broncobowsher
Contributor
Yes. hence they were over weighted.
Or they were just prepared in case they lost half there weights.
Have you ever had/seen BC failure requiring ditched weights?
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Or they were just prepared in case they lost half there weights.
I've never seen this "Terry Mass" approach IRL. Seems neat! Can't wait to try it.
For my dive with my daughter, I was wearing Jet Fins (which generate a lot of power). So, get vertical at the surface, do a big scissors kick to get your head, torso, and cylinder high. Use your arms, too, wide, palm down, to sweep down as you do your scissors kick up. Then, since even an empty 72 (or LP66, in this case) is heavy out of the water, the weight of your head, torso, and cylinder above the water will drop you down several feet beneath the surface. Use your arms, palm up this time, to sweep up as you drop below the surface. (Hint: Don't let your hands "press" above the surface.) Invert, and then kick down.
Simple. Lazy. Skindiving, but with scuba.
Works even better if you can resist the urge to take a deep breath when do your kick up.
rx7diver
Yes. I was filming a GUE course for the instructor when a student called out, "A little help here!" He was losing buoyancy and sinking in doubles. I grabbed him and supported him. His corrugated BCD inflator hose had come off at the elbow. Now, if I had not been there (or the instructor had not been there), he may have needed to ditch his canister light if that had happened under different circumstances. He wasn't wearing ditchable weight or a drysuit. We put the hose on and escorted him to shore.
That demonstrated why having a team can save your life, why correct weighting is important (a balanced rig), and why fitness and the ability to tread water are important.
The only problem with a dual bladder wing is not configuring it correctly. I had to use a dual bladder wing for PSAI standards at times when wearing a wetsuit and most divers, even DIR divers, didn't realize I was wearing a dual bladder. I would look like a GUE diver except the right side of the wing had another corrugated inflator hose that did not have an auto-inflator. I secured the hose tight to the wing. I was more streamlined than when wearing a drysuit.
However, if wearing a drysuit the added bladder increases drag with no benefit. I wear AL80s with a single bladder wing with a wetsuit, or a drysuit when temps demand or if wearing steel cylinders. When steel cylinders were all that was available and I had a wetsuit, I'd use the Dive Rite dual bladder wing.
The proper technique for free diving, or scuba diving without a BCD, is called here in Italy "capovolta in squadra" or "capovolta in raccolta".
I do not know English translations. Here a couple of videos showing how to dive down to 4m without kicking with these two methods:
I do not know English translations. Here a couple of videos showing how to dive down to 4m without kicking with these two methods:
Blackcrusader
Contributor
I have used my dsmb and used it as a lift device when a divers inflator unit blew out of his bcd at 30m depth.. He didn't have a dsmb, he bought one and brings it every dive now. it is what I use if I lost use of a bcd bladder.
I only use the smb as signaling device.
I can always swim up because I do not carry excess weight!
Think of the things that can kill you while scuba diving.
High on the list, not far below running out of air, is ascending too quickly.
The main consequence of dumping weights at depth is to take away your ability to make a controlled and slow ascent.
That’s the reason dumping weights is taught as a surface skill
A couple years ago, I wrote about an incident that occurred while diving with my daughter. We did a weight check at the beginning of the dive. She was properly weighted with eight pounds while wearing a 5 mm wetsuit.
Some time during the dive—neither of us noticed when it happened—the threading connecting her inflator hose to her bcd completely crumbled. Her inflator hose was flapping in the breeze, and her bcd was useless.
Because she was properly weighted, she didn’t notice it during the dive. I noticed it when we began our ascent. She went through the normal motions of pointing herself toward the surface, gently finning upward, and holding her inflator hose up, ready to vent as needed, but still not noticing the equipment failure—though she did wonder why I was holding on to her. It was a perfectly normal and controlled ascent, including a safety stop.
Only when she got to the surface and tried to inflate the bcd did she realize there was anything wrong. If we had not surfaced at the boat and if she had had trouble remaining afloat, then and only then might we have considered an emergency weight drop, or more likely, an emergency weight handoff to me.
Unless one is grossly overweighted, dumping weights is never a solution to an underwater problem. Even then, it’s prudent to drop only a couple pounds at a time to avoid creating an uncontrolled ascent.
High on the list, not far below running out of air, is ascending too quickly.
The main consequence of dumping weights at depth is to take away your ability to make a controlled and slow ascent.
That’s the reason dumping weights is taught as a surface skill
A couple years ago, I wrote about an incident that occurred while diving with my daughter. We did a weight check at the beginning of the dive. She was properly weighted with eight pounds while wearing a 5 mm wetsuit.
Some time during the dive—neither of us noticed when it happened—the threading connecting her inflator hose to her bcd completely crumbled. Her inflator hose was flapping in the breeze, and her bcd was useless.
Because she was properly weighted, she didn’t notice it during the dive. I noticed it when we began our ascent. She went through the normal motions of pointing herself toward the surface, gently finning upward, and holding her inflator hose up, ready to vent as needed, but still not noticing the equipment failure—though she did wonder why I was holding on to her. It was a perfectly normal and controlled ascent, including a safety stop.
Only when she got to the surface and tried to inflate the bcd did she realize there was anything wrong. If we had not surfaced at the boat and if she had had trouble remaining afloat, then and only then might we have considered an emergency weight drop, or more likely, an emergency weight handoff to me.
Unless one is grossly overweighted, dumping weights is never a solution to an underwater problem. Even then, it’s prudent to drop only a couple pounds at a time to avoid creating an uncontrolled ascent.
Eric Sedletzky
Contributor
It sounds like your daughter was perfectly weighted. Not even to notice that her BC was not operational means that she could theoretically have done that entire dive with no bc. That is a concept that seems to be missing with most modern divers now days who rely heavily on their bc’s to the point where they have become “elevator divers”. I maintain that the bc is the most abused piece of dive gear and has become a crutch.
As far as dumpable weight, I also maintain that having no ditchable ballast is a really bad idea in an open water ocean situation. Maybe with cave diving it is standard being that losing a weightbelt in a cave would be disastrous so why not have it all on your rig? Cave diving is a completely different animal than an open ocean dive in the Pacific. I believe in proper weighting and to have at least the amount of the weight of the gas in your tank on a weightbelt or a form of ditchable system.
The only scenario I could see needing to ditch weight at depth would be a bc wing failure compounded by an injury making finning up impossible. A shark or seal lion attack or perhaps a spear fishing accident.
I don't know if there is a proper English name for this, but when you keep going with your chin tucked and knees to the chest until you're horizontal, face up, and then push off the wall, that's called the flip turn. For a dive you straighten when you're half-way there, so: "half-flip"?
johndiver999
Contributor
I don't understand your "story". Was the model DIR diver in doubles and (presumably a wetsuit) properly weighted on not? Did s/he have a balanced rig? If the rig was balanced and the weighting was proper and the problem occurred at the surface, then why might the diver need to ditch anything to stay at the surface? I honestly don't understand your point?
