DM protecting weight belts?

[Grajan]

but I'm missing something here. There is no way I am passing my rig up to anyone from the water. Thats what I have legs for. I will (reluctantly) hand up my fins but the rest stays on until I'm on the boat and I deal with it there.

I am not willing to risk having my gear bashed about and I am particularly concerned about the regs & computer.

I normally dive a private boat that does not have this level of 'luxury' service so you have to look after yourself, but it seems like a bad idea anyway. A diver should remain responsible for his/her own gear at all times. That includes setting it up, stripping it down and getting it onto the boat.

DM's hauling rigs, changing bottles and setting up gear is creating a culture of service dependency in diving that is down right unhealthy.

Stopping all this pampering would be MUCH better for the DM's back than messing around with people's gear setup.

 

[turnerjd]

Grajan once bubbled...
but I'm missing something here. There is no way I am passing my rig up to anyone from the water. Thats what I have legs for. I will (reluctantly) hand up my fins but the rest stays on until I'm on the boat and I deal with it there.

It depends upon the local custom.

In the UK a lot of diving is done from zodiac type boats (rigid glass fibre hull with inflatable sponsons), it is almost impossible to get back into this type of boat without taking gear off, and passing it up to somebody already in. You keep your fins on, and you need to KICK to get yourself high enough to get out of the water.

For liveaboards, it is often the same. If you surface close enough you swim to the stern platform, but if you are far away, they collect you in the Zodiac.

In my experience, when you are aboard, even if a DM has helped you get in, they don't do any more. Its your kit, you do everything with it. I've never had a DM set my kit up for me (and I wouldn't want one to)

Certainly, climbing back up into a boat in a drysuit with a heavy amount of kit (I have 60 Lbs as a MINIMUM - this is with a single tank) after a long dive is a drag, and if heavy kit can be passed up then this is a read advantage. - Just think of extended range divers, they are regularly in a drysuit with 4 or more cylinders hanging off, with a total weight that you really wouldn't want to try climbing a ladder with.

Jon T

PS for those that don't dive dry, we drysuit divers regularly have in the order of 30 Lbs of weight on our belts.

 

[Grajan]

There are special cases where an assisted exit might be required. If so this process should be fully addressed in the dive plan.

However, the bulk of recreational diving does not fall into this category and the excessive level of service is normally unnessecary. I wonder if this is a negative product of the tipping system?

 

[voop]

turnerjd once bubbled...


It depends upon the local custom.

In the UK a lot of diving is done from zodiac type boats (rigid glass fibre hull with inflatable sponsons), it is almost impossible to get back into this type of boat without taking gear off, and passing it up to somebody already in. You keep your fins on, and you need to KICK to get yourself high enough to get out of the water.

Well, I too regularly dive off of a Zodiac. The entry procedure we follow is quite simple. On the line on the boat side (you know, the one you're holding on to for your life, when the waves are high and you're jetting towards your dive-site), there are about 1.5-2m long lines attached, each with a clip in the end. You arrive at the boat after a dive, pick your clip and clip to your BC D-ring. Your BC is well inflated, of course. Then you enter the boat as you would normally (by kicking yourself out of the water). your BC is nice and safe and floating in the surface. Once on board, take off the finns and mask and store, and gather strength to lift up the BC yourself. Weight-integrated? Nobody's problem but yours

As for extended-range dives with a number of stage bottles in addition to twin-backgas and more extensive gear.....well, I don't think that most rec diveoperations have to deal with that type of divers. And if a dive op regularly does, then it's usually geared towards it and has suitable procedures in place.

 

[turnerjd]

voop once bubbled...


