Little problem today

[Kestrell]

Kestrell
1st your tank is more negatively buoyant than your wife's, 2nd, men have more lean muscle tissue than women, which is more negatively buoyant, hence your ability to sink with the same weight as your wife.

My wife is about 110, I am 210; she uses 12 lbs and I use 14; we both dive AL80's. My suit has about 100 dives more than hers though. Sometimes I rent her some steel 80's, which allow her to dive with 6 lbs.

Thanks for the info. I was just concerned that she was using so much weight. If she strapped on an Al80 she would probably need 24lbs or more.

 

[pennypue]

From a woman's point of view......He just called both his wife and your wife FAT.
Oh how I love to make trouble.
Perhaps it's just that your women are large breasted? So if it's a problem for them to wear that much weight you could suggest a breast reduction......

 

[Jersey Chris]

From a woman's point of view......He just called both his wife and your wife FAT.
Oh how I love to make trouble.
Perhaps it's just that your women are large breasted? So if it's a problem for them to wear that much weight you could suggest a breast reduction......

Troublemaker

 

[pennypue]

Troublemaker

My work here is done.

 

[ScubaFreak]

Mark,

As everyone here has said before me- you did fine! No problems that i can see either!
Regarding your buddy's buoyancy issues, this is a good lesson to re-enforce the need to maybe goto a pool with new gear first to try it out and get comfortable with it and learn how it responds to your actions underwater.

Well done though, you got a good attitude, reckon you'll make a good pro!

SF

 

[Bretagne]

I am also of these women who need a lot of weight, and I am still struggling to find the proper weighting (I have find that it varies from one dive to the other, depending on the maximum depth we reach). I have just bought a 7 kg harness, which makes things a lot more comfortable, when I need more weight I do not have too much on the hips.

 

[Ishie]

I'm diving way too heavy at 24 lbs. I'm going to start tweaking it tomorrow. I started off with typical pollywog problems. Couldn't get down the first ten feet because I didn't fully drain the BC, was unconsciously finning up, etc.

On one dive, again, didn't properly drain the BC once I was in shallower depths and ended up hanging upside grasping kelp to keep from shooting to the service.

Now that I've improved my technique for actually getting down, I'm finding no trouble in getting under the first ten feet, but I'm hitting the bottom of the ocean like a piano, and then I have to half fill my BC just to get off my hands and knees. Tomorrow, I'm going to take it to 20 lbs, I think, and see how that works out. My mom used to dive with 14 in a 7 mm jane/jacket, and she was about my size, so we'll see! I'm getting a lot better at hovering (once I'm off the bottom), but I still have a lot of drag around the hips. I really need to take control of my descent. At this point, pretty much, I need to be in ocean no deeper than the depth I intend to go, or we'll have an unintentional deep dive record. Once I'm on the bottom and can screw around with my gear a little bit, THEN I can keep the rest of the dive going pretty well, though it irritates me to use so much tank air on my BC (though air consumption isn't much of a problem for me; my dive buddy is twice my size, male, and also needs to ditch weights).

Ishie

 

[Xanthro]

I really need to take control of my descent. At this point, pretty much, I need to be in ocean no deeper than the depth I intend to go, or we'll have an unintentional deep dive record. Once I'm on the bottom and can screw around with my gear a little bit, THEN I can keep the rest of the dive going pretty well, though it irritates me to use so much tank air on my BC (though air consumption isn't much of a problem for me; my dive buddy is twice my size, male, and also needs to ditch weights).

Ishie

What may be happening is, because you used to have trouble getting under, you don't begin to add air to your BC in time, as it compresses, you gain speed and hit the bottom.

Add little tiny bursts as you descend, and never allow yourself to build up any speed. As practice, pick a depth that's not too deep, such as 30 feet, and say, "I'm going to stop and hover at 30 feet on the way down" then do it. Slow down before 30 feet, then try and stop at your depth. If you go to far, react just as you would if regular diving, and get to the depth you need.

If you don't have any bouyancy problems after descent, then it could just be a mental hurdle making you hit the bottom.

Xanthro

 

[rna]

I concur also.

 

[Ishie]

Thanks!! I just saw these after getting home from a nice day of Saturday diving. Both the buddy and I were practicing our buoyancy control, and I went with 20 lbs right off the bat rather than 24.

Went very nicely!!!!! On the first dive where we actually went down (aborted the first dive at Coral Street; didn't want to die), I was able to sink down pretty nicely from the surface. As we were approaching the (sandy) bottom of McAbee, I slowly flared my legs backwards, inhaled deeply, and ended up hovering about six feet off the bottom without disturbing the sand. I finally did it!!! I also noticed that sans that 4 lbs, my general buoyancy control was so much better!! I did have some trouble when I was trying to get some pictures of the seal chewing on my fins. In my efforts, I ended up upside-down and leaning on one shoulder. The seal probably got a good laugh out of it. Other than that little incident, I found I was able to really stay just above the bottom feeling weightless and able to adjust up or down with less work on the inflator hose and more breathing control.

Thank you for the advice!! I'll definitely work on it the next time I dive. I'm feeling more and more comfortable.

Ishie