Questions about weighting and mask

[alan_lee]

Hi all! Well, just came back from the last dive of the season here before the monsoon hits, and I'm really pleased cos I'd finally achieved trim and far better buoyancy. Was diving with the centre where I'd done my OW, and I was so happy when my DI remarked that I'd improved a great deal since OW (completed my 8th-12th dives). I REALLY sucked when I did my OW, and I really must thank everyone on Scubaboard for all their advice, cos it helped me become a better diver than I was.

Now that I've done sucking up to everyone, here comes the questions arising from this dive

Weighting and buoyancy: I was pleased cos I was finally able to find the right weight for myself and was therefore able to hover just off the bottom without having to inflate my BCD. But I'm using 6 pieces of weights and I heard that as I dive more, I'd be able to use less weights. How does that happen, and how do I know it's time to lose a piece of weight?

I strap most of weights to my cyclinder cam bands cos I use a rear inflate BCD, and I notice that I descend, I noticed that I find it difficult to descend in the kneeling position. It's more of a bum first position. Anything to do with the position of my weights?

Mask: Kinda silly question, but should I wear my mask such that nostrils are in contact with the bottom of the nose pocket, or should there be an air pocket? Am wondering if this is the reason why my mask tends to leak a little (it's a new mask that fitted when I tried it in the shop).

Cheers everyone!

 

[terrasmak]

Well first it sounds like you may have to much weight in the back , try move some to the front BTW why decend kneeling , try in the nice trimmed out position. How to loose weight , better breathing is the main one. With time and experiance you will be able to take a piece or two off.

Last your mask , ive made the mistake too. Always try them on with a reg. in you mouth.

 

[Brian (Auburn)]

i agree but to add to what he said about the weights, as you get more experiance you learn to perfect your bouyancy by breathing in and out. (in gives you positive bouyancy, out gives you negative bouyancy)

 

[TSandM]

Alan,

Correct weighting is correct weighting, whether you are new or very experienced. The way to determine correct weighting is to do a weight check in shallow water at the end of a dive. Bleed the tank down to 30 bar or so in water shallow enough that you can just stand up in it. See if, with all your air exhaled, you can sink to the bottom. If you can, try taking some weight off and see if you can still do it. At the point where you can no longer sink with everything exhaled, you need to put a couple of pounds back and call it good.

A lot of people have trouble with descents when they are new (I certainly did). They tend to think the solution is to put on more weight, and in fact, that does make descending easier to initiate. But it causes so many more problems with buoyancy during the dive, and in particular during the ascent, that it is not a good solution to the problem. Better to learn good descent procedure.

As far as descent position goes, what you would really like to do is initiate the descent feet down, and as soon as you are underwater, convert to the horizontal position. This makes it MUCH easier to keep track of your buddy as you go down, and also makes it easier to look down and see the bottom before you bang into it. If all your weight is on your back (tank and camband weights), you will tend to tilt backward unless you learn a technique to combat that. What NWGratefulDiver taught me was to bend my knees and cross my ankles as I began my descent. Crossing the ankles kept me from finning myself back to the surface, and bending my knees put the broad blade of my fins behind me as a resistor, which would tend to pitch me forward into a horizontal position as I began to sink. It worked very well to cure me of my well-ingrained habit of descending on my back, hitting the bottom with my tank, and rolling over to begin the dive

 

[Charlie99]

It worked very well to cure me of my well-ingrained habit of descending on my back, hitting the bottom with my tank, and rolling over to begin the dive

Ya know, it would be nice if you gave a little bit of warning to those of use perusing this thread while drinking their morning coffee.

 

[spschneer]

...well-ingrained habit of descending on my back, hitting the bottom with my tank, and rolling over to begin the dive

Well, that is CERTAINLY DIR

 

[citykid]

I believe you should have a little space between your nose and the mask. I have had masks up against my nose and then the deeper I went the mask would push against your face, as pressure does, and it would hurt.
On a couple of dives the pain was so bad I was ready to ditch my mask. Who cares if I'm at 100', I can't see but I no longer have that pain.
Actually, those events really made me go back and do more homework on my masks. It really should fit well. A much more expensive mask doesn't necessarily mean a better mask.