Weights and Bouyancy... I dropped 8 of 18 pounds!

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birdwrasse

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I'm working on my Advanced Open Water and one of the programs I chose was bouyancy... I started the day with 18 and finished the day with 10! It was all in the breathing! Amazing! I'm going to see if I can drop even more!

Next month I'm going to Catalina and was so worried about how much weight I would have to wear... I feel a lot more comfortable and think I'll be able to fit all my weight in my BCD...

yyyyyaaaaahhhhhoooooooooo!!!!! success!


:D
 
Not surprising... let me guess, you were wearing a shorty also...
 
nope... full 3 mil wetsuit!

i only have about 5 hours on the wetsuit, too...
 
Kinda the same thing...

I'm not what you would call a slim guy, and I wear about 8# with a 3mm.

Congrats on the drop of weight. Unfortuantely alot of instructors will DRASTICALLY over weight students so it is easier to get them under. Good job on learning that the best BC is your lungs... especially when you are wearing a 3mm wetsuit. You will be amazed on how much longer your tanks last and easier it is to get out of the water.
 
fishb0y:
Not surprising... let me guess, you were wearing a shorty also...

Good for you. It will get even better with time.

But don't be surprised if you put it all back on in Catalina, where I hope you'll be wearing a bit more than a 3mil!!!

Not sure of Catalina temperatures this week, but, the northern islands were showing 57F - 64F.
 
oh, i've got a two-piece 6.5 mil, hood, and heavy gloves! i know it will be cold... i'm shooting for 30 pounds, max! i'll bring my weight belt and some 2 pound soft bags, just in case... i'll settle for a max of 38... just wish it was colder in vegas so i can try out the new wetsuit! it's brand new, so i'll need a few extra pounds for that! i'm going to work on my breathing... i've learn a technique for getting down, and i can always use the drop line / anchor line... get myself down to 15 feet and let the suit saturate with water, then try to rebalance myself! i'll post my results... i got a new sea & sea, mx-10 and strobe for $175 online, so will be taking that, too, and will be taking photos...


--c
 
stunaep:
oh, i've got a two-piece 6.5 mil, hood, and heavy gloves! i know it will be cold... i'm shooting for 30 pounds, max! i'll bring my weight belt and some 2 pound soft bags, just in case... i'll settle for a max of 38... just wish it was colder in vegas so i can try out the new wetsuit! it's brand new, so i'll need a few extra pounds for that! i'm going to work on my breathing... i've learn a technique for getting down, and i can always use the drop line / anchor line... get myself down to 15 feet and let the suit saturate with water, then try to rebalance myself! i'll post my results... i got a new sea & sea, mx-10 and strobe for $175 online, so will be taking that, too, and will be taking photos...


--c

NEVER use the line to pull yourself down if you are unable to descend on your own. Properly weighted with good technique you won't need the line to get down.

Breathing is important but so is knowing how to adjust the amount of weight (which is included in the class) and trim. With a heavy wet suit you'll be overweighted at depth even if you are correctly weighted at the surface and your trim may be effected also. While I do some diving in a wet suit, I really avoid "deepish" dives while wearing a heavy wet suit. I use a dry suit for those and buoyancy issues are a large part of the reason.
 
stunaep:
and i can always use the drop line / anchor line... get myself down to 15 feet and let the suit saturate with water
--c

That's not diving and don't count on being able to do that on every dive. That same mode sets you up for an uncontrolled ascent at the end of your dive.

Excess weight is evil, required weight is essential.

Pete
 
stunaep:
... i've learn a technique for getting down, and i can always use the drop line / anchor line... get myself down to 15 feet and let the suit saturate with water, then try to rebalance myself!

--c
Just reiterating Mike and Petes comments; this is not a good plan. Descending should take nothing more than exhaling. Initiating an ascent should take nothing more than inhaling a breath. This is what happens when you are properly weighted.

Before you go to Catalina you need to do some diving with the gear configuration you will be using and this entails doing a proper in water weighting check in this configuration including the photography gear. Once you have your freshwater weighting dialed in with this configuration it is a matter of simple math to arrive at what you will need to dive salt water. Even so, an in water check of weighting in salt water is still the best way to go.
 
I went diving yesterday... have a new suit and wore 17 lbs to start. Once down, I was grossly overweighted, but when I dropped some weight on my 2nd dive, I couldn't get down. Though overweighted, I didn't have any problem with dragging the bottom or bumping into things... I did touch bottom (not drag bottom) with my fins 2 or 3 times, but only cause the viz was about 2 ft and the bottom was VERY rugged (rock quarry). I think the bouyancy class would do me a huge service! I would love to be able to drop some of my weights.
 

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