Do I "Need" a BC

[USdiver1]

@therookie,
You are currently living and diving on the Bay Islands, correct? Lovely area, about perfect to begin your journey to BC free diving. What I would do as an initial step is to acquire both a horse collar BC and a plastic/fiberglass back pack. Try diving with the back pack and the horse collar, using the BC as a surface flotation device only [and back up emergency device U/W]. Practice using these until you are as comfortable diving them as your current rig. By keeping your tank on your back with the back pack, and having no air in your horse collar your trim will change and become more like a skin diver. You'll probably need a weight belt as well, at least if you use a wet suit.

Try it, you'll like it.

 

[therookie]

@therookie,
You are currently living and diving on the Bay Islands, correct? Lovely area, about perfect to begin your journey to BC free diving. What I would do as an initial step is to acquire both a horse collar BC and a plastic/fiberglass back pack. Try diving with the back pack and the horse collar, using the BC as a surface flotation device only [and back up emergency device U/W]. Practice using these until you are as comfortable diving them as your current rig. By keeping your tank on your back with the back pack, and having no air in your horse collar your trim will change and become more like a skin diver. You'll probably need a weight belt as well, at least if you use a wet suit.

Try it, you'll like it.

Diving yes, living no - we live on the mainland and it is a bit of a logistical stretch to get to any of the Bay Islands for anything less than a week, which makes the whole prospect a tad expensive.

But from this thread, yes, I would agree this is an idyllic area to learn to dive BC free...

Edited to add - if we lived on one of the islands, much would be different. Especially the number of dives in my log

 

[USdiver1]

@therookie
I lived on the mainland for three years. Got to dive Utila, Roatan, Guanaja, Cayos Cochinos and Cayos Zapodillos in Belize while living there.

Almost forgot to say, if you get a horsecollar, avoid the rubber donut Fenzy with it's own compressed air bottle. Too French, no that's not it, they're made bass-akwards, plus the compressed air bottle is a PITA.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

You guys are telling him to start with a horse collar. Well here we go again, adding stuff, just like back then when people started to add stuff and look many years later what it got us, how did that work out? Poodle jackets and split fins. Don't know how to weight properly and don't know how to fin properly. Gear gets developed to cover for skills deficits.
No BC diving is about going back to purism, to simplicity, less is more. It's an artform as far as I'm concerned. It something people get into not because it's better than regular scuba diving, but because it's a challenge, it's liberating, it requires skill and knowledge. It's an extension of the hobby.
It's realizing 'wow! I'm able to do this and it's great!'
The reason I'm not using a BC right now is because I'm diving a lot and it's shallow (when weather allows!). I don't need more wear and tear on the wing, no wing means one less thing I need to clean, I found I'm not using the wing at all so why have it on? As soon as I get past the surf (or still in it) I'm on the bottom heading out. I do all my diving, I send up the full bags on a lift bag with a rope clipped on, I take a compass reading and head back in on the bottom. You will only see me right at the beach going in and coming out.
If I get in trouble I dump my belt, simple. That was the rule then and it's still the rule now. But in a 7mm suit I can float on the surface even with a full tank. I'm using a 120 right now, but I'm going to double 72's on a back pack and you won't see a BC. I'm be using a brand new freediving suit so I'm guessing I'll start with 18 or 20 lbs on a rubber belt and see how it is. Steel 72's end up neutral and a little butt light so it won't be much difference from the 120.

OP, start freediving. Then when you want to try no BC diving see if you can find a steel 72, an aluminum 80 will work too. Find one of those old plastic back packs, they work great!

These too.

 

[USdiver1]

When you go to those twin 72s you will be in trim heaven, kicking yourself for not doing it earlier.

 

[The Chairman]

while using up to a 5mm full farmer john/hooded jacket

Dude, that's cheating. Just saying.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

When you go to those twin 72s you will be in trim heaven, kicking yourself for not doing it earlier.

I'm putting this on them.
Fully rebuilt and ready to go.
I'm running a Connie VI with a 1085 on it.

 

[USdiver1]

I'm putting this on them.
Fully rebuilt and ready to go.
I'm running a Connie VI with a 1085 on it.View attachment 888251

That's how I made mine as well, a USD solid bar manifold with a J valve. Check with the Scuba Museum, I bought a J valve rebuild kit from Rob a couple of years ago, he gets them in from time to time [good to keep a spare around]. I mostly dive a double hose on mine, but also use a Connie XII, SP Mk2/R109 or a Voit MR-12II.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

That's how I made mine as well, a USD solid bar manifold with a J valve. Check with the Scuba Museum, I bought a J valve rebuild kit from Rob a couple of years ago, he gets them in from time to time [good to keep a spare around]. I mostly dive a double hose on mine, but also use a Connie XII, SP Mk2/R109 or a Voit MR-12II.

That's where I got the kit, from Rob. We're on the same page brother.
It was the the OEM Aqualung commercial/military kit

 

[old frogman]

On a recent LOB in the Lesser Antilles. Great diving for a week, good vis, low current. Diving was not guided. No crew members led or accompanied the dives.

I took note that the 6 crew members on board all had adopted essentially the same personal rigs, and all had dived these rigs, some multiple times during the trip. -- Transpak plastic backplate or homemade fiber or rubber backplate. Single strap harness - shoulders and waist. Standard weight belt. 1st and 2nd stages, SPG. AL63 tank. Single tank band. NO BC/bladder.

The crew were excellent coaches, and I reduced ballast on my travel BPW by 4 lbs on the trip. The last several days I was entering the water with an empty BC and heading straight to the bottom. I added minimal if any air to the wing, and totally enjoyed the freedom of the dive. Admittedly toward the end of the dive I was definitely breathing on the bottom of my lung capacity, but not uncomfortably so. On the surface when ending the dive, a deeper breath was quite sufficient to remain at the surface.

So the question is: Other than to keep the boat crew happy, do I really need a BC when diving with minimal thermal protection?

Getting back to the original question and from the observation of various comments, it is a question of analysing the situation and then making a risk assessment. The old way, before technical diving and its offshoot solo diving, it was dive management by rules. In the last twenty years or more dive management by exception has emerged. An early book on technical diving "IANTD Exploration and Mixed Gas Diving Encyclopedia" had a chapter called dive planning which introduced the reader to the concept of "risk management". Today there are several dive books which cover diving risk management as a stand-alone topic. Even the US Navy Diving Manual latest version now has a section on diving risk management. Consequently, you are all correct in your comments as long as the decision you make is relevant to the situation you find yourself in at the time and it conforms to your specific perception of risk and tolerance for risk.