Diving Safely Without A BC

[cool_hardware52]

Current teaching from PADI is that it is unsafe to dive without a BC. I assume other agencies teachings are similar.

Some divers nonetheless dive without a BC, at least some of the time, either because they are vintage equipment enthusiasts or for reasons of simplicity and streamlining.

Under what circumstances, if any, do you believe it is safe without a BC? What skills or knowledge do divers need before undertaking this style of diving?

If you are actually 8 lbs positive in your swim trunks and don't carry more than 8 and dive with a total gear load that is less than 8 lbs I don't see it being any more dangerous than swimming without a PFD.

Most people aren't +8 however.

When I learned to dive nobody was using BC's for the simple fact they didn't exist. It was all about very careful weighting. Of course the typical tanks were small and there wasn't much hovering going on. The early days of scuba was seen as an extension of free diving.

We'd weight ourselves to be neutral to very slightly positive with a full tank at the surface, typically in a 1/4 inch neo wetsuit and most often a steel 72. At the end of the dive we would be a few more lbs positive when we reached the surface.

I clearly remember wondering *what* the guys on the "cattle" boat were wearing when the first horse collars started showing up.

I loved following the cattle boats around after that because it was almost certain that you'd find weight belts and spear guns etc. when these guys panicked and dropped their belts.

The evolution of the BC lead to less education and understanding of weighting, and more people that weren't really all that comfortable in the water starting to out number the genuine watermen.

Elevator going up!

Tobin

 

[dmaziuk]

I put in a little air at the beginning of the dive to stay neutral when motionless, breathing relaxed without thought. I don't doubt I could do the whole dive w/o air in the wing, but I would have to increase the amount of air I keep in my lungs at the beginning of the dive. I might experiment with it on my next dive to see how easy I can adapt.

Two things I found are a) no room to inhale more if I want to just float up a bit and b) gotta blow really hard to minimize the buoyancy shift while venting the CO2 buildup. So, easy: yes, comfortable and relaxed: I wouldn't go that far.

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

Current teaching is that it's unsafe to drive without a seatbelt. Some drivers nonetheless drive without a seatbelt, at least some of the time, either because they are vintage car enthusiasts or for reasons of simplicity.

Under what circumstances, if any, do you believe it is safe without a seatbelt?

I think I understand the point Storker is making.

I do believe it is safe to dive without a BC under the conditions some of us (who actually dove quite a bit without BC's) described in our posts.

Basically, you need to be CERTAIN that you can

1.) Control your depth without one,
2.) Return to the surface without one, and
3.) Remain safely on the surface without one.

Meet those 3 conditions, and you are good to go. The problem comes in having the experience to correctly determine if you meet those conditions...

Best wishes.

 

[dmaziuk]

Meet those 3 conditions, and you are good to go

4.) Have plan B for if/when fecal matter hits the air displacement device.

(Note that drowning is a perfectly valid plan B, as long as you know that's your plan.)

 

[rx7diver]

Some divers nonetheless dive without a BC, at least some of the time, either because they are vintage equipment enthusiasts or for reasons of simplicity and streamlining. Under what circumstances, if any, do you believe it is safe without a BC? What skills or knowledge do divers need before undertaking this style of diving?

2airishuman,

I've been diving for a few years. (Initial scuba instruction was in 1986.) I had never dived without a BC until this past summer: Swim suit and tee shirt, skin-diving gear (mask, fins, snorkel, weight belt), double hose regulator, Al 63, plastic, blow-molded backpack. Shallow dive in my neighborhood freshwater quarry, with my children swimming/playing in the water above me. What a fun dive!! (... even though my Scubapro Jet fins were a bit heavy for this gear configuration; neoprene boots would have helped, I think.)

Safe Diving,

rx7diver

 

[CuzzA]

I think it's a little disingenuous to knock PADI or any other agency for the requirement of buoyancy compensation. I realize (before I started diving) that it's the way it was done, but most of the old videos I've seen of non BC divers are of them crawling and kicking the **** out of the reef. Hell even with moden BC's divers are crawling and kicking the reefs.

Furthermore, when you look at fatality statistics I think it's quite clear diving has and is becoming more and more safe through better gear and training. While the number of annual deaths remain pretty much constant over the years, we know the number of divers and dives being conducted has grown, thus the percentage of fatalities per year is decreasing.

Note: I believe this report focuses on DAN members. http://www.diverbelow.it/attachments/article/52/DAN_Fatalities_8.pdf

So what do we chalk that up to? Better training, training standards, BC's, SPG's? I don't know, but I'll stick to using my BC.

 

[2airishuman]

If you are actually 8 lbs positive in your swim trunks and don't carry more than 8 and dive with a total gear load that is less than 8 lbs I don't see it being any more dangerous than swimming without a PFD.

Most people aren't +8 however.

