Why would you want to dump weight?

[Mako Mark]

In cave diving if you dump your weights, you also need to dump your fins to be able to walk out of the cave upside down............

In recreational diving, over 60% of divers die with their weight belt on. Dumping weights is not a good way to get to the surface, but it is a VERY good way to stay there. Not enough recreational divers seem to do this judging from the statistics.

 

[String]

Dumping weights looking at the incident reports is the best way to serious injure yourself where many other methods are available.

If nobody dives chronically over weighted there is never a need to ditch.

 

[H2Andy]

Dumping weights is not a good way to get to the surface, but it is a VERY good way to stay there.

i like that. i might just frame it.

 

[Rick Inman]

FT

Stop, Drop, Blow and Go...before my time. .

"Stop, Drop, Spit, Go, Blow, Flare and You're There."
-What NASDS taught me in 1971.

 

[pipedope]

If nobody dives chronically over weighted there is never a need to ditch.

That is a very big if.

If everyone were well trained and practiced there would be very few incidents.

 

[Patty]

I hear quoted again and again, the majority of dive-related accidents occur at the surface - in my brief experience it's certainly true. Having easily dumpable weight allows you quickly and easily alleviate the majority of dive-related problems.

 

[Drew Sailbum]

Every year I read the case reports on dive accidents from DAN and/or BSAC. I don't recall reading such an annual report without seeing at least one injury or death where failure to drop weights was a contributing factor.

Too often an situation arises underwater (as a result of equipment failure/poor skills, etc...) and a diver makes an emergency ascent. Sometimes the emergency ascent is accomplished with a buddy (alternate air source) and sometimes without (ESA). Subsequent failure to drop weights (plus some panic and/or further problems) allows the distressed diver to sink and become injured or die.

I try to drill this lesson during any O/W training. Any emergency ascent is not resloved until after all involved divers are positively buoyant on the surface, and possibly not unitl all are ashore or aboard the dive boat.

 

[armyscuba]

Why? to Dive another Day...

 

[MikeFerrara]

In recreational diving, over 60% of divers die with their weight belt on. Dumping weights is not a good way to get to the surface, but it is a VERY good way to stay there. Not enough recreational divers seem to do this judging from the statistics.

I agree. Now all we have to do is address the panic and the overweighting. In recreational gear if you are correctly weighted and OOA it should take a little work to get down even if you wanted to descend.

In a 2 piece 1/4 inch wet suit and an AL 80 I have 4 pounds on a weight belt. If I lost it at depth I could still do a fair job of controlling my ascent especially if I still had some air in my tank. Also I could keep myself at the surface whether or not I dropped the weights.

If I had lost all gas I would be very neutral and maybe a pound or so pos at the surface and it would be a simple matter to manually put some air in the wing. If the wing was totally nonfunctional and I had to be at the surface a long time well...I might toss the weight.

Too often an situation arises underwater (as a result of equipment failure/poor skills, etc...) and a diver makes an emergency ascent. Sometimes the emergency ascent is accomplished with a buddy (alternate air source) and sometimes without (ESA). Subsequent failure to drop weights (plus some panic and/or further problems) allows the distressed diver to sink and become injured or die.

True, but again...many of these divers are wearing WAAAYYY too much weight in the first place. The poor trim and buoyancy control problems that go with it do nothing but contribute to the panic in the first place, All that detachable weight is dangerous to lose on accident at depth, and they're too heavy to stay at the surface without air in the bc.

They're an accident waiting to happen. I see divers in OW training with 30 pounds on a belt. The people without hips can't even keep it on. They need a full bc to stay at the surface.

Divers need the right amount of weight and they need the right amount of ditchable weight. Anything else is dangerous.

Training divers to ditch at the surface is good but they also have to be taught how to balance their rig in the first place. Then it's unlikely that their life will ever depend on droping weights.

 

[ArcticDiver]

It has been interesting reading this thread. Seems to be a lot of folks who jump to extreme conclusions based on what I don't know. Never the less there are more than one good reason to drop at least part of your weights.

First, of all needing to drop weights doesn't mean the diver is overweighted. It just means that without dropping them in the present circumstances the diver doesn't have enough lift to get to the surface, or to remain on the surface.

Second, dropping weights doesn't mean the diver is going to be panicky, injured or any of those things. Those are Possibilities. But they are not foregone conclusions as presented.

Gee, when we were practicing Unconcious Diver Rescue during my OW certification I don't recall any of the "victims" or "rescuers" ending up with any injuries. Nor did the actual victim from a separate real incident that weekend. In all cases either all or part of the weights were dropped.

When to drop part or all of your weights?

In a situation when the diver needs to be positively on the surface and for some reason can't guarantee it by some other way. For example: An unconcious diver, One of those dives whose boat left them, or any similiar time.

When in a down current where trying to swim out of the current, upward finning and inflating the BC didn't solve the problem. Personally, I've been in one of these where I was to the point of dropping weights when the current finally let me go.

There may be others, but these are good examples.

So, in Open Water any time you can't get to the surface, or stay on the surface by conventional means, Drop Weights. If you are rigged so you can drop weights incrementally all the better.

Now the rules change a bit when there is a Hard Overhead, like a wreck or a cave. Being pinned to the top of a compartment in a wreck doesn't solve very many problems. But then the kind of situation where the extra lift would be helpful, like a down current, doesn't come into play either, at least in wrecks( I don't do caves either above, or below water).

If it is a Soft Overhead, like a Deco Obligation then the diver is exchanging a certain bad outcome for the possibility of a better outcome. Part of the risks and rewards of Deco Diving.