Weighting question... slightly too heavy or light?

[dumpsterDiver]

Dang! I wish you told me this earlier. I only dive LP 120s, LP90s and HP 130s. It seems to work fine for me and I rarely wear neoprene! BTW, the more neoprene you wear, the less likely you'll be light at your safety stop. Quite a bit of compression happens in that first 15 feet.

No matter what weight you come up with, if you come to the end of your dive and you feel a bit light, simply pause on the exhale rather than the inhale. We all pause in our breathing, but most of us go with our default: lungs full. Sure, this uses a bit more air, but you shouldn't need it until your safety stop. In any event, if you're a bit light add a couple of pounds (1kg) for your next dive.

Remember: your head needs to be just awash. Forget that eye level stuff: that won't work here. Your head has to be just under the water with a normal breath and both arms & legs crossed. I promise: you'll be fine!

I agree that manipulating your respiration cycle can affect your buoyancy and help you to stay down without too much exertion. If you are not wearing any exposure protection this (and swimming down or hanging onto something) are your only options.

However, if you are wearing a wetsuit, and you find yourself too light at 15 ft or possibly you discover on your ascent that you lost some lead or ballast inadvertently, another very viable option is to perform your stop deeper than normal, where your suit will be more compressed and you will be heavier. For a thick, multi-layer suit, stopping at 25 feet instead of 12 can make a big difference.