Have you ever had/seen BC failure requiring ditched weights?

[johndiver999]

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.

If someone is diving alone, in a thick wetsuit in deep water and the suit has undergone 15-20 lbs worth of compression, then there is absolutely a need to drop some lead at depth. Unless of course you have a rope, slope or smb line to climb up. To say something is "never" applicable is rarely correct if you are dealing with some particular set of circumstances. Drowning is much worse the the bends.

If you daughter is diving with a near empty tank, with little wetsuit and she ascended without incident with you hauling her up and keeping a constant physical contact with her... neither proves your point, nor provides assurance that your daughter would have handled the situation adequately on her own. Of course, I think YOU did the exact proper thing in that situation, but again, that is not the point.

The fact that she was completely unaware of the important bc failure is somewhat disconcerting. IF she were alone, and did not notice and kept trying to inflate BC and kept trying to kick up, she could easily have over exerted herself, blown through her air (wasting it repeatedly on failed attempt to inflate) and then got herself into a bad situation. Low or no air, being heavy, no BC and out of breath and tired at depth -

Being able to drop a 6 lb weightbelt sure sounds like a good plan C or D at a time like that.

 

[Jcp2]

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 learned this as a teenager as part of a lifeguard class and used it for going down when snorkeling. I used it to get down in my confined water OW class, and the instructor was amazed that I knew it before he demonstrated it. I think the plan was for the students to struggle the first attempt, then the instructor to show the “secret”, and then for the students to learn and use the “secret” on the second attempt.

 

[rx7diver]

The proper technique for free diving, or scuba diving without a BCD ...

@Angelo Farina,

In the NAUI/YMCA open water course I took (in 1986), we learned four skindiving surface dives. Two of them are shown in the two videos you linked. Another is described in my post above. And the fourth, my instructor called a "kelp dive", is exactly like the one I described, but with no use of the arms (to minimize the possibility of being tangled up in the kelp canopy).

I think each of these four surface dives "works" because the diver momentarily gets a significant amount of weight above the surface, which drives the diver down below the surface.

IIRC, each of these four surface dives is described in "The New Science of Skin and Scuba Diving."

rx7diver

 

[boulderjohn]

Now that we have had enough posts to establish something of a consensus, I can't help but compare that consensus to other threads in which someone points out that in almost every dive fatality, the victim is still wearing weights. In those threads, the consensus usually is that if only divers would drop weights at the first sign of trouble, we would have no fatalities whatsoever in scuba. For example, if a diver gets back on the boat after a dive and realizes he is having a heart attack as he walks to his seat, if he were to drop the weights immediately onto the floor of the boat, he would be just fine. It's a miracle cure for all scuba accidents.

 

[rx7diver]

... 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. ...

@Scraps,

I have described a number of times the "Three-mile Swim" skill we were made to do for my open water course (NAUI/YMCA in 1986). Briefly: Complete open water gear (including snorkel and towed float with dive flag), completely full cylinder (old-school 72), completely empty BC. Correct weighting (using hard weights on a weight belt). Surface swim 3 miles (1.5 miles each way).

This skill left an indelible impression on me, since I have never been a particularly strong swimmer, yet easily passed this (somewhat boring) skill.

Correct weighting is essential.

In fact, whenever I try a new gear configuration for recreational diving, I keep this skill (and a couple others) foremost in my mind.

rx7diver

 

[dmaziuk]

I have described a number of times the "Three-mile Swim" skill we were made to do for my open water course (NAUI/YMCA in 1986). Briefly: Complete open water gear (including snorkel and towed float with dive flag), completely full cylinder (old-school 72), completely empty BC. Correct weighting (using hard weights on a weight belt). Surface swim 3 miles (1.5 miles each way).

How many hours does that take?

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

…For example, if a diver gets back on the boat after a dive and realizes he is having a heart attack as he walks to his seat, if he were to drop the weights immediately onto the floor of the boat, he would be just fine. It's a miracle cure for all scuba accidents.

Don’t be silly

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Now that we have had enough posts to establish something of a consensus, I can't help but compare that consensus to other threads in which someone points out that in almost every dive fatality, the victim is still wearing weights. In those threads, the consensus usually is that if only divers would drop weights at the first sign of trouble, we would have no fatalities whatsoever in scuba. For example, if a diver gets back on the boat after a dive and realizes he is having a heart attack as he walks to his seat, if he were to drop the weights immediately onto the floor of the boat, he would be just fine. It's a miracle cure for all scuba accidents.

What’s your first reaction when you hear about a diver that surfaces at the end of a dive in some sort of physical distress, then sinks away beneath the waves again and drowns?

 

[rx7diver]

How many hours does that take?

It takes a long, boring while!! Our open water checkouts began with this skill. After arriving on-site at midday, we would establish our proper weighting, and then immediately begin this skill. 1.5 miles one way. Then drop each other's weight belts, and orally inflate each other's BC. Then get dressed and return, doing diver tows, etc., on the way back.

This was our only skill that very first day of our open water checkout. Fell asleep early, and slept well that first night.

My daughter was certified earlier this summer. She was made to do the same skill. She reminded me how mind-numbingly boring this skill is!

rx7diver

 

[boulderjohn]

What’s your first reaction when you hear about a diver that surfaces at the end of a dive in some sort of physical distress, then sinks away beneath the waves again and drowns?

Great question, and there are a couple answers depending on circumstances.

• According to a joint DAN/PADI study about a decade ago, the most common preventable cause of a scuba fatality was an air embolism following a rapid ascent to the surface, often a panicked response to an OOA situation. A diver who makes it the the surface and then drops back down is probably having a medical event, such as an air embolism or a heart attack that precipitated that swim to the surface. It could be both. In the case of my nephew's mother in law, she had a heart attack at depth and made a panicked ascent that gave her an embolism. She was actually dead when she sank back down.
• A diver who makes it to the surface in an OOA incident and then cannot stay there easily is significantly overweighted and definitely should drop weights upon reaching the surface. As I stated earlier, if your tank is empty, it should be hard for you to descend, not hard to stay on the surface. In those cases, dropping weights on the surface is a good idea.