"Safe" weight distribution? Weight ditching question.

[rick00001967]

the op is a newer diver according to the stats on the profile. i think we need to be careful what info we post here. i know that some divers (usually more advanced levels) choose not to carry any ditchable weight. this is their choice to make. and they may have the experience to consider all the pros and cons and have come to their own conclusion when considering the risk vs reward. but i think it is a bit irresponsible in my opinion to post comments that may make a newer diver feel they are somehow doing something wrong because they carry ditchable lead. even if perhaps the logic behind their decision may be considered flawed by some.

 

[Ducky44]

Doesn't diving with a steel tank and all your lead behind your wing make you unbalanced on the bottom?

 

[Rred]

Remember the woman who drowned in Hawaii a few years back (5?) in about 40' of water if I recall. Was new to diving, had an air or gear problem...and if she had only known to drop her weight belt, she would have easily survived.

These things happen.

We were taught to drop our weight as a last resort, because it pretty much guaranteed we were going to the surface, one way or another. And if that gets you bent, TFB. At least it lets the SAR team find your body and go home in time for dinner.

 

[boulderjohn]

Well, it's rather rare that one factor alone can be determined "clearly" to be determining for the outcome. AFAIU, a fatality is usually caused by a combination of factors, unless it's a clear-cut medical issue, like a heart attack. Even though "the failure to drop weights" weren't clearly "a factor in the fatality", who can tell if it was the straw that broke the camel's back?.

Yes, there is usually a combination of events that lead to a fatality. I included any case in which dropping weights was one of them. In fact, there is no reason to drop your weights if something else isn't going on as well. Here are the only two cases I can remember off the top of my head. Neither is actually from the DAN reports--I got them from ScubaBoard. You will see that there was a whole more going wrong in each case.

• A diver with a brand new BCD he evidently did not understand was diving for lobster in South Florida. He was a very experienced diver and lobster hunter, and apparently they like to dive heavily overweighted. He ran out of air and struggled to the surface, where he discovered that he did not know how to drop the weights from his integrated pouches. (My wild guess from what I read was that he had a Zeagle and had put the weights in the regular pockets instead of the weight pockets--it's an easy mistake if you don't know what you are doing.) He could not stay on the surface, and eventually a woman tried to help him by sharing her air. She was using a rental regulator set that did not have an alternate, so they had to use buddy breathing. Both drowned.
• A woman went OOA and swam to the surface. Once there, kicking as hard as she could, she could not stay there. She did not remember to use oral inflation. She sank back down and drowned.

Notice that in both cases, the divers were quite overweighted. If you are properly weighted on a recreational dive, you should not only find it easy to stay on the surface with a completely empty tank, you should in fact find it hard to sink.

 

[Rred]

John-
Part of our training was "doff and don". Isn't that still taught anymore as an essential part of basic scuba?
We were sent down to the bottom of the pool, had to ditch our gear, including the weight belt, and put it back on again. Had to deal with ditching our tanks and passing them through a "hole" then putting them back on again afterwards, simulating a penetration or exit from a tight space, as well. Had to learn how to put the gear ON after entering the water. All basic stuff.
I don't know if that was NASDS curriculum or just a great instructor.

But in both of the cases you mention, simple common sense ("the tank is pulling me down, I'd better ditch it") would have done the job, from what this seems. Please, don't tell me doffing and donning is now just under consideration as a PADI advanced technical course....

 

[Doby45]

What you also forget is how many of these cases of people dying because they did not ditch weight, had ditchable weight. In the example above about the lady she HAD a weight belt (ditchable) and still did not ditch it. How many of these are cases where the person died because they COULD NOT ditch weight. I doubt you will find many of those.

 

[DiverDownD3]

Doesn't diving with a steel tank and all your lead behind your wing make you unbalanced on the bottom?

Can't just make a blanket statement saying it will or won't. Depends on diver's physique, exposure protection, and other equipment buoyancy characteristics.

 

[dmaziuk]

IIRC one of the "too much weight" threads mentions a guy in a thick wetsuit whose wing didn't have enough lift to get him up once the suit compressed. This would be another case for ditching weight at depth -- and again you're looking at a seriously unbalanced rig there.

My weight is in reachable pouches and sometimes: belt. I can't ditch it in a hurry: the belt is under the crotch strap and the pouches I have to open and push/dig the weights out. So it's all ditchable in theory, but in practice if I'm incapacitated I may not be able to ditch it and if I'm not incapacitated I can swim with it on for quite some time.

 

[boulderjohn]

We were sent down to the bottom of the pool, had to ditch our gear, including the weight belt, and put it back on again. Had to deal with ditching our tanks and passing them through a "hole" then putting them back on again afterwards, simulating a penetration or exit from a tight space, as well. Had to learn how to put the gear ON after entering the water. All basic stuff.
I don't know if that was NASDS curriculum or just a great instructor.

Some of that was standard back then, but I suspect not all of it.

Basic OW divers are not supposed to go into places where they have to take their gear off to squeeze through, so they are not taught how to do that. They are, however, taught to take their gear off under water and put it back on. It is a basic requirement during the pool sessions of any agency that is part of the RSTC.

Of course, once the student is certified and time passes, who knows what will be forgotten eventually? I have done refresher courses for students who absolutely did not need it, and I have done refresher courses for students who looked like they were never certified.

 

[boulderjohn]

IIRC one of the "too much weight" threads mentions a guy in a thick wetsuit whose wing didn't have enough lift to get him up once the suit compressed. This would be another case for ditching weight at depth -- and again you're looking at a seriously unbalanced rig there.

If your wing does not have enough lift to get you to the surface, you are seriously overweighted. It does happen, though, especially in technical diving. If I did not have redundant buoyancy and my wing failed while I was wearing my steel doubles, I would not be able to get to the surface. That, however, is while wearing no weight whatsoever, so adding ditchable weight would not do me a lot of good. WIth single tank recreational diving, it would be more rare (but possible).