Beau Holden
Contributor
I agree, I am not -60. With tanks HP80, valves, isolator, lights, fins, back plate, harness and hardware, looking at around -22 give or take. I do not wear any additional lead weights. With LP85s -18 give or take.
Do you turn the air off or leave it on after setting up on a tank?
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SlugLife
Contributor
You're misreading him. He said "Well over 60lbs." but not "-60 lbs buoyant"
Like I said in my other comment, just with 2 full AL80s, you're approaching 60lbs. But that's not 60lbs buoyant.
Blackcrusader
Contributor
Mine does.
I already conceded that point.
Blackcrusader
Contributor
I have always dived with a snorkel. Some of my dive buddies do some don't. Up to us to decide really. I mostly do boat dives so being on the surface with a snorkel has always been a good thing for me. Also as I use a Digital Cressi console it will power up and show air pressure and other things. So after initial testing of tank pressure I close the valve, then discharge both regulators. Then after 2 mins the Cressi will shut off. Otherwise it will stay on draining power. Also means that I only turn on my air when kitting up for the dive.
CT-Rich
Contributor
The purpose of hitting the water and giving the “okay” signal is to let the boat know you haven’t become a lawn dart. With an empty BC and dry suit, you had better be negative or you are in for a short dive. Depending on the type of tank(s), you can a swing 5 to 8 lbs. The amount of air in your drysuit is going to determine your thermal protection. Finishing a dive with a suit suit squeeze to stay on the bottom is just as miserable as having to kick to stay down. Being 10 lbs negative at the start of the dive is not unreasonable and with no air, you’ll tire pretty quick. Once you hit the water you will become more negative the deeper you go. Suit squeeze will limit your mobility, too.
People have died like that. In one of the books about diving the Andrea Doria, they described a dive doing just that.
Andrea Doria is 240ft… not a recreational dive. I didn’t consider steel doubles a recreational configuration but kind folks here have informed me it is common in the UK. While I can swim 10 lbs to the surface, I understand some might not be able to. I also acknowledge that people can manage to strap on more gear than they can swim with. Clearly I too narrowly considered “recreational configuration” to be the standard OW training configuration that I’ve used with PADI, SSI, and NAUI.
Not just the UK. I think I mentioned above that I've seen it in North Carolina. Maybe some in Florida, too, though double Al 80s are probably more common. Also, with the increasing popularity of tech diving, we have people who are not yet tech certified but are diving steel doubles to prepare themselves.
When I was at one of the FL springs a few weeks ago another diver who was gearing up mentioned he had just witnessed someone in double tanks flailing about at the surface, apparently a bit negatively buoyant, alternately finning get his head above water and gulp some air, and sinking again. The diver who told me this--an instructor--was shaking his head in disbelief (mainly that the flailing diver had entered the water while his buddies were still in the parking lot). Now, for all I know he may have been there that day to practice valve drills, for the very goal of developing the skill of reaching behind his head to fix problems like a valve being off. The real problem was being unskilled AND buddy-less for what I assume was supposed to be a training/practice dive, but to get back on the main topic, there are good reasons to make very sure our air is on before we splash.
Beau Holden
Contributor
Steel doubles is all I own except for aluminum tanks for stage or deco. It's not about recreational or technical. A dive above 130 in open water can be considered technical, depending on the conditions of the dive. Technical/recreational is as much or more about mindset than it is about gear. If go on a trip that requires flying and I dive singles on that trip, everything stays the same with gear, except using one reg instead of two and need a few more pounds of weight. A drive and dive regardless of where I go is my doubles configuration. The only wet suit I own is a 3mil that I have not dived in at 6 years, and that was on a Cozumel trip. I have seen a couple of boats that do not allow doubles and I find another boat.
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