The 20 Skills Broken Down

[A34735]

Thanks guys for the good replies. I meant the last item on, regardless of whether people are using a BCD or horse-collar. The point about not being excessively weighted is well taken, likewise avoidance of becoming a Polaris missile when the belt has been dumped. Interestingly the USN diving manual supports the 'WB last on' practice. The arguments against I don't find compelling, so I will stick to it. Once again thanks to all of you for taking time to reply. ATB, Nigel

 

[A34735]

I'm betting A34735 meant the outside of the crotch strap. This was the standard practice with horse collar type BC's and I suspect it's still the case with any BC that has a crotch strap. The last thing you want is a belt getting hung up on the strap when trying to ditch it.

Correct. In the days I learnt, horse-collar BCs (we called them 'ABLJ's) with crotch-straps were the norm.
Even so, many of us just dived with a wet-suit, cylinder/harness and a carefully adjusted weight-belt. It was gospel that ditching the belt would generate enough buoyancy (from the wet-suit) to bring an unconscious diver to the surface - which meant adjusting the mass for the expected maximum depth. Of course, below 30m/100ft or so, all bets were off...
Nonetheless, I'm still surprised that other divers/instructors are surprised when my weight belt is the last thing I put around my waist...