Well, I too regularly dive off of a Zodiac. The entry procedure we follow is quite simple. On the line on the boat side (you know, the one you're holding on to for your life, when the waves are high and you're jetting towards your dive-site), there are about 1.5-2m long lines attached, each with a clip in the end. You arrive at the boat after a dive, pick your clip and clip to your BC D-ring. Your BC is well inflated, of course. Then you enter the boat as you would normally (by kicking yourself out of the water). your BC is nice and safe and floating in the surface. Once on board, take off the finns and mask and store, and gather strength to lift up the BC yourself. Weight-integrated? Nobody's problem but yours

What do you do with weight if it isn't integrated? I've used these sidelines, but only ever for the BCD, never for my weightbelt. It makes it MUCH easier to get back into the zodiac if you have given your weightbelt up to somebody and aren't wearing it any more? Do you clip your weight onto the line as well or get out of the water without removing it?

Jon T

 

[voop]

turnerjd once bubbled...


What do you do with weight if it isn't integrated? I've used these sidelines, but only ever for the BCD, never for my weightbelt. It makes it MUCH easier to get back into the zodiac if you have given your weightbelt up to somebody and aren't wearing it any more? Do you clip your weight onto the line as well or get out of the water without removing it?

Jon T

Actually, that's a very good question I mostly use my WI BC when diving off a zodiac (and I toss the inflated BC in the water, attached to a sideline, before I enter and don it in water -- a zodiac is *small*, full of divers messing with gear, it's just too painfull to be fun).

The times where I've been with a weightbelt, I actually just get out of the water without removing it. I do not use a lot of weight when diving wet, so it's not that big a deal for me. I've seen people hand it up to the boat, as well as attach the belt to the shoulder strap of their BCD before entering. If I dive dry and with weightbelt, I typically attach the weightbelt to the BC before climbing the boat. My approach is: my gear, my problems

It really depends on individual preferences and on if there are anyone on the boat to receive the belt.

 

[jrg]

friscuba once bubbled...


Actually, work on a boat for a while and you'll see why they might say it..........

........A fair portion of divers with integrated weights won't hand up their weight pouches (even when asked) or wear the BC up the ladder with the weights in. Suddenly now the DM is going to have to lean over the gunwale or swim step and pull a soaking wet BC with attached tank and additional integrated weight out of the water. ........

OK, that makes sense. So some people actually doff their gear in the water & make the DM lift it out for them.

I wish I could work on a boat for a while. It would have to be more fun than this #&<*!^@ desk job.

 

[ScubaJewel]

some of the group trips I have led in the past have had similar problems but the usual excuse is that the independent weights like to fall out of the bc endagering personal buoyancy characteristics and divers below and reef systems...

Take it for what its worth.

Julie

 

[friscuba]

Grajan once bubbled...
There are special cases where an assisted exit might be required. If so this process should be fully addressed in the dive plan.

However, the bulk of recreational diving does not fall into this category and the excessive level of service is normally unnessecary. I wonder if this is a negative product of the tipping system?

These days with scuba diving agencies heading towards more inclusive physical ability policies there are a lot of people diving who are not in the best of shape. A fair portion of the divers we see in resort stiuations fall into the category of divers who might need some type of assistance (whehter it be taking weights or all their gear off their backs) to get back on the boat.

My guess that on any 12 passenger tourist scuba vessel there is likely to be, on an average day, anywhere from 1 to 4 people who incapable or barely capable of climbing the boat ladder with full gear. Some days the number is higher. At this matter it really does become a matter of passenger safety. If a person cannot climb a ladder with relative ease, they are potentially a risk to themselves and to whoever may make the mistake of crowding in behind them. Usually handing up just the weightbelt will do the trick, not always.

later

Steve

 

[Diving Dave]

awap once bubbled...
No tip and no repeat business. They must have forgotten that you were a CUSTOMER.

My wife used to be a divemaster, and I know bunches of them. You figure these folks make about 3 to 5 bucks a head. What's that work out to, about 50 cents per hour for helping you strap your gear in, find the site, brief and lead the dive, occasionally rescue someone, pick out and follow the worst divers, smile and laugh at stupid obnoxious jokes, help you out of the water and into your seat, check your gear, clean the boat, etc etc etc

awap, divemasters know: the biggest a-holes look for the littlest excuses not to tip.