Venting a BCD

[Aspendiver]

hmmm.
I like to face in the direction I travel. Surfacing, that means vertical. Almost all the divers that I see in the water are vertical at their safety stops. Don't get me wrong- I do swimming safety stops at 15 ft. as much as the next guy, but if you're surfacing on a drift dive, you look up at a chain of relaxing, vertical divers, many of whom have their hoses up venting air. Are you truly saying that that is bad technique? Just wondering....?

 

[Stu S.]

With some computers, if you ascend faster than 30 feet per minute, you get the alarm. Swimming up somewhat more horizontally makes it easy to keep the graph on the computer real steady. I had not done a lot of drift diving until I moved to Florida. We saw a group using this technique, and it made sense.

Just a preference. Your results may vary.

 

[Blackwood]

hmmm.
I like to face in the direction I travel. Surfacing, that means vertical. Almost all the divers that I see in the water are vertical at their safety stops. Don't get me wrong- I do swimming safety stops at 15 ft. as much as the next guy, but if you're surfacing on a drift dive, you look up at a chain of relaxing, vertical divers, many of whom have their hoses up venting air. Are you truly saying that that is bad technique? Just wondering....?

Good? Bad? I won't venture into that arena.

There are certainly benefits to remaining horizontal. Included are:

1) You present more area and thus drag becomes a more substantial factor in controlling ascent/descent rates

2) More uniform decompression (I'd say this is probably negligible, but some people like to bring it up).

I suppose one could claim that a downside is inability to swim up, but why anyone would want to do that is beyond me.

 

[Aspendiver]

If you're truly neutral, you HAVE to swim up

I know, I know, bigger breath, rise naturally.
It just gets my dander up when someone makes a blanket statement like "You should NEVER need to vent your BC with your hose." (emphasis mine) An experienced diver can use every tool at his disposal to achieve the end result, and IIRC, this thread started with someone wondering HOW to vent their BC....
I hear and understand all the other arguments about horizontal trim, I just happen to like hanging motionless, vertical, zipping along in the current at 15 feet looking at everybody else around me, and up at the surface. If that means that my head decompresses a little less than my feet, so be it.

 

[Bobyjimmie]

Why do people still hold their hoses up to vent air?? Youve got a relief valve on your shoulder and one on your butt, at least one that is. Just curious is all. Is it because that is how you were trained so thats how you do it?

 

[Nick_W]

Why do people still hold their hoses up to vent air?? Youve got a relief valve on your shoulder and one on your butt, at least one that is. Just curious is all. Is it because that is how you were trained so thats how you do it?

I'm sure some of it has to do with how they were trained. Some of it may have to do with how comfortable they are with different techniques. Some people may from time to time dive an old Seatec BC that doesn't have a shoulder dump. Some people may just be in the habit of doing it because they spend a lot of hours each week teaching other people to do it that way.

There are plenty of reasons why someone would do this and personally I don't really care from where an already certified diver is dumping air, as long as they're getting the job done right.

 

[Bobyjimmie]

good point, was just curious because I wasnt trained to do it that way at all and was curious if people are still being trained to do it that way?

 

[Nick_W]

good point, was just curious because I wasnt trained to do it that way at all and was curious if people are still being trained to do it that way?

I don't know about all of the agencies, but I know the one I'm with teaches that. Most likely because the vast majority of people who are taught each year aren't buying their own BCs. They're going to go on vacation once or twice, rent gear, and go diving. Like I said, not all BCs have the shoulder toggle dump but you've got a pretty good chance that the BC you rent is going to have the hose there. I would say all BCs have it, but I'm sure someone would find a BC somewhere that didn't.

Now, once you own your own gear and find a more comfortable way to do it, have fun.

 

[Bobyjimmie]

Even better reasoning, although Seaquest and a couple others now have BCDs with a little lever to turn one way for inflate and the other for deflate, oh and this is post 100 for me =D. I actually wanna try one of these BCDs.

 

[String]

There seem to be a large number of divers who either weren't taught or dont remeber the lesson on using whatever dump is highest.

I've seen no end of divers slightly head down attempt to dump air by holding the button on the hose then looking confused when nothing happens and they continue rising faster and faster.
A few i spoke to have said they didn't realise you COULD use those other dumps underwater which is a bit disturbing.