Curious

[simonbeans]

Diving without a BC is absolute euphoria. Here are three shots from Sea Hunt 50 Celebration in 2008. Even girls can dive without a BC.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Learning to dive with no BC is the final skill level in diving. Everything up to that with the use of a BC IMO is nothing more than different levels of elevator diving. From very crude uninformed PADI OW style (very overweighted from every class I've ever DM'd or seen) to precise DIR style, it's all elevator diving to some degree; the BC plays a critical role in the diving style.

Once a diver gets to the point that they can shed the BC and count 100% on themselves and their knowledge of buoyancy and develop the skillsets required for no BC diving would I (personally) think them completely knowledgable in all aspects of diving.
Some will strongly disagree with this, which is fine, but I'm entitled to my opinion.

Skin diving used to be the prerequisite for scuba diving, and until people were completely competent swimmers and skin divers (freedivers) they where not allowed to put on scuba gear. There was no safety floaty device to make you feel cuddly and fuzzy on the surface. You were a diver, and divers had to be strong because they counted 100% on themselves and their swimming ability (on and below the water). I don't mean he man strong like a weight lifter, I mean in decent physical shape and a very well developed comfort level in the water (which is largely phsychological but physical conditioning certainly helps and the two go hand in hand).
If these principles were adhered to today the diving population would be a lot smaller but safer.

With all that said, diving with no BC is very easy and a joy. It's a purist form of diving and there is a new (old) movement happening called minimalism. It's the old methods practiced with all modern new gear. Vintage diving is exactly the same except for the gear.

Becoming an expert skin diver is a great start to becoming a minimalist. Freediving teaches you the body positioning, head down decent, weighting, and gliding that is practiced with no BC diving.
No BC diving is like freediving except you can breath underwater.
I practice minimalist diving in 46 to 53 degree water with a custom 7mm two piece wetsuit.
It only gets easier the warmer the water gets and the thinner the suits get.

My 2 cents

 

[AfterDark]

could you be more specific? Some bc come weight-integrated so you wouldn't necessarily see the weights. But unless you're diving a hookah system (where there is a pump at the surface pumping the air to you) it's highly unlikely they're diving without any form of bc on.

posting the pictures or links to them might help people understand exactly what you're asking about.

You're in the wrong forum. Such things as weight-integrated bc's are alien here. Hope you enjoyed the pics of divers without bc's integrated or otherwise. Been there did it. I do prefer a bc and always dive with one. I may give it go again sometime for old time sake.

 

[Nemrod]

could you be more specific? Some bc come weight-integrated so you wouldn't necessarily see the weights. But unless you're diving a hookah system (where there is a pump at the surface pumping the air to you) it's highly unlikely they're diving without any form of bc on.

posting the pictures or links to them might help people understand exactly what you're asking about.

Actually we are diving with no BC and quite often, no spg, no secondary, no octopus, no redundant mask or snorkel or anything else but a tank, regulator, fins and mask. No, no plate either, often we use a simple harness which has no plate or back piece at all.


No BC:

No BC:

No BC:

No BC:

No BC:

Don't need no stink'n BC.

N

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Here is a gallery of California back pack divers. They're not vintage but they don't use BC's either. This is in cold water with thick suits. Any of the suits with a custom green patch on the shoulder or if you see a patch that says "M&B wetsuits" also in green on the shoulder, those more than likely are Rubatex G-231 suits made my Don in Long Beach, CA.

Gallery of California Backpack Divers : 1999-2001

The California dive boats are pretty cool about no BC diving. If you know what you're doing they let you do what you want including solo dive.
It's funny how in the warmer and easier environments they tend to baby sit divers, and in colder harsher environments they let you do what you want. You'd think it would be the other way around.

 

[Zieg]

Many years ago, when I was much younger, an attractive young lady that I know, who dove, called me and asked if I had a backpack she could borrow. "Of Course" I said, "I have several you can choose from." She ran over, took one look at my assortment of diving backpacks, frowned, and said, "I meant for hiking." Just another disappointed female in my life.

 

[Paladin]

I am a floater. I float even when my lungs are empty. Without a wetsuit (my preference) I need five pounds on my belt to compensate for my natural tendency to float. When diving a 72, this makes me a bit heavy at the beginning of a dive and about neutral at the end. With an AL80, I use ten pounds to get the same effect because of the tank's empty buoyancy. I wore a jacket BC for the first time last summer because the quarry where I was diving required it. I tried using it but is was just more trouble than it was worth, in my opinion. I deflated it and forgot it was there.

I now have a horse collar BC, the first BC I've ever owned, but it stays deflated most of the time. I got it mostly to satisfy the BC requirements of some dive OPs and, perhaps, for a bit of surface flotation should the need arise.

 

[Boiler_81]

This is a prime example of what is wrong with dive training today. I was trained using a BC in 1984 (SSI). However, I was taught that it is a device to make small adjustments not an elevator.

I had always used one until I got my first double hose a couple of years ago. Diving without a BC opens a whole new world of dive freedom.

could you be more specific? Some bc come weight-integrated so you wouldn't necessarily see the weights. But unless you're diving a hookah system (where there is a pump at the surface pumping the air to you) it's highly unlikely they're diving without any form of bc on.

posting the pictures or links to them might help people understand exactly what you're asking about.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I am a floater. I float even when my lungs are empty. Without a wetsuit (my preference) I need five pounds on my belt to compensate for my natural tendency to float. When diving a 72, this makes me a bit heavy at the beginning of a dive and about neutral at the end. With an AL80, I use ten pounds to get the same effect because of the tank's empty buoyancy. I wore a jacket BC for the first time last summer because the quarry where I was diving required it. I tried using it but is was just more trouble than it was worth, in my opinion. I deflated it and forgot it was there.

I now have a horse collar BC, the first BC I've ever owned, but it stays deflated most of the time. I got it mostly to satisfy the BC requirements of some dive OPs and, perhaps, for a bit of surface flotation should the need arise.

I'm the other way around, I'm a sinker.
Swimming in a pool I have to resort to holding a large amounts of air in my lungs and powering through it. If I was to dive warm water I would probably wear a high quality 3 mil wetsuit and or use an aluminum tank to help offset the negative buoyancy of my body.
Here in Cold Norcal I use my 7 mil and precise weighting to great advantage.

 

[USCScubaboy]

This is a prime example of what is wrong with dive training today. I was trained using a BC in 1984 (SSI). However, I was taught that it is a device to make small adjustments not an elevator.

I had always used one until I got my first double hose a couple of years ago. Diving without a BC opens a whole new world of dive freedom.

Just to clarify, I never mentioned using a bc as an "elevator". I only use it to maintain buoyancy at the surface and when I'm moving horizontal. My OW instructor made it very clear to my and my cert buddies to move rise and descend under our own power.

I know I'm only OW certified, hence I didn't know about the double hose reg + tank w/o bc diving. Is this something that is discussed in AOW?

Also, when diving this config, why are double hose regs preferred over two separate regs? What would you do in case of an OOA incident?