How was your transition from jacket to BP?

[StSomewhere]

A jacket style BC is used in the open ocean:

3) Prone-trim position diving is not as important in the open water as it is in overhead. Open water divers use the semi-upright postion at almost all times when not advancing, much easier in a jacket.

1) We all dive prone and off the reef with our feet up, especially jacket wearers.

:06:

 

[Diver0001]

:06:

Just ignore him, he's trolling.

R..

 

[Diver0001]

Let's just say it was a completely unsatisfactory experience. I detested the sensation of the bladder squeeze, the way the rig rode up off my shoulders at the surface,

What kind of jacket were you using? It was either a really cheap one or it didn't fit you.

and the irritating feeling of the bc wanting me to be vertical rather than horizontal...

This is your fault for not bothering to get trimmed out. Don't blame the gear for that. This is a case of drawing the wrong conclusions based on pure laziness.

I suspect if you had put as little effort (namely zero) into choosing the size, fit and trim of your bp/wing as you did this jacket that you'd be frustrated with that too.....

R..

 

[Cacia]

I kinda like Daniel's posts. He always makes some points.....I have to say I hate the jackets. I think its because the air shifts around and its hard to feel centered. I love the BW/P for hovering with a large camera. Daniel why do you say you care if you sit higher in the waves? You are just as wet.... just curious?

 

[PaulChristenson]

<<How was your transition from jacket to BP? >>

What transition??
I was started in a BP/W rig by a PADI instructor

I guess I didn't fit any of their rental jackets

Dire-Rite Rules...

Paul in VT

 

[cyklon_300]

What kind of jacket were you using? It was either a really cheap one or it didn't fit you.



This is your fault for not bothering to get trimmed out. Don't blame the gear for that. This is a case of drawing the wrong conclusions based on pure laziness.

I suspect if you had put as little effort (namely zero) into choosing the size, fit and trim of your bp/wing as you did this jacket that you'd be frustrated with that too.....

R..

assumptions, all of them wrong. Especially the lazy part. I usually respect your posts, but this one was really sub-par.

 

[Diver0001]

assumptions, all of them wrong. Especially the lazy part. I usually respect your posts, but this one was really sub-par.

Well....maybe you're right. But I can't imagine how a skilled diver can't get horizontal in a jacket so I assumed you must not have tried. If that wasn't the case, maybe you can explain your problem. It could be educational.

What I'm really up to is offering a different point of view on the jacket vs bp/wing thing. My assertion is (1) that the better you can dive the less difference it makes and (2) we should stop blaming equipment for skills issues, which, in my mind is the underlying point in many negative posts about jackets.

Those last things aren't pointed at you directly, but I did think it was funny that you seemed to fall into the pattern so I made a point of picking on you for it. Sorry if I insulted you. At least now you know why I did it.

R..

 

[lamont]

the only rescue situation i've been involved in so far was a diver in a jacket BC that couldn't breathe because of squeeze and he couldn't figure out why and was working himself into a panic.

based on that experience i think that new divers would be safer in a BP/W or back-inflate...

 

[Diver Dennis]

I agree with what Diver0001 says about the better diver you are the less difference it makes. I've never used a BP/W but I am going to try one when I get back to Mexico. A lot of the people I dive with use them and are over 35. IMHO a good diver can be just as trim using either. I can't make any comments on new divers but with proper training they should be able to use either.

EDIT: I base my opinion of how good a diver is by watching their skills in the water, not by what kind of gear they have.

 

[JeffG]

I agree with what Diver0001 says about the better diver you are the less difference it makes. I've never used a BP/W but I am going to try one when I get back to Mexico. A lot of the people I dive with use them and are over 35. IMHO a good diver can be just as trim using either. I can't make any comments on new divers but with proper training they should be able to use either.

EDIT: I base my opinion of how good a diver is by watching their skills in the water, not by what kind of gear they have.

The only difference a BP for novice divers is that the plate (by its nature of being usually steel) puts more weight higher up on the body. Helping the diver trim out. The same can be done with a jacket. (My oceanic Flex has two trim pockets on the back, near the top just for this). The problem here is that nobody tells them to use them or even what "trim" actually is.

After that...jacket and BP are pretty much the same. A bladder that holds gas which displaces water.....big woop.