Weight belt 'ditching' incident

[mccabejc]

A similar problem seems to happen more commonly from Integrated BCs, as pouches seems to be lost more often than belts, but then - only half of the weight is lost at once.

Well, not necessarily. In my case I have a total of 10 lbs. non-ditchable in my weight integrated BC, and 7 lbs. in each ditchable pouch (when I remember to put them in), for a total of 24 lbs. If I lost one pouch, that would be 7 out of 24, which is only about 30%.

 

[pasley]

1. Ditching weights in an emergency most often is intended to be accomplished on the surface.
2. I agree with other coments that a difficult idea to wrap around is the one we have to live with of: Rescuer, save your self first.
3. I have found the dump valves are just that, the dump the air in a hurry, where the inflator hose is slower and ment for fine adjustments. In an emergency, I would grab my dump and keep it open. You did fine with a BC 1/5 full of water in the end.
4. I too am on the slim side with no hips to speak of. Weight intergrated BC or a weightbelt suspender would appear to be in order.
5. IF you were deep enough to have fully compressed the neoprean, the issues was the air in his BC. It sounds like he went polairs missle on you from the start. Perhaps he is overweighted and therefore has to put in more than a little air at 60 FSW to compensate?
6. Not all of my weight is ditchable. 8 pounds in each pocket and 2 pounds non-ditchable in each back pocket for a total of 4. I have lost a pouch before and it was just a minor thing. I started to rise a bit, vented, and checked my air, and said early for a weight shift, then looked down and spotted my weight pouch and recovered it.

Hmmmm, maybe Jim has a point. Peerhaps I should reconfigure my weights to 6#x2 ditchable and 4#x2 non-ditchable or 7#x2 and 3#x2. With the latter if I lost a pouch it would only be 35% but in a deliberate ditch I oculd still lose 70% of my wieghts. Hmmmm, need to evaluate that one.

But most importatnly, you both walked away after. Now evalute and learn, and do not repeat.

Jim bring your weights!

 

[sprange]

Apparently what had happened was that my buddy assumed a vertical position while adding air to his BC (probably because he -was- overweighted) and the belt slid off without catching on a fin. As was pointed out, since he was carrying too much lead he required more air in his BC while we were at the bottom. Definitely not a good combination when 100% of your weight decides to become part of the wreck (it didn't actually land on the wreck, BTW). He's evaluating his weight solutions (limited to rental-friendly options such as weight belt suspenders), and I know how to react if this should ever happen again. Thanks for all the feedback.

Sean

 

[String]

Weight ditching debate comes up repeatedly, i still stand with my claims that i dont see the need to ever have to ditch a weight underwater assuming someone is correctly weighted and has a proper setup.

I DO see why they would be needed on the surface but its not as urgent up there and you can take your time doing it.

I see far more incidents of weights coming off by accident causing problems than weights not being jettisoned and someone suffering as a result.

Im not a fan of weight integrated BCs for various reasons, one of them being in cold water they arent designed to carry that amount of weight, in addition a lot of them appear to have velcro retainers which strikes me as bad.

I do like the weight harnesses and theyre probably the best solution imho.

As for the "shouldnt have followed" thing, possibly but its heat of the moment, you react and evaluate later. Given the relative shallowness of the dive and im assuming no deco obligation im inclined to think attempting to follow and arrest the descent may have been a good course of action to choose. The other option is a partial follow and let them go if it becomes obvious you cant do anything at all to help them.

Once ive had to chase, grab, stop and bring back down a buddy. Again it was pure reaction to the incident without stop/breathe/think time first. It was relatively shallow (about 50ft), nowhere near deco and as far as im concerned i made the right call. At ONE point on the ascent with my ears popping like mad i briefly considered letting go, i didnt and eventually by dumping air from my suit/bc and other persons suit/bc managed to stabilise it (this wasnt a lost weight belt issue which is different).

 

[Wijbrandus]

Check out the DUI weight and trim system.

I use it, and it has made my "weight belt" far more reliable, not to mention comfortable.

People lose integrated weights as well as belts, so a harness seems to me the most secure method.

 

[^*^BATMAN^*^]

i have an avid BC, so i have integraded weights, 7.5 in each front, and 4 in each back. so if i loose one pocket, its not enough usually to send me rocketing to the surface. I had to deal with a student on a O/W course jet to the surface, only from like 30' but it was a run away power inflator, and he just didnt think to dump. i grabbed onto him and dumped my air, but we were still to bouyant, so at about 15' i let him go cus my ears were in pain. i accended slower, he was fine, but needed a new BC. so i think chashing some one like that, is a judgment call, if the person is most likley to get DCS, i say don, if its shallow, its your call..

 

[rjchandler]

Check out the DUI weight and trim system.

I use it, and it has made my "weight belt" far more reliable, not to mention comfortable.

People lose integrated weights as well as belts, so a harness seems to me the most secure method.

I espxet weights could pop out of a weight harness pocket too.

If you use a belt, remember to tighten it when you get to depth. or get one of those spring loaded buckles (which probably break or jam when you don't want them to)

 

[ShakaZulu]

Weight belts scare the c@#$ out of me, can't believe how they can still let people use these objects of death. The only time you may want to ditch your weights is at the surface.......... Oneday we will all be diving BP/W's.

 

[String]

Oneday we will all be diving BP/W's

You wont get me into one of those damn things ! Wing maybe, SS backplate/harness no.

I also HATE the idea of having your weight attached to your tank, if you need to dekit underwater i dont want to be doing a polaris impression. Best solution is still a weight harness.

 

[FreeFloat]

Weight belts scare the c@#$ out of me, can't believe how they can still let people use these objects of death. The only time you may want to ditch your weights is at the surface.......... Oneday we will all be diving BP/W's.

I dive a bp/wing but still wear a weight belt for my additional ballast. However the amount on my weight belt is very minimal - in fact recently after donating a weight block off my belt to a less experienced, underweighted buddy, I found I must have been slightly overweighted as the decrease of 4# didn't affect my buoyancy. And in all fairness I wear this weight belt under my crotch strap both front and back - that thing is not coming off unles I specifically remove it and there's a certain amount of loosening and shifting I need to go through in order to do so.

I've never had over 13 lbs on the belt, and that's in my drysuit and fleece in an aluminum tank......... typically I dive with 4 or 6 lbs. I can hold that down by breathing.