your exit was ok. What happens if you bump your head on something as you are exiting or some other issue occurs and you pass out. There is a reason we are taught the "fist to head" sign. This shows the boat tenders that you are ok and ready to make the dive.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Conditions dictate to me when to inflate and when to submerge immediately. Usually I'm diving solo off of a boat when doing recreational dives. Unless prior arrangements are made with an instabuddy. The boats in the keys either like you to signal ok before descending or in the case of dives like the grove or duane when a current is running to hit the line and start down immediately. And unless the surface is rough and requires it when tech diving we stay at the surface until our teammate is in the water and ready to descend after a surface bubble check. Sometimes it involves waiting to get in and standing in heavy steel doubles, dry suit, stages etc can get tiring. It's best to float a bit and catch a breath and relax before descending. On Monday it was a little choppy but the swim from the side to the bow was not too bad. The anchor line however was whipping pretty good. My buddy got there a minute or so before I did (another divers minor difficulties delayed my entry) and was not looking too happy. A quick ok and told him let's get down out of this crap as others were also getting to the line. I'm new to tech but if at all possible at this point I'd want a final surface check before going down. Too much stuff on to take the chance on an uncontrolled descent.

 

[Tom Winters]

Not meaning to sound too harsh, but going off a boat with any air in your bc is stupid. If you're not ready to submerge immediately, it sounds like your skill level is a little deficient. Get all the gear fussing done in the boat so when you go in, you're ready to submerge.
I have seen so many divers go in, putz around on the surface doing this-and-that, and winding up so far behind the boat that they couldn't make it to the down line. Wind, currents, and inattention will get you blithely drifting nicely.
Since I was not going to untie the boat, I'd have to swim them down and drag their lame carcasses back to the boat. Plus if you're fiddling with gear on the surface near the boat, you might get another bonehead dropping in on you. I never had that happen on any of my boats, but it has happened.
You want to boat dive? - go in, get your bearings underneath the surface, get to the downline and wait at 10' if you need to congregate and do any final adjustments, but get off the surface.

 

[Walter]

When folks started rushing students through classes, one of the things they did was over weight their students. That saved instructors time in a couple of ways. It allowed them to skip proper weighting and just hand out lead as well as allowing them to anchor their sudents on the bottom so they would be right where the instructor could see them easily and therefore have bigger classes. It also allows for an assembly line approach to teaching skills. Another thing was take students to open water before they were ready to leave the pool. To compensate for these two problems they created, instructors started having their students inflate their BCs prior to entry. I usually hear divers being instructed to fully inflate their BCs. This keeps the over weighted students (often grossly over weighted) from sinking to the bottom immediately upon entry and allows the classes that are too large to descend together. It also gives the student who has little or no confidence in his own abilities (because he was rushed to open water before he was ready - not enough skills, not enough practice time with the skills he did learn) the feeling that he is in his own little boat and in no danger of sinking.

While I never over weighted my students, taught large classes or took them to open water before they were ready, I did have my students partially inflate their BCs prior to entry. After some years, I started to question this practice. I could find no logical reason to continue it and standards did not require it. I stopped. I taught my students to enter the water with deflated BCs. They were always able to signal OK to the DM after entry. They were always able to easily stay afloat if desired.

I believe that inflating BCs prior to entry and overweighted divers are two sides of the same coin. If divers stop inflating their BCs prior to entry, they will stop being overweighted. Inflating Bcs prior to entry is not dangerous in itself, but it allows and in some cases leads to a lazy, very dangerous practice - overweighting.

 

[Simeon]

Wow, there are so many ways to get ticked as stupid.

If there is no environmental or safety reasons to descend immediately, I like and will always jump in BC inflated. I like waiting for my buddies, I like checking my regs in water before I submerge, and I hate my ears screaming when my full steel tanks take me for a ride after a plunge with no air in either BC or drysuit. Often I am also very hot in drysuit after gearing up, and if current/chop or other divers do not prevent, I like to use a minute or two to cool off or calm my breathing before heading down.
I hate to start a dive in hassle and hurry – like it’s embarrassing to stay on surface like a noobie. Slow and nice does it for me. I try to choose my charters accordingly.