When to ditch weight?

[DevonDiver]

... I once came across a site that details diving accidents...up until the 90s...no one talked about ditchable weight as a factor to survivability

IMHO, diving has changed a lot since the 90s. It's become more usual for novice divers to be over-weighted and need larger capacity BCDs as a result,,,,, or a trend in ever-larger capacity recreational BCDs has empowered instructors/divers to over-weight.... you decide.

Either way, it doesn't surprise me that, historically, ditching weight was less of a critical factor in emergency resolution...."up until the 90's" many experienced divers/instructors were of a generation that remembered once diving without a BCD at all.

Over-weighting and grossly unbalanced rigs were not an issue, until a culture of BCD dependency arose. This resulted in an ever more critical need to be able to ditch ballast for survival when a BCD ceases to be a crutch for assured surfacing.

I do belive its one of those skill that you need to learn but might never ever use!

Isn't that the way of most emergency/contingency skills?

That, however, does nothing to depreciate the importance of gaining and maintaining the skill as an instinctive response to the correct stimulus.

The question asked by the OP was what stimulus should provide that trigger.

 

[Steve_C]

Assuming you have air and are not about to have a heart attack dropping weights at depth quickly is not a good idea.
In the Keys I stopped a person from dropping their weights at depth - reason was oncoming panic due to a mask flood.
Leg crams or other issues could make a swim difficult. A couple times I have gotten "heavy legs" when water was colder than I expected.

Before you step into the water. Breath your reg while looking at pressure guage. Removes problem of tank being off or not on all the way.

With integrated weights it is easy to drop just a couple pounds if need be.

 

[Nemrod]

Ditching weight is done at the surface in an emergency to establish positive buoyancy. Say, for example, your buddy is having difficulty, perhaps a cardiac event, or is simply exhausted or you need to attempt life breaths (yeah, yeah, I know all the Red Cross recommendations are changing).

It was much more important back in the old days pre-BC or when we had simple horse collar BCs. Most modern BCs (some wings aside) have enough buoyancy to float a VW so ditching weight may not be required. If you need to get a diver positive, I would just ditch their cummerbund or weight belt, leave the non ditch-able trim weights alone.

Which, down here in Flariduh diving, everybody has non ditch-able weight nowadays. It was circa 1984 that I was told by several operators down here that I could not use my wing (back inflate) and that I could not attach weights to my cam bands because it was against PADI standards. Point being that the concept of ditching weight may be a little out of date given the equipment we use now.

That said, there have been numerous drownings due to going in over weighted or struggling at the surface (some other event precipitating an emergency) where establishing positive buoyancy on the surface can be helpful.

Yes, I have ditched weight on long surface swims (pre-BC, me or my buddy) when I became fatigued, I have dropped weights on divers I was assisting (one a cardiac event) and I have dropped weights on divers who needed my assistance to stabilize them while I towed them to safety.

N

 

[Fedaykin]

This is where you learn good tricks from a forum. Loved this technique with the hope of not being need to use it ever.

Years ago, when I was spearfishing while breath hold diving, we taught a technique of taking our weight belt off and holding it in our hand until we successfully gained the surface without blacking out. I remember actually doing this as a teenager on dives off Thetis Island, Vancouver B.C. when I was somewhere around 60 feet and had over-extended the dive. I made it to the surface, but just barely. The idea is that if we did blackout, we would automatically drop the weight belt.

 

[Fedaykin]

double post

 

[rx7diver]

So, can anyone explain what situations call for ditching the weight?

There are several considerations. A couple are: Is the diver wearing an exposure suit, and, if so, what kind (skin, drysuit, wetsuit) and how much inherent buoyancy does it have? Is the diver *being* rescued/surfaced, or is he/she "rescuing" himself/herself?

Other posters above alluded to other considerations. For example, is the diver at depth very early in the dive?

During my initial open water training (NAUI university course, in 1986) we practiced for several different scenarios.

Safe Diving,

rx7diver

 

[Don Quixote]

Which, down here in Flariduh diving, everybody has non ditch-able weight nowadays. It was circa 1984 that I was told by several operators down here that I could not use my wing (back inflate) and that I could not attach weights to my cam bands because it was against PADI standards. Point being that the concept of ditching weight may be a little out of date given the equipment we use now.

That said, there have been numerous drownings due to going in over weighted or struggling at the surface (some other event precipitating an emergency) where establishing positive buoyancy on the surface can be helpful.

Yes, I have ditched weight on long surface swims (pre-BC, me or my buddy) when I became fatigued, I have dropped weights on divers I was assisting (one a cardiac event) and I have dropped weights on divers who needed my assistance to stabilize them while I towed them to safety.

N

Thank you, Nemrod. This is what I suspect. Many divers in our group do not even use weights at all as it is mostly warm water diving with little or no exposure protection. The weight of the backplate or the tank was enough. There are also a couple of incidents of divers losing their weight while underwater and they flew away. "Point being that the concept of ditching weight may be a little out of date given the equipment we use now." When boarding a dinghy after a dive, it was easier to doff the BC and climb aboard. Some divers did not remove their weight belt first. I was told by a master instructor that it is very dangerous as a slip of the hand will turn into an emergency.

During our OW, we were asked to practice weight ditching while underwater kneeling at the bottom. This gives people a wrong impression. The practice should have been done on the surface.

 

[Bob DBF]

When you first arrive on the bottom and your tank is full, that means you have -10# for your gas and -15# for your suit loss, so you are 25# negative.

I would think you should have to add the 10# (or whatever) on your weight belt. The weight one uses to make up for the planned use of gas and balance excess buoyancy of the suit on the surface for neutral buoyancy at the safety stop would have to be taken into consideration. This would have to be added in and make it more like 45# negative to swim up if your BC was not holding air.

Using your scenario with my numbers, dropping the belt will leave you 25# negative, which might pose a problem.

As I said in my last post, it is not dropping a belt that is the big issue, it is not keeping your BC and/or drysuit empty/controlled on the ascent.


Bob

 

[stuartv]

I would think you should have to add the 10# (or whatever) on your weight belt. The weight one uses to make up for the planned use of gas and balance excess buoyancy of the suit on the surface for neutral buoyancy at the safety stop would have to be taken into consideration. This would have to be added in and make it more like 45# negative to swim up if your BC was not holding air.

Uh, what? I specified a single HP120, a 7mm wetsuit, and being properly weighted. You're saying that a diver with those parameters would be 45 # negative, at the start of their dive, when they get to depth, if their BCD is empty? I don't think so. Not any remotely normal sized person.

 

[Bob DBF]

Not at the beginning of the dive, but at the bottom with a dead BC.

As I said, it may not be the right number, but I believe you would have to add the weight belt (or attached weight) that is used to make you neutral at the safety stop after the use of the air and re expansion of the wetsuit. At the point you have a full tank and crushed wetsuit it is just added weight on you.


Bob