So what the heck is a semi dry suit?
- Thread starter BigFame
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I don't understand this statement. The first thing that's important in an OOA is getting to a gas source, whether that's your own redundant supply or your buddy's gas. If you do an ascent and need to inflate something to be buoyant on the surface, you can orally inflate your BC. Where does ditching weight come into this at all?
ronbeau
Contributor
I know people who dive with weights in zipped pockets, and they have no concerns that they could get rid of some of those weights should the need arise. I've never heard of an occasion when such a need has arisen.
And given the present mania for basic recreational divers looking as "techie" as possible and diving with what IMO is unsuitable equipment, we get many divers with SS backplates here who carry no lead at all. They present this as a benefit, not needing any weight, but the reality is that they have no ditchable weight. If one of these divers does what I've seen, which is to go too near a granite surface or maybe (not here) a jagged edge on a wreck and rip their wing (because it's sticking out and is vulnerable) then they're screwed unless their weighting happens to have been optimal - unlikely since they're using standard weight components and have no ability to reduce their weight. At least one diver I know of died in this way - she was either too deep or lacked the ability to ditch her rig and swim for the surface.
And given the present mania for basic recreational divers looking as "techie" as possible and diving with what IMO is unsuitable equipment, we get many divers with SS backplates here who carry no lead at all. They present this as a benefit, not needing any weight, but the reality is that they have no ditchable weight. If one of these divers does what I've seen, which is to go too near a granite surface or maybe (not here) a jagged edge on a wreck and rip their wing (because it's sticking out and is vulnerable) then they're screwed unless their weighting happens to have been optimal - unlikely since they're using standard weight components and have no ability to reduce their weight. At least one diver I know of died in this way - she was either too deep or lacked the ability to ditch her rig and swim for the surface.
Yes, but one that becomes unavoidable due to the gear chosen for the dive. The effect is that the person cannot dump any weight to help with buoyancy in an emergency situation.
scubadobadoo
Contributor
A semi-dry suit is what you get when you don't want to or can't spend the cash on a dry suit. It's a compromise in most cases IMHO.
scubadobadoo
Contributor
And where was her buddy????
I agree that some divers using SS plates are over weighted in warm waters and should probably switch to a plastic or other lighter BP but that's their own stupidity.
Nonetheless, I happen to need only two more pounds in addition to the SS plate I use in warm water and at 8 pounds I am diving a perfectly balanced rig. I am safer because of it too and I don't plan on ditching weight if I am "too deep" as the above diver was. (I also don't plan on being too deep either) I will deal with my issues at depth with my buddy and the other safety gear I always carry.
I am willing to bet her inability to ditch weight wasn't the problem. Poor dive planning, bad air management, PANIC, and no buddy come to mind at the top of the list. Unfortunately they always do. Ditching weight should be your last resort, not your first option, and that's mostly to make it easier to find your body. In most cases, at depth, if you need to ditch weight, you have already messed up pretty badly in more than one way and the wave of issues will probably be spiraling out of control anyway. I am also willing to bet that if she could ditch weight it wouldn't have helped her much especially if she was "too deep" ...whatever that means but it doesn't sound good to me. Also, referring to her "lack of ability" doesn't inspire much confidence either.
Teaching someone that ditching weight is an option is so close to telling them that it's ok to have an uncontrolled ascent to the surface. "If your an idiot, then ditch your weight and pray" isn't a very effective strategy.
Please don't take my straight forward response as a lack of heart. My post is in no way meant to bad mouth the deceased.
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hobodiver
Contributor
Not to get too OT, but recently while doing some diving, it occurred to me that losing all 32lbs of lead that I was wearing at once might be hazardous to my health, weather planned or not. This was especially true given the flimsy plastic buckles on most rental gear. Seemed like it wouldn't be too difficult for it to fall off, catch on something etc. So I've recently started splitting up my weights. I wear 10 lbs on a weight belt, 10 lbs in back pockets on the BC, which can't be ditched, 5 lbs in each of the BC integrated pockets, which can be ditched independently, and then 2 ankle weights on D rings on the shoulder straps.
This way, I can ditch 2, 4, 5, or 10 lbs fairly easily, and hopefully not go rocketing up to the surface in an uncontrolled ascent. Actually, I think I might try ditching some of the weights in shallow water this weekend, and see what happens. Probably best to do it on an ascent line though, so I can stop myself.
