Jerzi
Registered
I've been in the OW class for a few weeks now and was reading up on the boards about back inflate BCs and wondered what one would feel like. I asked some of my instructors why they didn't use a back inflate and they said it dumped them face first on the surface. I perceived it was almost as bad as someone dunking you under water and you really couldn't control it. One of the younger instructors I talked to at the dive shop said he absolutely loved his back inflate and would let me try it out in the pool that night.
I put it on and it had no cumberbund and really appreciated that fact because I don't like them, rather have a crotch strap. The instructor showed me the inflate/deflate and I was off. The first thing I noticed was the freedom I felt around the front part of my body. I then tested the buoyancy at the surface waiting for it to push me head first into the water. I felt what the non back inflate instructors had mentioned, but after adjusting to it for a couple of seconds after using the other BC for a couple of weeks it felt a lot more natural, like I was just standing there instead of floating.
I was getting really excited at this point over the BC, but the real test would come from how it felt when I was under the water. I released some air from the BC and started down in to the great depths of the 12 foot pool while catching neutral buoyancy before the bottom. I started to scuba around and it was amazing, It felt like I was naked with the tank gently resting on my back. When I came back up to the surface I was sold.
Why is it that back inflate gets downplayed that much?
Is it a lot different in open ocean water with swells at the surface?
I really can't see why everyone wouldn't be trained in these, is it just easier for instructors to train unexperienced people that have never dove before in the standard type BC or is it by instructor preference?
Thanks guys,
Jerzi
I put it on and it had no cumberbund and really appreciated that fact because I don't like them, rather have a crotch strap. The instructor showed me the inflate/deflate and I was off. The first thing I noticed was the freedom I felt around the front part of my body. I then tested the buoyancy at the surface waiting for it to push me head first into the water. I felt what the non back inflate instructors had mentioned, but after adjusting to it for a couple of seconds after using the other BC for a couple of weeks it felt a lot more natural, like I was just standing there instead of floating.
I was getting really excited at this point over the BC, but the real test would come from how it felt when I was under the water. I released some air from the BC and started down in to the great depths of the 12 foot pool while catching neutral buoyancy before the bottom. I started to scuba around and it was amazing, It felt like I was naked with the tank gently resting on my back. When I came back up to the surface I was sold.
Why is it that back inflate gets downplayed that much?
Is it a lot different in open ocean water with swells at the surface?
I really can't see why everyone wouldn't be trained in these, is it just easier for instructors to train unexperienced people that have never dove before in the standard type BC or is it by instructor preference?
Thanks guys,
Jerzi
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