BCD vs Wing in adrift situation.

[cool_hardware52]

Sorry, but this is a red herring. Even if you dump all your weights, the jacket will be better on the surface. When you're in choppy water, you want to have lots of gas in your bc, with weight or without weight.

If you have to wait for the boat for half an hour in foot-high waves, you want more than just a 'puff of gas' in your BC.

Er, ah, well no. It's a common misconception that more lift or more gas in a wing or BC will float the diver higher out of the water.

Any portion of any BC that is above the water's surface provides no buoyancy because it displaces no water. Attempting to use any BC to get belly button high out of the water is an exercise in diminishing returns.

A properly weighted diver who will be typically neutral to slightly positive at the surface depending on the gas contents of his cylinder(s) needs very little gas in their BC.

Tobin

 

[Doby45]

I could not agree more. I need very little gas to sit with the tops of my shoulders out of the water. The crotch strap also makes it as if I am sitting in a little basket almost. Very comfortable, very clear of the water, very not face down. The few times I have worn a traditional BCD, the BCD would squeeze the breath out of you if you inflated it much beyond a puff and then with no crotch strap it would ride up and the shoulder straps would be up near the top of your head. Simply not seeing all the "poodle jacket" advantages you are bloviating about.

 

[Bennno]

...do not like to be "squeezed" by a regular BCD and find the BP/W more relaxing and functional.

That's a valid point. There are jackets that are better with that than others. I can see the appeal and why people like wings better. I really do believe it's more of an 'style' thing though.

Eitherway, if you would have to spend an hour on the surface in choppy water, 10 out 10 people would have a 'better' time in something like a master jacket than any wing out there. Usually you don't need that but in a '**** hits the fan situation' like this guy in the article was in, you'd be better on in a jacket. Another reason for this is that you can ditch the weighs and keep the BC. With a w/bp setup, you can't just ditch your steel plate.

I'm not saying that a wing isn't safe but I will say that you're better of in a jacket when you dive in places where you get drift off or get lost... just in case.

 

[BreeAbyss]

I personally found that floating on the surface with a jacket was more uncomfortable because I found it rode up around my neck kind of like a life jacket. My wing has a crotch strap so it doesn't ride up and lets my neck be free. If I tip back a bit then I find I am higher out of the water than in a jacket. I'm sure it is different with different bodies but I've never felt like I was tipping forward and that was definitely something I was concerned about before I got my wing.

edit: I mostly dive in a drysuit so a harness is way more comfy, I definitely don't need more puffiness around my stomach/chest area

 

[Bennno]

Er, ah, well no. It's a common misconception that more lift or more gas in a wing or BC will float the diver higher out of the water.

Any portion of any BC that is above the water's surface provides no buoyancy because it displaces no water. Attempting to use any BC to get belly button high out of the water is an exercise in diminishing returns.

You're such a spinmeister. You quote me and than you comment on something I never said. Bellybutten high out of the water? What a load of BS.

 

[Neilwood]

I personally found that floating on the surface with a jacket was more uncomfortable because I found it rode up around my neck kind of like a life jacket. My wing has a crotch strap so it doesn't ride up and lets my neck be free. If I tip back a bit then I find I am higher out of the water than in a jacket. I'm sure it is different with different bodies but I've never felt like I was tipping forward and that was definitely something I was concerned about before I got my wing.

That is my experience as well. The jacket type has two options on the surface in my experience - a) straps tightened so as to not allow the BCD to move squeezed so hard your breathing is constricted or b) with the straps a bit looser to allow better breathing it rides up around your armpits and neck making floating very uncomfortable.

 

[cool_hardware52]

Another reason for this is that you can ditch the weighs and keep the BC. With a w/bp setup, you can't just ditch your steel plate.

If you are properly weighted these is zero need to ditch any of your ballast, much less your plate at the surface.

I always recommend divers in heavy exposure suits adjust their total ballast so they are eye level at the surface with no gas in their wing and a full cylinder.

That allows a diver to remain at the surface with effort even if they suffer a buoyancy failure, or panic and don't fill their BC.

Once a little gas is consumed (or dumped) from the cylinder a diver weighted as I recommend will be positive, i.e. chin out of the water, even if they don't dump ballast or add gas to their BC.

With little to no exposure protection a buoyancy failure can force ditching the entire BC. Of course a failed wing or BC isn't much help then anyway.

Tobin

 

[Buliwyf]

Why do I need to keep an upright position in the water? It's not even taught that way.

You can't tread water forever. So we're supposed to let ourselves sink a little, head hunched forward underwater, like a knocked out or dead person would float. Just float, and don't move. Save energy. Turn your head to the surface to breath. Only kick and surface when you need to breath. I can tread water for only 2 hours. But floating, I can do that all day.

There's no reason with a scuba unit that I need to do anything differently. Pop in your snorkel, go snorkeling. I can float along on the surface in a snorkeling position effortlessly. Kick back and relax. You can always kick into position to use a mirror, flare whatever you have, if an aircraft is near. Besides everything that wants to eat you, is in the water, not the sky.

Get a PLB, not a jacket. This is the silliest excuse for a jacket I've ever heard of. This guy would have been rescued quick if he had a PLB.

If you dive in places where you can drift off or get lost. Quit going there. Or at least prep for it with a PLB. I don't need a PLB for boat dives only a mile or two from shore. But no land in sight? Yeah, I'm taking one.

I don't know why he ditched his gear. I guess his gear failed and couldn't float anymore. Or never had the ability to float in the 1st place. Or maybe the diver is just a moron. Who knows? All I can think off is that a wing failure caused him to ditch and surface early away from his group, without his buddies knowledge, and nowhere near where the dive boat expected. But I ain't ditching anything that can float.

 

[Bennno]

The few times I have worn a traditional BCD, the BCD would squeeze the breath out of you if you inflated...

Well, so you have used an ill-fitting jacket a few times. Now after a few tries you giving people advice on what gear to use?

...because I found it rode up around my neck kind of like a life jacket.

That's what ill-fitting jackets will do. My jacket doesn't do that.

 

[Doby45]

Well, so you have used an ill-fitting jacket a few times. Now after a few tries you giving people advice on what gear to use?

I have not given anyone advice on what they should use. I have only told of my personal use. If you want to dive with a jacket made of literal pool noodles, more power to you. I simply said the statement you made in absolutes was not so absolute.