Should I wear a snorkel or not

[dmaziuk]

Complete rubbish talk. The drag of swimming on your back in scuba at the angle to keep your mouth out of the water means you’re going nowhere in any kind of a sea. Don’t get separated from the boat or shore you won’t make it in poor conditions if you run out of gas.

If I lost the boat beyond all hope and have to swim for a distant shore, I'm ditching the entire kit and am doing the actual swimming. Including the fins -- but that's just because I'm better at breaststroke than at crawls. If I just need to float waiting for the pickup, then I seem to be intelligent enough to not inhale when submerged. YMM, of course, V.

 

[Nick_Radov]

Complete rubbish talk. The drag of swimming on your back in scuba at the angle to keep your mouth out of the water means you’re going nowhere in any kind of a sea. Don’t get separated from the boat or shore you won’t make it in poor conditions if you run out of gas.

I have surface swam on my back in rough conditions. Not a problem as long as you are properly weighted.

 

[Celt]

If I lost the boat beyond all hope and have to swim for a distant shore, I'm ditching the entire kit and am doing the actual swimming. Including the fins -- but that's just because I'm better at breaststroke than at crawls. If I just need to float waiting for the pickup, then I seem to be intelligent enough to not inhale when submerged. YMM, of course, V.

Is that in answer to my post you quoted or just something you wanted to say. Because it definitely didn’t answer the question about the most effective way to surface swim with scuba gear.

 

[Celt]

I have surface swam on my back in rough conditions. Not a problem as long as you are properly weighted.

Not a problem if you’re 50 feet from the boat or shore. But you’re going to exhaust yourself if you have any distance to cover.

 

[Nick_Radov]

Not a problem if you’re 50 feet from the boat or shore. But you’re going to exhaust yourself if you have any distance to cover.

Nope. That's just not how it works in real diving, and I've certainly covered more than 50 ft in rough surface conditions on multiple occasions. I can't imagine where you've come up with such mistaken notions. If divers are getting exhausted swimming on their backs, then they're doing something wrong like bending at the waist too much or failing to inflate the wing or using garbage fins. Or they're just unfit. Using a snorkel isn't going to address that problem: rather the opposite.
Anyway, I'll leave it there. If you want to make diving unnecessarily difficult go ahead.

 

[lostsheep]

I have tried and I can do it if I really have to. It's just totally pointless and unnecessary (unless somehow you screw up the gas planning and end up back on the surface with empty tanks). And if you have extra gear, like a camera housing with strobe arms or a stage tank, then surface swimming in really heavy kelp makes entanglement tough to avoid regardless of technique.

Yes, a little bit. It's certainly a lot easier to kelp crawl in minimalist freediving gear.

Kelp is an issue once it becomes thick enough. Seriously, go look at Whaler's Cove right now. The surface kelp is as thick as I've ever seen it (which is good news for the ecosystem). Only a real masochist would try to kelp crawl on the surface any significant distance through that mess. Everyone who has been diving there the last few days just goes under the kelp.

You said “can’t”, I say it’s a non issue.

You really oughta disclose that you’re coming at this from a GUE tech diving perspective. There’s a big difference between diving to Montana using doubles, scooters, and multiple deco bottles compared to diving a single rental al80 out to middle reef at Lobos.

I will repeat, I don’t dive a snorkel either but the universe will not collapse into a singularity just cause someone uses a snorkel to kelp crawl out beyond doggie so they can maximize bottom time at middle reef.

We should be encouraging and / or mentoring these divers not telling them they’re doing it wrong. (Referencing the masochist , screw up, unnecessary language )

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I don't know what "hog looped" means but I have a DIR equipment configuration.

Ok that explains it, thank you.

 

[Celt]

I’d love to know what configuration people are using who say they can swim on their back on the surface. My steel 12 ltr is just positive at 50 bar and suits swimming on my belly with a snorkel.

 

[Celt]

Nope. That's just not how it works in real diving, and I've certainly covered more than 50 ft in rough surface conditions on multiple occasions. I can't imagine where you've come up with such mistaken notions. If divers are getting exhausted swimming on their backs, then they're doing something wrong like bending at the waist too much or failing to inflate the wing or using garbage fins. Or they're just unfit. Using a snorkel isn't going to address that problem: rather the opposite.
Anyway, I'll leave it there. If you want to make diving unnecessarily difficult go ahead.

Inflate the wing and swim on your back on the surface. You think thats more effective than swimming flat on your belly with a snorkel. Are you for real. You must be used to talking to complete novices. It’s actually hilarious when I think of it.

 

[BoltSnap]

it's more efficient to swim on your back (as long as you're not going through kelp). I've tried both ways and I can go faster with less effort on my back instead of using a snorkel.

This is truly wrong. You just don't know how to use a snorkel properly and hence you are making up every possible execuse not to use.