O/W Skill thought

[ScubaStan]

I have been curious about how a particular skill is taught now, if it is. When I took by O/W dives for certification, I did a skill called the "Defense Position", where you had to doff then don your BC while resting on the bottom, without removing you regulator. Supposedly this was to show us how to doff/don the BC if we ever became entangled in kelp or any other underwater entanglement hazards. BTW, this was in Monterey Bay...Kelp City.

Well, I got to thinking about this when I went to purchase my own BC and how I would perform this maneuver if I ever got in a situation to use such a skill. The standard back then - 1989, was jacket style inflation and a bulky hard lead weight belt. The skill itself is not difficult to perform, but if performed while wearing today's BC style - Integrated Weight System and no weight belt, then I would expect to be pretty damn nervous about removing my BC at any depth, for any reason, unless it was an extreme emergency.

I know that wearing a weight belt under the BC is a cardinal sin due to accessibility in case of need for ditching, but just how would this skill be done without having any weight on your body to prevent "corking" action from taking place.

The only thing I can think of is to have massive pockets - have custom made, on the thighs of your wetsuit. If you need to remove your BC, remove one weight at a time from your BC and place it in the pocket in your wetsuit on the same side. Repeat for other side. Now you are weighted down and won't cork to the surface.

I have been doing dives recently to get my confidence and familiarization of the water back. I am prepping myself to take the AOW class soon and it has been a very long time since I last had any formal classroom training. I did see an O/W class recently and not a single one of them had a weight-integrated BC. They had the standard BC with a lead weight belt.

Are new divers not taught how to doff/don a weight integrated BC system? Any other comments or suggestions?

 

[The Chairman]

and you will see just how much easier it is with integrated weights. I am positively buoyant, even without a wetsuit on. All I have to do it to keep one hand on the BC, and I am A-OK!!! When I did it jacket style/weight belt in my OW class, my overly inflated jacket (without the weights to mitigate) almost took off without me. I also have eliminated the tug of war between the weight belt and the BC... belt pulls your butt down, while the BC pulls your armpits up. OUCH!!!

Go integrated my young man... you will love it!!!

 

[ohiodiver]

We recently completed our OW classes. While we did practice the skill you mentioned, we were not using weight integrated BCs, although the instructors were. I do not recall any mention of the "corking" action you described during our class. However, wouldn't the same effect occur if you were wearing a weight belt, and had to remove it? We also were taught that skill. We purchased weight integrated BCs, and will be trying them out in the pool on Sunday. You can bet I'll ask the question before our certification in a couple of weeks!

 

[devilfish]

Pete,
What were you doing on the bottom of the pool with a fully inflated bc floating away from you? Something is wrong with that picture.

 

[Rick Murchison]

With a weight integrated BC, especially if you're wearing a 7mil, it is extremely important that you keep the BC off the bottom when you do this exercise - and to do that, you need to make sure the BC stays over your center of lift, or you'll find yourself toppling over and then it's a real pain. Just imagine holding a baloon under with your hand - you're the baloon, your BC is your hand.
Rick

 

[ScubaStan]

NetDoc - I was just imagining doffing the WI BC and holding on to it with my feet/fin pointing at teh surface. I was extremely positively bouyant on my very first dive. I had a brand new suit on and even though I had 20 lbs of lead shot in my BC, I had to attach another 10 lbs to my BC and use 5 lbs of ankle weights to be neutrally bouyant. Even the I then had to drop down to our dive depth utilizing the stern anchor line. If I had to remove my BC during that dive...I would have probably been shot out of the water due to my bouyancy factor )(maybe a bit over-exaggerating) but you get the picture. This really bugs me. I did purchase the WI BC with Back inflation I was looking at and I will never go back to that old style. I guess the best thing to do is have my buddy help me out of the entanglement. After all, that is what he/she is there for, right? I wil be sure never to let go of my BC if I ever have to doff it underwater!

OhioDiver - yes, I do recall that skill of removing our wetbelt. I do remember my buddy AND the dive instructor holding me down, but then again, had to help my buddy the same way.


Thanks for the responses.

 

[Scottri]

I am currently doing my DM training and often demonstrate the doff and don skills for the class using my weight integrated BC. I think it's acutally easier since it's one less piece of equipment to worry about. Doing my gear exchange for the DM class was easier with a weight integrated BC then with a weight belt.


Scott

 

[The Chairman]

Hanging on for dear life!!! Obviously, it was my first foray into the pool and I was a tad (just a tad :tease: ) overweighted. While my BC was OVER inflated, I don't believe it was FULLY inflated. Overweighting an integrated BC is not "optimal". However, overweighting a non-integrated BC is quite a pain indeed!!!

Originally posted by devilfish
Pete,
What were you doing on the bottom of the pool with a fully inflated bc floating away from you? Something is wrong with that picture.

 

[MikeS]

ScubaStan,

I just completed the confined water portion of PADI OW. We did practice removing BC as well as weights, at the surface and at the bottom of the pool. I have a SeaQuest Balance, weight integrated BC, the only weight integrated BC in the class. From doing the exercises myself with weight integration and watching the rest other students in the class it appeared that with weight integration is much easier, just don’t let go under water!

At the surface it doesn’t matter as long as you put enough air in the BC so the BC, tank, regs, and integrated weights will all float. Under water, at least in my case with a buoyant wetsuit, if I had let go, I would have looked like the submarine in Sea Hunt breaching the surface.

Based on my limitted experience in the pool, I highly recommned a weight integrated BC.

Mike

P.S. Looking forward to Open Water the first week of April in Aruba.