MichaelMc
Working toward Cenotes
Hi, I’m new posting on the board. I assist in teaching scientific diving at UC Berkeley, where I’m a graduate student. This post is about a near miss I could see myself making. I don’t think it’s far fetched. It doesn’t involve any accident I know of. I’m just wondering about my gear, and maybe all our gear. It might be a little thing we can fix.
From reading accident reports, it seems many bodies are recovered with all their weights and getting people to ditch when needed is important. So I wonder about how I’ve set up my ditch choices. On my rig, my choices are between 4 pounds in each of two ditchable weight pockets, or a 14 pound belt (1). The 4 pound pocket inserts are black and the belt is neon.
In a drill, I would hesitate to drop the black 4 pound inserts for fear of losing them in the bottom, preferring my heavier neon belt. In a potential emergency wondering if maybe I should ditch some weight, a small part of my brain would worry about the weight color. Because you play like you practice. I think I would make whatever the right choice is, but it would be much nicer if there were no little hitches getting in the way of that choice. If my ditchable weights were uniformly NTSB neon orange findable.
If we can, let’s assume that others have discussed at length the safety of surface ditching, the risks of deep or cave ditching, balanced rigs, redundant buoyancy, and the option of incremental ditching.
So, assume that I ditch the neon 14 pound belt at depth and become an embolism rocket or vacillate between black and neon and drown. Would people worry about the color choice by dear departed me? If we are fine tuning our safety, how do neon weight pocket inserts look in terms of pros and cons?
My thoughts on the pros and cons.
Pros:
* Color not slowing down my stressed brain on if or which weight to ditch.
* Few worries finding them after a practice ocean ditch drill.
* Option of ‘safety is key’ discussion when appropriate.
Cons:
* Some neon shining out of the outer pocket during the dive.
* Explaining why the pockets are funky without freaking people out.
* Any patent on bright colors for things you drop in murky water.
* Sourcing neon fabric, and maybe tape.
* People ditching ones they’ve stuffed 14 pounds into and becoming rockets.
If people like the neon option, I found coated neon 1000D Cordora at seattlefabrics and rockywoods, but not uncoated. On which neon color, I like green as sort of a very bright bit of plant, that maybe fits the underwater ecosystem I’m visiting. Orange might be safest; some might like pink or yellow. For safety, the differences seem less than the black to neon change.
Some luggage companies have differentiated themselves by using brightly colored linings inside their bags to make it easier to find little stuff. Maybe we should follow their lead for detachable weight pocket inserts. Granted, it might not save a life. But it would make practicing ditching easier, it would raise the bar of the safety conversation, and the costs do not look high.
Is there a reason weight inserts are black? Have others looked at this?
Edit: Added poll. And I'm not very worried about my weights, but, if we can pick, black seems the wrong choice, to me.
Michael McCoyd
(1) I have ditchable ACB pockets so I can ditch incrementally at depth and not turn into a missile. I have a heavy weight belt so I can manage detaching myself from my rig mid water if entangled. 35 pounds total for a 10mm farmer john and beaver tail wetsuit for single tank dives, which I likely can swim up with out ditching from the fairly shallow depths I dive.
From reading accident reports, it seems many bodies are recovered with all their weights and getting people to ditch when needed is important. So I wonder about how I’ve set up my ditch choices. On my rig, my choices are between 4 pounds in each of two ditchable weight pockets, or a 14 pound belt (1). The 4 pound pocket inserts are black and the belt is neon.
In a drill, I would hesitate to drop the black 4 pound inserts for fear of losing them in the bottom, preferring my heavier neon belt. In a potential emergency wondering if maybe I should ditch some weight, a small part of my brain would worry about the weight color. Because you play like you practice. I think I would make whatever the right choice is, but it would be much nicer if there were no little hitches getting in the way of that choice. If my ditchable weights were uniformly NTSB neon orange findable.
If we can, let’s assume that others have discussed at length the safety of surface ditching, the risks of deep or cave ditching, balanced rigs, redundant buoyancy, and the option of incremental ditching.
So, assume that I ditch the neon 14 pound belt at depth and become an embolism rocket or vacillate between black and neon and drown. Would people worry about the color choice by dear departed me? If we are fine tuning our safety, how do neon weight pocket inserts look in terms of pros and cons?
My thoughts on the pros and cons.
Pros:
* Color not slowing down my stressed brain on if or which weight to ditch.
* Few worries finding them after a practice ocean ditch drill.
* Option of ‘safety is key’ discussion when appropriate.
Cons:
* Some neon shining out of the outer pocket during the dive.
* Explaining why the pockets are funky without freaking people out.
* Any patent on bright colors for things you drop in murky water.
* Sourcing neon fabric, and maybe tape.
* People ditching ones they’ve stuffed 14 pounds into and becoming rockets.
If people like the neon option, I found coated neon 1000D Cordora at seattlefabrics and rockywoods, but not uncoated. On which neon color, I like green as sort of a very bright bit of plant, that maybe fits the underwater ecosystem I’m visiting. Orange might be safest; some might like pink or yellow. For safety, the differences seem less than the black to neon change.
Some luggage companies have differentiated themselves by using brightly colored linings inside their bags to make it easier to find little stuff. Maybe we should follow their lead for detachable weight pocket inserts. Granted, it might not save a life. But it would make practicing ditching easier, it would raise the bar of the safety conversation, and the costs do not look high.
Is there a reason weight inserts are black? Have others looked at this?
Edit: Added poll. And I'm not very worried about my weights, but, if we can pick, black seems the wrong choice, to me.
Michael McCoyd
(1) I have ditchable ACB pockets so I can ditch incrementally at depth and not turn into a missile. I have a heavy weight belt so I can manage detaching myself from my rig mid water if entangled. 35 pounds total for a 10mm farmer john and beaver tail wetsuit for single tank dives, which I likely can swim up with out ditching from the fairly shallow depths I dive.
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. Sorry for whining.
