Question Do you ever practice dropping weights and handling the unexpected ascent?

[boulderjohn]

The only weight belt drop exercise was in my Basic NASDS/YMCA class and it was the old ‘Doff and Don’ exercise in a 10’ pool. I was new…It took me a couple times. The lady who was to become my bride however did the entire exercise without a hitch…she was a ‘fish’ like some SB descriptions. Too long a story to pass along. But it really shouldn’t be a requirement. As you have pointed out a chance of drowning or embolism. A ‘Real’ danger when diving.

The doff and don is not approved by any agency I know because of the danger of embolism.

In 2007, Allison Rainey Gibson, a scuba instructor had students at the University of Alabama doing that exercise, and one of them died of an embolism. Here is an initial description of the event. Google her name and you will see details of the criminal charges she faced and the wrongful death lawsuit that was filed. I did not see any articles detailing the aftermath of those legal actions.

Years ago one of my instructors did an unannounced, unofficial exercise to see how I would react in an emergency. I did OK. He later did it on another student, who did not do OK and very nearly created a double fatality.

 

[boulderjohn]

How much weight are you wearing that you can't ascend with it? Even if your bcd was completely deflated, I would think that you shouldn't have so much weight on you that you can't ascend under fin power. Maybe I'm wrong because I have never tried ditching my weights and ascending.

Where you can see this happen is with the use of very thick wetsuits. The weight is needed both to descend initially and to hold a safety stop during ascent. At the bottom of a dive, though, the suit compresses and that much weight is not needed, and it can be too much for some people.

I saw this happen when doing OW dives in Colorado with thick wetsuits. I learned that one of our instructors, a man who never dived anything colder than tropical waters, was teaching students in their pool sessions that before beginning their ascents, they should dump all air from their BCDs and then swim up. It works in a pool with 3mm suits, but it is not so great in deeper water with thicker suits. I learned of this teaching concept when I had to drop quickly to grab a plummeting student.

 

[Belzelbub]

The doff and don is not approved by any agency I know because of the danger of embolism.

Do you know when this was removed? I most definitely did this many times during an OW course (YMCA) I took in 1997. It was absolutely not part of the courses my daughters took in ‘15 and ‘18.

When I did it, embolism risk was not really an issue, but things have changed. I took my OW course(s) with a weight belt and non weight integrated BC. A heck of a lot harder with a weight integrated BC.

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

Where you can see this happen is with the use of very thick wetsuits. The weight is needed both to descend initially and to hold a safety stop during ascent. At the bottom of a dive, though, the suit compresses and that much weight is not needed, and it can be too much for some people.

I saw this happen when doing OW dives in Colorado with thick wetsuits. I learned that one of our instructors, a man who never dived anything colder than tropical waters, was teaching students in their pool sessions that before beginning their ascents, they should dump all air from their BCDs and then swim up. It works in a pool with 3mm suits, but it is not so great in deeper water with thicker suits. I learned of this teaching concept when I had to drop quickly to grab a plummeting student.

Thank you. That makes perfect sense.

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

Why don't you find out for yourself - rather than talk hypothetically on the internet? There is no real danger in trying.

Just dump all the air in your BC and see if you can swim up from depth (presumably with a full tank).

I'll give it a shot but i feel like I do that on most dives. I go to release air from my wing as I ascend and there's nothing in it. But then, my tank is not full. So yes, point taken.

 

[boulderjohn]

Do you know when this was removed? I most definitely did this many times during an OW course (YMCA) I took in 1997. It was absolutely not part of the courses my daughters took in ‘15 and ‘18.

When I did it, embolism risk was not really an issue, but things have changed. I took my OW course(s) with a weight belt and non weight integrated BC. A heck of a lot harder with a weight integrated BC.

I don't know when it was part of any official agency curriculum. It might have been. It might not have been. Instructors have been adding whatever they feel like to courses since forever.

In 1960, independent instructors from across America met in Houston with the goal of creating a new agency. The people who were in charge were shocked to see some of them harassing students by ripping off masks, shutting off air, etc. Reflecting on it years later, some thought it was more for the benefit (lots of fun) of the instructor than the student. They did not make it part of the courses, but they allowed instructors to add whatever they wanted, so lots of people were taught that way and probably believed it was part of the official course. You can read about in the History of NAUI.

So I am sure that you can find instructors somewhere doing Doff and Don even today, just as the SSI instructor at Alabama did, even though it was not part of the SSI course. About 15 years ago I was given a delicate task by the dive shop where I worked. A young woman had decided to renew certification efforts despite being traumatized in her previous attempt by an instructor who made harassment (turning off gas, ripping off masks, berating students not measuring up) by her previous instructor. That previous instructor was PADI, and PADI absolutely does not include or allow that in a course.