Diving without a buoyancy compensator

[Nemrod]

My wife overheard an instructor telling his buddy that I could not dive that way...meaning it was not possible. Needless to say I enjoyed hanging around him showing how it was done..

You know, I encounter the same thing and yet these people are so dense they never seem to notice me hovering beside them in exactly the same way they do, except without a BC. Beats me, I think people are simply so ingrained that they do not know what they are seeing when they see it, it simply does not register. They continue to repeat the same diatribe even while I am doing exactly what they say is impossible.

N

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

You guys...
Don't you know that egging on DM's and instructors with BC/no BC issue and getting hours of hilarious free entertainment is mean



It goes something like this:

"Where's your BC ?"
"What's a BC ?"
"What do you mean what's a BC!? Are you certified!?"
"What's certified, certified for what??"
"Certified to dive you idiot!!" Are you telling me you haven't taken diving classes!!!"
-starting to foam at mouth about this time-
"Nope, no diving classes. I just read the original New Science of Skin & Scuba Diving, did all the exercises in the book and here I am".
"Oh my god!!!! you're going to kill yourself!!! or somebody else!!. What you're doing is totally irresponsible and a bad example to my students!". (Instructor now covering the eyes of his precious wide eyed students that can't believe what they're seeing and hearing).
"It won't be fair to the person that will have to recover your body!!". (oldest line in scuba history)
By this time I'm trying to keep the blood from rolling down the front of my chin from biting a hole in my lip from trying not to laugh and keep a straight face. Right here is where he is primed to make a wager against.

But, I know this would probably never happen. Most of the time they just stare as you walk by and say nothing.
:mooner:

 

[kanonfodr]

No need to not connect your BC, just deflate the BC all the way and try not to touch it during the dive. If you end up feeling like you just have to inflate some, you have the option. Once you get your weights correct you will be surprized how little you use your inflator even when you have it.

You are correct, I have no need to disconnect my BC. But if I do connect it, I will touch it. I can still orally inflate if I need to, but this is self-improvement we're talking about here, where work, mistakes, and near-drownings are involved .

And ya, it's Hawaii so 3mm of neoprene is all I'm using (most of the time). I'm too much of a wimp to go in shorts and t-shirt, at least right now I am. Maybe one day...

Peace,
Greg

 

[drbill]

I first used SCUBA in 1961 and didn't use a BCD until 1989 (and that one autoinflated so I disconnected it and dove without it). Weighting was far more critical and dependent on planned depth. I don't remember it ever being a big problem. Today I wouldn't dive without a BCD as I overweight myself a bit to remain more stable when at the bottom filming.

 

[Greg Barlow]

You guys...
Don't you know that egging on DM's and instructors with BC/no BC issue and getting hours of hilarious free entertainment is mean



It goes something like this:

"Where's your BC ?"
"What's a BC ?"
"What do you mean what's a BC!? Are you certified!?"
"What's certified, certified for what??"
"Certified to dive you idiot!!" Are you telling me you haven't taken diving classes!!!"
-starting to foam at mouth about this time-
"Nope, no diving classes. I just read the original New Science of Skin & Scuba Diving, did all the exercises in the book and here I am".
"Oh my god!!!! you're going to kill yourself!!! or somebody else!!. What you're doing is totally irresponsible and a bad example to my students!". (Instructor now covering the eyes of his precious wide eyed students that can't believe what they're seeing and hearing).
"It won't be fair to the person that will have to recover your body!!". (oldest line in scuba history)
By this time I'm trying to keep the blood from rolling down the front of my chin from biting a hole in my lip from trying not to laugh and keep a straight face. Right here is where he is primed to make a wager against.

But, I know this would probably never happen. Most of the time they just stare as you walk by and say nothing.
:mooner:

Very enjoyable! I have also also "messed" with divers by saying to my buddy in a somewhat loud voice..."Hey, you sure that all I gotta' do is put this thing in my mouth and breathe?

Gets em' every time!

