Teenage diver search called off

[iamsharky]

Most of my diving is around 40 feet. I use steel weights through weight belt webbing zip tied and attached to my back plate. It is awesome weight distribution and saves my back. Do not try this unless you know what you are doing. This time of year I have redundancy with my dry suit and wings. Warmer times I do not have redundancy and could incorporate an extra wing I guess...otherwise I would have to ditch my gear to remain buoyant if I had a bladder failure. At depth, that could be a real issue but I understand from the posts that gear set up was not the issue.

 

[rleslie]

Big problem I see with that is money and time. I think more people would tend to sway away from diving if they had to face such a rigorous training program with a cost much higher. Maybe this a good thing in some views but on the view of agencies not.

My point is that the pendulum has swung too far the other way.....too quick and too cheap.

 

[Lonefox]

Most of my diving is around 40 feet. I use steel weights through weight belt webbing zip tied and attached to my back plate. It is awesome weight distribution and saves my back. Do not try this unless you know what you are doing.

I have a Pouch and Beanbag style weight belt, I have that weighted for freediving, it gives me the opportunity to ditch individual weights.
My BCD has trim weights to counter my Pony bottle, and I use the Integrated weight system to compensate for the buoyancy of the BCD. Pony Bottle is on a quick release, and has a rubber band type handle around it.
It does mean that weighting myself is a little more of a chore each time I dive a location with different salt content.
But this means that in worst case scenario, I am able to ditch the BCD, and surface with just the pony.
Even if ditching isn't necessary, I have freedom to remove my BCD underwater without risking a runaway ascent.

The issue with Block and Webbing style belts is that you can't easily and safely remove single weights underwater. The reason I may need to do this, is that an escape with just a pony bottle from depth may mean I have to work harder to surface.

Relying solely on Integrated weight systems in a BCD can mean that if you get snagged or caught on something, if you remove your BCD to free yourself, your weights go with it, suddenly your wetsuit gives you a lot of positive buoyancy, meaning that you may be going to the surface feet first, waving goodbye to your BCD and life support.

 

[iamsharky]

Does the bean bag style weight system put much strain on your lower back? I agree you would have to be careful with a drysuit and ascending feet first w/o bc. I have not put much thought into that scenario, but that could defintitely be an issue.

 

[Lonefox]

Does the bean bag style weight system put much strain on your lower back?

It is a little better than a lead block and webbing belt, the main benefit is no hard corners digging in to hips. They are also less unpleasant to drop on your feet or trip over, they still hurt, but they are less likely to remove toes. I'm not sure if they'd make that much difference to your back, but I can only see them as being an improvement. The only problem is, when you go on holiday, you tend to have to fill the pockets with the solid weights, as the boats don't generally carry the beanbags.

I initially chose to spread my weights between two systems so I could go out with a freediving friend without having to keep re-weighting for scuba, I found myself frequently in this unconventional buddy pair (Freediver / Scuba Diver) and generally find this grouping gives me the benefit that someone knows I am there, and the freedom to take photographs at my leisure, (photographers don't make good buddies).

I'm not advocating anyone else do this, as there are safety issues that need to be managed, however I have fully redundant gear, and chose my weight distribution to complement that style of diving, My theory being that I need to be able to recover myself from any situation that occurs. So I think about what could happen. Most of the issues I could foresee related to air, weights and entanglement. When people think about emergencies, frequently we tend to think about how we would behave in one, but I'd recommend anyone to sit and think carefully through how your kit will behave, because it's very easy to think what you would do, but generally some of your decisions are likely to be made for you by the equipment you wear.

The best way I could see to counter most hazardous situations, was to gear myself so that I can transform quickly, from a Scuba Diver, to a freediver with a pony bottle.

 

[iamsharky]

thank you for the advice and Merry Christmas!