IMO, you shouldnt have been in openwater till you understood the operation of the BCD thoughly. A ruptured ear sinking is better than a ruptured lung, or both, shooting to the surface. It wouldnt have happened in a normal pool. Your instructor sucked from your side of the story. A BC or wing, is needed to be a fluid diver.
Why use a BC anyway?
- Thread starter steve1122
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steve1122,
For the reasons you describe the BC was considered advanced equipment when it was first introduced, Misapplied it offers the chance for all sorts of mayhem.
You sound like you have developed a good sense of what is going on that that air cell and why carrying only as much weight as you need to make your final ascent with a near empty cylinder in control is critical.
Yes, you can dive without a BC or use it only for surface flotation and it's a great sensation to have relatively consistent buoyancy throughout the water column. A few things have conspired over the years to make this less practical.
1) In the day 72 CF was a good sized cylinder and contained about 5-3/4 pounds of air. That is about what you can manage by varying your lung volume. As cylinders get bigger it's harder to compensate throughout the dive.
2) Wetsuits have become thicker and spongier. Old suits were made with neoprene that compressed less with depth as such you didn't lose as much buoyancy on descent and could make do.
3) Dives were often planned for the depth with weights adjusted on a per dive basis. Following a line up or carrying a stone were even practiced techniques.
4) In old films you can see diver often swimming the dive, using propulsion and body attitude to control depth. At times it was not always the perfectly neutral suspension in the water column we strive for today.
So the gear has changed and our expectation of control have been elevated. Dealing with those challenges across the spectrum pretty much needs a fudge factor, the buoyancy compensator. It lets you make up for that crushed suit or full cylinder of air.
With a good weight configuration, some training and a developing sense of your buoyancy you will reach a skill level where buoyancy control is very natural.
Pete
For the reasons you describe the BC was considered advanced equipment when it was first introduced, Misapplied it offers the chance for all sorts of mayhem.
You sound like you have developed a good sense of what is going on that that air cell and why carrying only as much weight as you need to make your final ascent with a near empty cylinder in control is critical.
Yes, you can dive without a BC or use it only for surface flotation and it's a great sensation to have relatively consistent buoyancy throughout the water column. A few things have conspired over the years to make this less practical.
1) In the day 72 CF was a good sized cylinder and contained about 5-3/4 pounds of air. That is about what you can manage by varying your lung volume. As cylinders get bigger it's harder to compensate throughout the dive.
2) Wetsuits have become thicker and spongier. Old suits were made with neoprene that compressed less with depth as such you didn't lose as much buoyancy on descent and could make do.
3) Dives were often planned for the depth with weights adjusted on a per dive basis. Following a line up or carrying a stone were even practiced techniques.
4) In old films you can see diver often swimming the dive, using propulsion and body attitude to control depth. At times it was not always the perfectly neutral suspension in the water column we strive for today.
So the gear has changed and our expectation of control have been elevated. Dealing with those challenges across the spectrum pretty much needs a fudge factor, the buoyancy compensator. It lets you make up for that crushed suit or full cylinder of air.
With a good weight configuration, some training and a developing sense of your buoyancy you will reach a skill level where buoyancy control is very natural.
Pete
captain
Contributor
Go to the vintage diving section here or go to vintagedoublehose.com and learn about how to dive with no BC. After you learn that using the BC will become much easier. Diver didn't always have BCs.
idive2
Contributor
In the old days I'm sure these divers at some point in their dives were either a bit more negative or a bit more
positive than they would have liked. Our expectations have increased in diving as we know it today. A diver wants
to be able to effortlessly hover near the bottom early in the dive and effortlessly hover at a safety stop late in the dive.
positive than they would have liked. Our expectations have increased in diving as we know it today. A diver wants
to be able to effortlessly hover near the bottom early in the dive and effortlessly hover at a safety stop late in the dive.
steve1122, you have demonstrated a lot of insight gained in a short period. Being over-weighted led to having to put as lot of air in your bcd. The more air in the bcd, the more intense the effect of expansion and contraction as your depth varies. I encourage you to try scuba again, and as others have said, with a different instructor. Discuss proper weighting with them before the class begins, so that if you hear the "we like to have students weighted heavy" line, try a different instructor. When properly weighted (not too much, not too little) buoyancy control is more manageable, but it is never easy. Good buoyancy control is in my opinion the hallmark of an excellent diver. It takes some time to master, but not forever. And the bcd, properly used in conjunction with proper weighting, can make diving close to effortless. Here's a tip[ for your next scuba class- put air in and vent air from the bcd in the smallest increments you can- short puffs, not long ones. I think you'll do fine.
