BC full or not - Split from overweight

[spectrum]

Off of a boat or dock being initially buoyant is a valid safety net. If currents are swift or seas high then you need to get down but I see no harm in a final cross check before dropping in normal conditions. If a dive team in confident in a hot drop then so be it. I see no point in discouraging a surface check on the part of any dive team that feels it is of value to them.

As for shore diving we always enter with some air in the BCs. Once we're thigh deep gives us a good chance of a buoyant landing should we stumble and lets us bob in comfort while we do our fins in waist/chest deep water. Since some amount of surface swim to the drop location is also likely BC inflation is inevitable anyhow. Inflating orally as we enter the water is a good way to hone the oral inflation skill.

Pete

 

[tracydr]

I have no problem with jumping off the boat and immediately descending, if conditions require it. We did this in some of the current diving in Cozumel.

But my diving at home is almost always in flat water with very poor visibility, and making sure the team is close together and prepared to descend at the same moment is often critical. I suspect, as Soggy says, that I'd have enough air trapped in various places to be able to stay on the surface by swimming, but I'd simply rather not. Being relaxed and comfortable and not at all winded is a very good place to start a dive for me, and I can see no detriment whatsoever to having my wing inflated when I get in the water.

Maybe not until the overpressure valve pops, but I'd be one of those people with a full wing that you guys would be regarding with suspicion.

As usual, I completely agree with you. Why kill yourself treading water when the BC is a perfect float device? I like to start the dive fresh. Maybe Walter is trying for his pre-dive aerobic workout to prevent DCS?
Also, Walter says that you should easily be able to stay above water with quite a bit of overweighting. For me, four lbs can make all the difference. I was handed a video camera once. I had my bouyancy set so that I was neutral during a safety stop with 500lbs in my 60cu tank. That camera made me start to sink like a rock!!

 

[jon m]

whatever makes you comfortable,yes? i don't see putting air in the bc as being unsafe, and maybe a little more safe, so i do it. if you get hit on the surface by another diver entering, then you are too close to the boat. i don't think anyone is suggesting that!
unless in a high current situation where you had to go straight down, in this case it would be discussed prior to entry...
i'm sure the folks who drop straight down have buddys who expect it. i prefer to keep my eye on my buddy (wife) at the surface, just in case.
in mexico i forgot to put air in my wing on a dive. kinda freaked me out, as i was going over backward thinking " i forgot to put air in"
but, i swam up, if i had been too overweighted to swim, i still had my reg in my mouth, i would not have drowned.
being overweight is not the cause of death in this case, panic is.that was my first thought on reading the headline-

 

[Walter]

As usual, I completely agree with you. Why kill yourself treading water when the BC is a perfect float device? I like to start the dive fresh. Maybe Walter is trying for his pre-dive aerobic workout to prevent DCS?

If you're getting a workout staying at the surface, you're overweighted. There's nothing aerobic about staying at the surface with an empty BC if you are weighted correctly. Believe me, I don't work hard when I'm diving. If you're planning to sit on the surface for more than a few seconds, by all means inflate your BC. OTOH, it only takes a few seconds to get together with your buddy and signal the boat.

 

[Charlie99]

My experience is the same as Walter's. When I'm weighted such that I can hold at 15' stop with near empty tank, empty BCD bladder, and FULL lungs I can still easily control my ascent all the way to the surface. Even hovering at 1 or 2' of depth is easy, although I need to have my lungs near empty.

When weighted in such a manner, with normal lung volume, I float on the surface with ease, even with an empty BCD and a full AL80. This is particularly true for the first dive of the day, when my wetsuit is dry. Someone with smaller lung volume may need a TINY puff or two of air, but there shouldn't be any need to fill a BCD anywhere near halfway.

I suggest that anybody saying that staying on the surface is an aerobic workout go and first check their weighting, and then go ahead and jump in with an empty BCD and find out for yourself how much effort, if any, it takes to stay on the surface.