Is quick release important?

[dumpsterDiver]

If you are so darn worried about a weight belt poping off at depth, then put TWO steel buckles on it. If I am carrying any appreciable amount of lead, I want to be able to ditch it in an emergency.

 

[Karibelle]

If you have a long swim ahead of you and a BC that does not hold air you better hope you can ditch whatever weight you are wearing.

If I have a long swim ahead of me, the emergency that may have required ditching my weights is over, isn't it? If I have to swim, and my BC does not hold air, why couldn't I just take the BC off, take the weights out of the non-ditchable pockets, and put the BC back on, sans weights? (A better question might be why wouldn't I just abandon my crappy BC?)

kari

 

[ZoCrowes255]

If I have a long swim ahead of me, the emergency that may have required ditching my weights is over, isn't it? If I have to swim, and my BC does not hold air, why couldn't I just take the BC off, take the weights out of the non-ditchable pockets, and put the BC back on, sans weights? (A better question might be why wouldn't I just abandon my crappy BC?)

kari

The emergency is not over until you can maintain positive buoyancy at the surface. Are you telling me a panicked diver is going to have the prescence of mind to remove their BC, ditch their weights and then put it back on? Have you ever dealt with a truly panicked diver before?

Are you teaching your students to dive with all (or mostly) non-ditchable weight? If you are that is a gross violation of standards and I hope I never have to rescue one of your students if they freak at the surface.

 

[Lucy's Diver]

I dive non-ditchable weight all the time . . . when I'm on a surface supply umbilical with hard line coms, a safety diver geared up ready to come get me, and something like six people supporting me from topside.

If you're doing basic recreational scuba and you need lead, and virtually everyone does, making it impossible to get it off you is crazy. What you may or may not be able to "swim up" is irrelevant. First of all, it assumes you are uninjured, non-panicked, wearing functioning gear, and otherwise able to swim.

In reality it is what I can swim up, since I'll be rescuing you. Don't make me swim it up. It also assumes that once on the surface all the gear will work, textbook rescue techniques will work, and you will be non-panicked.

In reality, the sea will be pounding us, you'll be unconscious or panicked, and I'll be wishing for a way to instantly make you float much, much higher in the water. I won't have it.

When you get to the boat, the people pulling you in will be wishing that lead wasn't on you. They might not be able to get you in without figuring out where the hell you put your lead and maybe giving up and stripping all your gear in the water (I know the theoretical way to do it, but real world and theory do not always meet).

 

[Karibelle]

The emergency is not over until you can maintain positive buoyancy at the surface. Are you telling me a panicked diver is going to have the prescence of mind to remove their BC, ditch their weights and then put it back on? Have you ever dealt with a truly panicked diver before?

If the emergency is not over, I submit that it's a bit early to begin that long swim that you said was ahead of me. That's all I said. Simmer down.

Are you teaching your students to dive with all (or mostly) non-ditchable weight? If you are that is a gross violation of standards and I hope I never have to rescue one of your students if they freak at the surface.

Well, if they're one of my students, I will be with them. If you were with them, they'd be your student.

And no, I am not teaching my students to dive with all (or mostly) non-ditchable weight.

Any chance you can reach that burr and remove it?

kari

 

[taliesin58]

Thanks for the advice people... Let's just be sure to keep it civil.

To further explain my weighting, I wear a Dive-Rite SS backplate. I have 2 kg on the cam band. I have the rest of my weight in Dive-Rite clip pockets attached to my waist strap snuggled up against the BP. They are not tied onto my harness or unreachable, they are just not quick release (meaning I can't dump then with a quick tug on a pull tab). To remove the weights, I have to open the pocket and pull out the weight.
Is this ok?
Or am I going to die?

 

[muddiver]

I have looked at a BP/Wing setup for warm water diving but I worry about using a steel tank in this configuration as I would be negative without any lead.
It is, or so I have been told, easy to get someone out of a hog harness when you know how, but would a strugling rescuer be able to do it.
QUOTE]

It is amazing what one can do with a seat belt knife. My dive knife has a blunt tip and a culling hook made for slicing fishing line and harness webbing.

Lucy's Diver, nice avitar, is that an SL17A or SL17B?

 

[realdiver7]

Thanks for the advice people... Let's just be sure to keep it civil.

To further explain my weighting, I wear a Dive-Rite SS backplate. I have 2 kg on the cam band. I have the rest of my weight in Dive-Rite clip pockets attached to my waist strap snuggled up against the BP. They are not tied onto my harness or unreachable, they are just not quick release (meaning I can't dump then with a quick tug on a pull tab). To remove the weights, I have to open the pocket and pull out the weight.
Is this ok?
Or am I going to die?

Your setup sounds fine to me. You can still reach your weights and release them if you need to, so they are releasable, even though they aren't classified as quick release. I like your setup more than some quick release systems I've seen. Losing weights that aren't secure seems to be more common than having a need to release them quickly in many cases.

It's a very personal decision, but I dive with a wet suit, steel 100 tanks, BP/W, and no lead weight. When I teach, I teach with a traditional weightbelt.

Whatever you do, just make sure you can do it by feel with your gloves on, with your eyes closed, and make sure your buddy knows your setup well.

 

[ZoCrowes255]

If the emergency is not over, I submit that it's a bit early to begin that long swim that you said was ahead of me. That's all I said. Simmer down.




Well, if they're one of my students, I will be with them. If you were with them, they'd be your student.

And no, I am not teaching my students to dive with all (or mostly) non-ditchable weight.

Any chance you can reach that burr and remove it?

kari

In some situations the emergency is not over until a person is safely back on the boat.

I've actually had to rescue another instructor's student before. I had never seen them before in my life and I had to get their butt out of the water. Granted their instructor was a grade A moron. Without me there his student may have died and all I can say is thank god he was wearing a ditchable weightbelt. Unfortunately that is not the only rescue of a complete stranger I've had to perform at the surface. In every instance the rescue was made easier thanks to a ditchable weight belt.

To say insinuate that you might be a ****ty instructor was a low blow and I apologize.

 

[Nudgeroni]

I'm just a noob, but the arguments against of ditchable weight sound like the arguments against wearing a seatbelt in a car. "What if the car bursts into flame and you are stuck in your belt?" "The belt interferes with my skills" etc.

There may be some very specific situations in which ditchable weight add more danger than safety, but I imagine they are very few. The folks I have met who don't wear weights don't wear them because they can be a pain (the weights, that is), and they think weights are for sissies. I don't want to deal with a negatively buoyant buddy in an emergency, so I wouldn't dive with one.