entering water without fins

[MatWill]

personally i wouldnt have my fins off unless i have a hold of the boat..

if i was doing a fully donning my equip in water.. the first things i would put on are my fins

when i come out of the water if i was removing all my gear.. the last thing i would take off are my fins

but all my dives are done in the open ocean so it might be different in a small lake or something

they are just too important if something goes wrong

 

[TeddyDiver]

On shore dives generally I put them on while in the water. Sometimes we put all our gear on in the water when we dive from an inflatable boat. It's just not enough rigid space to hassle in the boat. With "decked" boats allways everything on while entering.

 

[kidspot]

for shore dives I wait till I'm in about waist deep water (or enough to float in) and for boat dives I wait till I am standing in the "gate" ready to jump off, then put them on. A buddy of mine frequently waits till he is in the water before putting his fins on, but that is because he dives with freediving blades and has cracked them in the past doing a giant stride.

 

[String]

Generally its a good idea to leave a boat with ALL your kit on, fitted, adjusted and ready to instantly start a dive - dont get in the water unless everything is ready.

What if there's a current? Negative entry required? What if you need to suddenly swim to get out of the way of another diver entering or the boat spinning round towards you? Lots of safety issues there where you NEED fins to be able to deal with.

Shore dives are a different matter for me. On the very rare occasions im forced to do such an unrewarding task i walk in carrying my fins, wait until im comfortably floating and then fit them.

 

[Walter]

I usually put them on just before hitting the water, but sometimes I'll splash first. It depends on the situation. I have Jets, but with the normal rubber straps, so they are only slightly negative. If I dropped one, it would sink slowly. Yet another advantage of rubber straps over metal. Of course the solution is don't drop your fins.

I think everyone would prefer to put their fins on in the water rather than do the funny walk on the boat...but when drift diving it's simply not practical.

Why not?

I've always thought you should be good to go when you hit the water. If there is any swell or current you want to get down, not spend time on the surface putting on fins.

After reading your post, I reread the original post. I don't see anything about spending time on the surface. I assumed, perhaps incorrectly, fins would be donned on descent. When I do enter holding my fins, that's how I do it. I don't understand why so many people are in love with buoyant entries.

 

[waynel]

Johnny's comment about fins and drift diving is dead on. If you've never done a drift dive it works like this (especially in strong current) You get off the boat as fast as possible and down to bottom fast, and by that I mean within the proper descent quidelines but you don't have time to put on fins, check out caribiners and D rings, etc. while descending. You might get to the bottom and the DM hasn't accounted for you and..off goes the group on that swift drift. And then you're finning like mad to catch up! If you drop a fin on an 80' drift dive and have to retrieve it, you will likely lose your group. Especially in Cozumel, where you can have groups from different boats actually drifting through one another. On a good diving day in Coz, there are so many divers the Santa Rosa Wall can look like Times Sqare on the lunch hour. In my opinion, it's best to always hit the water prepared to start a dive. You are entering a totally different ecosystem and you have to be prepared. That's why we buy all this equipment.

 

[RockyHeap]

Nope, I'll waddle like a seal to the back of the boat to go splash.........too much risk of getting swept away from the boat and dive buddies.

Practice on land and entertain your neighbors from your front yard

 

[Walter]

Wayne, you're discussing live boating, not drift diving, but in any case, there's no reason to be left behind. First, unless your buddies are morons, they are drifting with the current, not swimming with it. Currents do not only affect divers with fins, they affect everyone, so you'll all be drifting at the same speed. There's no reason for a diver to be separated from his buddies while donning fins. There's no reason a diver w/o fins can't descent as quickly as a diver (assuming the diver with fins isn't kicking down) with fins. Donning fins takes less than a second for each fin, so even if the other divers are swimming away like morons, it would be easy to catch them. If you're swimming in current, I'll let you go even if I'm wearing fins.

 

[Walter]

Nope, I'll waddle like a seal to the back of the boat to go splash.........too much risk of getting swept away from the boat and dive buddies.

Practice on land and entertain your neighbors from your front yard

That's not safe. Don your fins at the entry point.

 

[String]

"live boating" makes up 99% of all diving here due to tides, currents and sea conditions. You'd be criminally insane to anchor a boat and to expect divers to return to it.

"drift" dive here is generally any dive with a current too strong to swim against.

...and in both the aboves i think its dangerous to enter the water without fins.