When I'm diving in cold water with a drysuit, I keep about a third each of my weight in integrated pockets on each side and on a weight belt (actually a weight harness). That way I can dump weight selectively if necessary - not that it ever has been necessary. It also means that if for any reason I have to take off my rig at depth (eg. to clear entanglement) then neither I nor my rig will go skyward.
The girl I was referring to above was moderately experienced, but was trying to dive down to the arch in the Blue Hole in Dahab, Egypt with a single tank. At least, that's what she'd said to people beforehand - I suspect that when she realised how far down it was (60 metres) she would have stopped her descent.
Except that she descended very fast and nicked an edge of her presumably flapping wing on very rough rock, meaning that when she tried to put the brakes on by inflating the wing she didn't stop. We don't know what depth she started this at, but we do know that she went past the limit for air diving, probably narced out of her head, because of both the depth and what must by then have been her terror, until she presumably convulsed and drowned. Her body was found at around 125 mtr, still with a lot of air in her tank. This is all quite a few years ago - I haven't even been there this century. I believe it's much more difficult or impossible now to do there what she did, which was to rent a tank and simply go diving (solo).
On the subject of wings and redundancy, and this really belongs in another thread but I forget which, I did a similar dive to her there once, except that I had a twinset and a side-sling, and a double-bladder wing. I went down with some trimix divers I knew who were diving to the bottom - I was on air. I intended to stop at 60 metres and swim through the arch, ultimately surfacing in the open sea. I think our descent rate was something like 60 mtr/minute - very fast, and we were careful to stay well away from the side.
On trimix my friends were fine, but on air I felt myself getting very narced and decided to stop sooner than 60 mtr. I fully inflated one wing (on my DR Superwings), starting at around 30 mtr, yet at 50 mtr was still plummeting. I then inflated the other wing (making a very good case for twin inflators), which slowed me and stopped me at around 70 mtr. I then had to work fast to lose some of that air or I would have sky-rocketed. I was so severely narced I abandoned any idea of swimming through the arch and went up until I felt comfortable, at around 50 mtr. After a few minutes there I felt quite comfortable, but I had no intention of going back down 10 mtr to get to the arch so spent a hour or so at 50 mtr swimming round the hole, then surfaced where I had entered. I think if I hadn't descended so fast I would have been fine and would have completed my dive plan, because I had then and have since done lots of air dives to that depth.
The girl I was referring to above was moderately experienced, but was trying to dive down to the arch in the Blue Hole in Dahab, Egypt with a single tank. At least, that's what she'd said to people beforehand - I suspect that when she realised how far down it was (60 metres) she would have stopped her descent.
Except that she descended very fast and nicked an edge of her presumably flapping wing on very rough rock, meaning that when she tried to put the brakes on by inflating the wing she didn't stop. We don't know what depth she started this at, but we do know that she went past the limit for air diving, probably narced out of her head, because of both the depth and what must by then have been her terror, until she presumably convulsed and drowned. Her body was found at around 125 mtr, still with a lot of air in her tank. This is all quite a few years ago - I haven't even been there this century. I believe it's much more difficult or impossible now to do there what she did, which was to rent a tank and simply go diving (solo).
On the subject of wings and redundancy, and this really belongs in another thread but I forget which, I did a similar dive to her there once, except that I had a twinset and a side-sling, and a double-bladder wing. I went down with some trimix divers I knew who were diving to the bottom - I was on air. I intended to stop at 60 metres and swim through the arch, ultimately surfacing in the open sea. I think our descent rate was something like 60 mtr/minute - very fast, and we were careful to stay well away from the side.
On trimix my friends were fine, but on air I felt myself getting very narced and decided to stop sooner than 60 mtr. I fully inflated one wing (on my DR Superwings), starting at around 30 mtr, yet at 50 mtr was still plummeting. I then inflated the other wing (making a very good case for twin inflators), which slowed me and stopped me at around 70 mtr. I then had to work fast to lose some of that air or I would have sky-rocketed. I was so severely narced I abandoned any idea of swimming through the arch and went up until I felt comfortable, at around 50 mtr. After a few minutes there I felt quite comfortable, but I had no intention of going back down 10 mtr to get to the arch so spent a hour or so at 50 mtr swimming round the hole, then surfaced where I had entered. I think if I hadn't descended so fast I would have been fine and would have completed my dive plan, because I had then and have since done lots of air dives to that depth.
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