If I were to dive without a BC I would be doing it freshwater, where I'm only 2 lbs positive in swim trunks. I don't think I'd do that in most waters without a wetsuit.

There are a number of possible dive sites where size and complexity of kit are major barriers, particularly sites only accessible by canoe, and shore dives with a walk that's long, steep, rocky, or some combination. There are also some sites where, how shall we say, it's important to enter the water quickly and with a minimum of fuss to minimize the opportunity people to object to diving at that site.

When I learned to dive nobody was using BC's for the simple fact they didn't exist. It was all about very careful weighting. Of course the typical tanks were small and there wasn't much hovering going on. The early days of scuba was seen as an extension of free diving.

We'd weight ourselves to be neutral to very slightly positive with a full tank at the surface, typically in a 1/4 inch neo wetsuit and most often a steel 72. At the end of the dive we would be a few more lbs positive when we reached the surface.

Thanks for that narrative, it's insightful.

I clearly remember wondering *what* the guys on the "cattle" boat were wearing when the first horse collars started showing up.

I loved following the cattle boats around after that because it was almost certain that you'd find weight belts and spear guns etc. when these guys panicked and dropped their belts.

The evolution of the BC lead to less education and understanding of weighting, and more people that weren't really all that comfortable in the water starting to out number the genuine watermen.

Elevator going up!

Tobin

I believe that.

The snorkel boats in tourist areas are, in my experience, the absolute worst (best?) place for watching people with zero water skills try to swim.

 

[2airishuman]

I think it's a little disingenuous to knock PADI or any other agency for the requirement of buoyancy compensation. I realize (before I started diving) that it's the way it was done, but most of the old videos I've seen of non BC divers are of them crawling and kicking the **** out of the reef. Hell even with moden BC's divers are crawling and kicking the reefs.

Not trying to pick on any of the agencies, just trying to describe the landscape as I see it.

Furthermore, when you look at fatality statistics I think it's quite clear diving has and is becoming more and more safe through better gear and training. While the number of annual deaths remain pretty much constant over the years, we know the number of divers and dives being conducted has grown, thus the percentage of fatalities per year is decreasing.
...
So what do we chalk that up to? Better training, training standards, BC's, SPG's? I don't know, but I'll stick to using my BC.

There are lots of ways to look at the statistics. I'm skeptical that there's been any improvement in safety and chalk the minor differences in these high-level charts to inconsistent reporting and a lack of accurate data on the number of divers or the amount of diving they do. I do think there's a case to be made that BCs have improved safety, but I don't believe that the stats you quote make that case.

 

[CuzzA]

I know you weren't agency bashing and my comments really weren't directed at anyone in particular. I also realize scuba statistics are difficult to get accurate, but I believe we can look at DAN's data and make similar correlations across the board. I simply find it interesting that everyone says the training isn't what it once was and perhaps that's true, yet the percentage of divers dying decreases every year so what can be said about that? Perhaps the BC gives a diver better odds of mitigating accidents, despite a decrease in quality training... Or the notion that the quality of training has decreased is hogwash. Maybe a combination of both or a bunch of other things as well (SPG's, deco theory, etc). I don't know.

 

[nolatom]

I started diving in 1999, so the "old days" are ancient history to me and I am in awe of the Mike Nelsons of the world who dived without wearable buoyancy compensation connected to your tank. So I wouldn't disagree with PADI on their caution note.

I wouldn't do it unless I was going to spend almost the whole dive at a constant "neutral" depth which isn't too deep, because deeper than that "sweet spot", I'll be too heavy, and shallower, I'll be too light. Also I'd like the dive to be shallow enough that if I couldn't hold a 3-min safety stop, it wouldn't make much diff in nitrogen loading.

And I would not "plan" a dive without my BC anyway, why would I? But if I had to do it or else you'd shoot my dog, I would request:

--Ditchable worthless weights (read: rocks) in, or attached to, my weight belt or to me. So I can descend without struggling, then drop the rocks to get neutral or slightly overweighted
--Lots of rocks nearby at depth, and some pockety device to put them in. So if i'm too light at depth, I can get heavier and not overbreathe or have to hang onto every damn rock or wreck. Then drop a few to start the ascent
A bag of rocks hanging from the boat at 20 feet. Or lead, if you trust me. So if I end up too light on the ascent, I can get heavier for the safety stop.

That might work, but I'm just trying to make rocks-in or rocks-out take the place of a BC. Not a practical dive plan and I don't think Mike Nelson would have done it, but it would keep my dog alive at least ;-)


One way I've measured "my" weight swing from empty exhale to really full inhale is when I rinse the insides of my BC after salt water. Mine's a tropical 24-pound one, and it takes 6 big breaths to fully inflate it after squeezing all the air out, so my weight swing would be 4-5 pounds for "extreme" breathing, and therefore maybe 2-3 pounds for normal breathing underwater.