Jacket to wing transition

[NothingClever]

I prefer to lay back with the back of my head against the direction of oncoming waves. It seems to me that trying to stay vertical would be more uncomfortable.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Use a steel tank, get a stainless plate, don't overweight yourself - you should be weighted so that you can hold a 15' stop at the end of your dive on reserve pressure with an empty wing and control your buoyancy with breath control alone.
On the surface you should be able to hang vertically without pitching forward at the end of the dive. You will be lower in the water but you will be fine. If you're overweighted you will need to put more air in the wing on the surface and that will pitch you forward. If you use an aluminum tank, those end up 3 lbs. positive which will also want to pitch you forward. Being both overweighted and using an aluminum tank will really pitch you forward at the surface and that's where most of the complaints come from.

 

[eelpout]

Best advice I have for transition is to dive with somebody that has been using one for a while, preferably one who has mentored people before. Adjusting your straps in the fitting process would go much quicker and smoother if somebody is there to help you. Another tip, specifically for drysuit diving, when you are on the surface, put some air in your dry suit , then adjust your buoyancy with your wing to keep you vertical in the water. The air in your suit will come up to your shoulders and that will help keep you vertical.

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

One of the more illustrative vids on the harness:

buoyancy goals

 

[Still Kicking]

Have a think about how you arrange your weights. With a crotch strap a weight belt is awkward if worn under a one piece harness. If using pouches not so much. Removing a weight belt prior to pulling yourself back into a rib requires a bit of care.

Make sure buddies know how to get you out of the harness if needed. Carry a line cutter that'll work on webbing and show them where it is.

Enjoy diving a wing - underwater trim is so easy and you don't have all that BCD bulk in front.

I wear a rubber belt under my backplate. I prefer it to the integrated weight pockets, which make the waist belt hang down when you put the BPW on. Only downside to belt is remembering to put it on ... when i am rushed sometimes i forget

But otherwise it's simple. Removing is easy -- undo waist harness buckle, unthread crotch strap, remove belt and hand up to panga.

 

[Nemrod]

I was never able to do that in a jacket either. It always slipped up (jacket shoulders around my ears, my armpits against the pockets) no matter how tight the waist strap/cummerbund was fastened. (This was with a weight belt, rather than integrated weights.)

Yes, the weight belt would do that. A good snug cumberbun and weight integration. I will tell you this, I have never owned a BC jacket or anything like that and only used one a single time just for seeing why people liked them. I think it was a Scubapro Equator? All I do observe, is that when my head is barely high enough to get a breath and waves are rolling over me, my buds with jackets are floating high and clear. But after swallowing enough sea water, I just pump my wing up enough and push on to my back, works good enough. Some of it comes down to using a 18 to 23 pounds wing most of the time and BC jackets having enough floatation to raise a small boat from the bottom. I can appreciate that folks who cannot swim (most) and who are not truly water comfortable (more) are uneasy with a wing and it's slight tendency to sometimes face plant a diver not accustomed.

 

[rhwestfall]

learn to emulate an otter when on the surface...

consider placement of weight in places other than only on your waist.

if you are jamming the wing full of air, you are either over weighted or under winged (more than likely over weighted if the wing is single tank and in the 30 pound range.

jamming a wing full of air on the surface will likely face plant you.... (see above).