Greg

 

[halocline]

I do some local diving without a BC, usually because I intend to but occasionally because I have left the house without my wing.....

Being the lazy diver that I am, I usually try to start the dive fairly neutral and pick up a few rocks as I breathe down my tank. These are very shallow dives usually in a 3 mil. I will freely admit that when I use my somewhat spongy 5 mil I have a better time with a bit of air in the wing.

 

[JamesBon92007]

I've really had to put some thought into this--I've been certified since '69 and have never used a BC. I've never needed or wanted one. But I never really thought about it much cause it simply has never been a problem. I seem to recall starting out with "X" amount of weight and gradually adding a little more until it was just right. I guess the rest of my buoyancy control is built-in--in my lungs. I weigh myself so I'm slightly negative at around 35' and I guess that's with lungs half-full because I'll start to ascend if I take a deep breath. The vast majority of diving I do is along the SoCal coast in about 30-45 feet. If I plan to go deeper I wear a horse collar but I've never added any air to it. Maybe my old wetsuit doesn't compress all that much at greater depths. To me it just isn't that difficult or tricky or whatever. The bottom where I dive is sand and rocks and there really isn't anything to stir up or otherwise disturb if I should pause for a moment with a fin tip against the bottom. It's easy enough to start going again without stirring things up. I imagine I could do a safety stop with no line to hold onto by breathing shallow but that isn't an issue with one tank at the depths I dive. Any time I've gone deeper (like 80-100') I've done it from a boat and had an anchor line to grab onto, if needed. I just don't remember ever needing it. I never have any trouble snorkeling out past the surf, or back in to the beach. If you watch old Sea Hunt episodes I think you'll find that pretty much everyone is slightly negative and will descend slightly when they stop swimming, except they often control their descent by filling their lungs. It's just not obvious. Mike Nelson seems to have spent a lot of time on his knees. I dive with both steel 72s and aluminum 80s and never really noticed a lot of difference between the two, except, somewhere in the back of my mind, I prefer the steel 72s. I must have compensated for the end-of-dive buoyancy way back when and didn't really think about it.

If I ever decide to enter a shipwreck or cave or whatever then I'll definately wear a BC and probably add a couple more pounds of lead.

 

[kanonfodr]

Well..today I got my wish. I discovered that my Oxycheq wing had a hole in it so instead of taking my HP120 with me and trying to get two dives out of it (it was entirely possible with the crew of newbies I was with today) I strapped on the LP85s i had in the truck (because I was too lazy to drag them out), a 2 lb weight, and jumped in the water.

First dive wasn't too bad. The wing wasn't demolished so it functioned quite well for keeping me afloat on the surface (and to a limited degree, neutrally buoyant underwater) but I did several checks underwater to check my weighting, I was too heavy. So on the second dive I ditched the weight belt and managed a passable job of diving without using any air in my wing at all, save for the first 15-20 minutes of the dive where my tank was heaviest.

I must say it was quite liberating, not having to worry about dumping air from my wing as I went up and down the reef's hills and valleys, or even hanging out just watching the other divers and videoing the fun. Once the tank started getting light enough I wasn't having much trouble holding my position in the water column, even at 700-800 psi where I started getting a bit light in the shallows. So almost an hour of almost BC-free diving today, and I really liked it. I'll be keeping my "broken" Oxycheq wing and diving it for a while, since the girlfriend is starting her Open Water this week and I really want her in a BP/W setup like I use so she will use my fully functional rig and I will have fun diving without using my wing, until I am comfortable enough to ditch it completely .

Appreciate the info that put me in the right direction to this, guys.

Peace,
Greg

 

[porgyhunter]

1977 was my first experience with scuba. Horse collar bc's were all the rave with a co2 and everything!!! Most of the divers I knew felt lucky to have a wetsuit. I remember be neutral on the surface, and the deeper you go the harder you kick. Real deep crawl. You didn't miss what you did'nt know

 

[avidhunter]

Oh how I can relate ... LOL