DivemasterDennis
DivemasterDennis
phoenix31tt
Contributor
i'm not sure which course/training agency the OP took but my padi book and dvd explained each piece of gear and its uses/how to use and what you should be doing on each OW dive (confined and open)...
in addition to choosing another instructor i would recommend a thorough read of the owd manual and watching the owd dvd (if applicable), so you kind of know what to expect, how to check weighting on your own etc...
in addition to choosing another instructor i would recommend a thorough read of the owd manual and watching the owd dvd (if applicable), so you kind of know what to expect, how to check weighting on your own etc...
ScubaSteve1962
Contributor
You stated this was your first dive, how were you with the BC in your confined area exercises?
fnfalman
Contributor
First of all, a BC is not a "life support device". It's a Buoyancy Control Device.
It helps control your buoyancy, that's it. Plenty of people, by virtues of good weighting and balanced rigs, don't need BCs and they are as graceful as it can get.
OW students back in the days didn't have BCs either and somehow they managed to not kill themselves.
It helps control your buoyancy, that's it. Plenty of people, by virtues of good weighting and balanced rigs, don't need BCs and they are as graceful as it can get.
OW students back in the days didn't have BCs either and somehow they managed to not kill themselves.
For sure its poor instruction and not pushing harder to go through buoyancy drills with wet suits exactly how you'll be diving in open water, WAY before you hit the open water. To me, this is critical and its what's lacking in most OW courses because in most situations, the gear you wear in the pool is not the same as what you wear in the open water. In most cases, the OW instructor comes with gear for the pool, but when its time for OW, you've gotta rent gear. So all of a sudden you're unfamiliar with the gear and buoyancy characteristics of said gear, wet suits being the largest difference.
I feel doing a gear check-out prior to the open water dives is critical. I use to get my students to rent gear a few days before the OW and then we'd go through the gear and get some of the weighting done as a class in the pool, before hitting the open water. Just spending that extra time to make people more comfortable, makes a HUGE difference in situations like this. My students had excellent buoyancy control when leaving class, all because I spent more time with them in the pool practicing it, because it is a critical element. Once you can wrap your head around buoyancy and understand how it works, its very easy (even as a new OW diver) to use those skills in the OW.
In terms of BC vs no BC, I've tried both. I had a aqualung dual hose rig from the late 50's and a matching steel cylinder and plastic backplate. I loved that rig, get the weighting right and the thing was amazing. It was strange having no gauges outside of my diving watch for depth and a little "reserve" switch on the tank. Its kool to get that experience and understand how much more complex diving had gotten over the years. But in terms of having a buoyancy control device, you can dive without it, no problem. Its more difficult to control your buoyancy for sure and you've gotta really plan your dive and depth very well. I do prefer diving with a BC because you have MUCH more control, this is the reason why we started using them in the first place. But if you dive the same sites over and over again, there is absolutely no reason that you need a BC because by the time the tank is almost empty, you'll be a tiny bit positive anyway! Not suggesting that any new diver would want to do this, but anyone who is comfortable in the water and hasn't done this, its worth the experience.
Ohh and talk about a streamlined rig; tank, backplate, regulator, pretty simple!
I feel doing a gear check-out prior to the open water dives is critical. I use to get my students to rent gear a few days before the OW and then we'd go through the gear and get some of the weighting done as a class in the pool, before hitting the open water. Just spending that extra time to make people more comfortable, makes a HUGE difference in situations like this. My students had excellent buoyancy control when leaving class, all because I spent more time with them in the pool practicing it, because it is a critical element. Once you can wrap your head around buoyancy and understand how it works, its very easy (even as a new OW diver) to use those skills in the OW.
In terms of BC vs no BC, I've tried both. I had a aqualung dual hose rig from the late 50's and a matching steel cylinder and plastic backplate. I loved that rig, get the weighting right and the thing was amazing. It was strange having no gauges outside of my diving watch for depth and a little "reserve" switch on the tank. Its kool to get that experience and understand how much more complex diving had gotten over the years. But in terms of having a buoyancy control device, you can dive without it, no problem. Its more difficult to control your buoyancy for sure and you've gotta really plan your dive and depth very well. I do prefer diving with a BC because you have MUCH more control, this is the reason why we started using them in the first place. But if you dive the same sites over and over again, there is absolutely no reason that you need a BC because by the time the tank is almost empty, you'll be a tiny bit positive anyway! Not suggesting that any new diver would want to do this, but anyone who is comfortable in the water and hasn't done this, its worth the experience.
Ohh and talk about a streamlined rig; tank, backplate, regulator, pretty simple!
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