In the ideal dive laws the diver begins a dive with the correct amount of weight.
In reality we know that far too many divers are overweighted.
In the ideal dive laws, every diver has good bouyancy control before diving in open water. The real case is that too many have little or no bouyancy control even after certification.
In ideal diving laws divers have reliable gear and a dependable buddy available and able to help in the case of the odd malfunction. The real case is that many are simply in the same ocean on the same day diving rental gear of unknown condition.
The point of ditchable weight and of ditching weight in the water is to keep the poorly trained real diver alive long enough for them to learn something and to get better training and skills of to take up a drier hobby.
A rec diver, diving in most places with the common gear is not likely to get very far into deco even with a fast ascent. Even if they get bent THAT will be treatable.
AGE is a far greater risk, but there are a couple of factors to reduce that risk.
First, the explitive they are saying through their reg as they go up lets air out.
Second, AGE is also treatable.
A missing diver, on or near the bottom at an unknown location is NOT treatable and is likely to be dead before being found. Divers looking for the missing diver are also at higher risk because they will take chances they would not normally take, to try and save a life.
In rec diving, it is important to get your buddy to the SURFACE and keep them their. While it is better to do this with normal technique if you must you should dump their weight.
Tech diving is a different kettle of fish, and there dumping weight before reaching the surface is rarely a good idea.
Remember, divers used to be taught 60 FPM ascent rates and most divers were going up faster than that. They weren't getting bent at every dive. Not to say a fast ascent is a good idea for normal diving, but a diver being missing on the bottom running out of gas is a worse one.
In reality we know that far too many divers are overweighted.
In the ideal dive laws, every diver has good bouyancy control before diving in open water. The real case is that too many have little or no bouyancy control even after certification.
In ideal diving laws divers have reliable gear and a dependable buddy available and able to help in the case of the odd malfunction. The real case is that many are simply in the same ocean on the same day diving rental gear of unknown condition.
The point of ditchable weight and of ditching weight in the water is to keep the poorly trained real diver alive long enough for them to learn something and to get better training and skills of to take up a drier hobby.
A rec diver, diving in most places with the common gear is not likely to get very far into deco even with a fast ascent. Even if they get bent THAT will be treatable.
AGE is a far greater risk, but there are a couple of factors to reduce that risk.
First, the explitive they are saying through their reg as they go up lets air out.
Second, AGE is also treatable.
A missing diver, on or near the bottom at an unknown location is NOT treatable and is likely to be dead before being found. Divers looking for the missing diver are also at higher risk because they will take chances they would not normally take, to try and save a life.
In rec diving, it is important to get your buddy to the SURFACE and keep them their. While it is better to do this with normal technique if you must you should dump their weight.
Tech diving is a different kettle of fish, and there dumping weight before reaching the surface is rarely a good idea.
Remember, divers used to be taught 60 FPM ascent rates and most divers were going up faster than that. They weren't getting bent at every dive. Not to say a fast ascent is a good idea for normal diving, but a diver being missing on the bottom running out of gas is a worse one.
