Your BC fails now what??

[Gary D.]

I'm with you Nemrod...

I routinely dive twin 72's with no BC and heaven forbid... a twin hose regulator with no SPG!!! Yes I know, I am putting my life in my hands...

My point... divers are now WAY too dependant on their equipment. Heaven forbid we dive without that extra 15# of lead, computer that tells us how much air time we have left in our tank, 2 extra D-rings on your BP/W and that BC that will vent no matter what your position.

I'm not saying get rid of your BC & computer, but learn to properly weight yourself and actually learn how to dive... the human body is not a submarine, quit diving like one.

My favorite description of a diver is a Frogman... we have a lot to learn from those diving pioneers.

OK Fishb0y I just checked out your profile. Where did you get the Brown Strap certification? You know if your not trained in Brown Straps the Navy SCUBA Police are going to arrest you and it’s a Captains Mast for sure.

I myself have never dove Brown Straps. Lots and lots of Black Strap dives and a lot of Blue but never Brown. Did they take much getting used to?

All kidding aside, I love that configuration. I think people who use a BP of any sort with doubles haven’t had the enjoyment of just the bands and strap comfort. I haven’t found anything that rests on your back better than just having the entire length of the tanks spread their weight along your entire back.

You are right when you say things have turned way toooo gear dependent. It just doesn’t take a lot to enjoy a dive safely. I love to see the look on people’s faces after I come up from a quickie dive where I just tossed a tank under my arm and went in after something someone dropped. I’ll do that locally to 40’ in the summer. Any deeper without a suit prevents one from standing to wiz for three days.

Where did you get that matching hood?

Gary D.

 

[Nemrod]

Many divers today actually cannot swim. They use the BC as a crutch, as a life jacket. Certain well known dive agencies promote this with lax swimming requirments and instructors who barely give those a nod. This puts people in the water with no swimming ability, weak and ineffectual kicks and no real water sense.

Learn to dive without a BC, purposely overweight yourself and practice swimming up and even dropping a belt (at the surface). Do this in a pool or other, clear, shallow, well controlled environ. We used to learn all this in the actual scuba course, just because they no longer teach it does not mean you don't need to know how to do a skill --buddy breathing is another---learn it--on your own if you must. Learn to do it with no mask, no BC, swim underwaer laps in the pool with your best buddy, no mask, no BC, buddy breathing and in the middle of it all throw in a doff and don. Recover the gear, complete the dive--all the while buddy breathing. This is what we used to do and it actually still is what you need to be able to do---just in case all the plastic toys quit on you.

Swimming up and I emphasize the swimming is the easy part. It is the staying on the surface once there that can get tiring if your a long way from shore or the boat. That is when, if you must, drop your belt, at that point a decent swimmer should be sufficiently positive. Divers in the pre BC days who were performing shore dives used surface floats made from tire inner tubes, they used surboards (dive boards) and now I use a kayak for that surface support. I also recommend carrying a safety sausage or two tucked away. In my avatar, I am with no BC diving fromour boat but if you look close, see the orange spot behind me, that is a sausage and finger spool.--lol. Oh, on a general note, learn how to swim, good swimmers often make really confident divers, at least it helps. N

 

[Cacia]

good swimmers often make really confident divers, at least it helps. N

wow..you are not kidding. Sometimes I put somebody in the water without gear...and then I think "oh my gosh...can he swim?"

There are some very accomplished divers out there that really don't swim well at all.

I wish all divers could freedive just a bit to be comfortable with mask off, clearing airway, trickling bubbles out their nose, using their lungs...

Having said that, I wish I could freedive better.

 

[runamonk]

I've actually had this happen.

At the time I was wearing a back inflate BC and a wet suit. My inflator hose on my BC was loose so my wing filled with water and of course air just bubbled out the top of my BC.

We were only at about 50 feet when this happened. I signaled my buddy to let him know what was happening. He helped me get back to shore so we could fix the issue.

If this happened now, I would use my dry suit to get myself back to shore so I could work on the problem and get it solved. This is another good reason to carry a SMB, they can help in a pinch to get you off the bottom if you need it.

 

[Nemrod]

"There are some very accomplished divers out there that really don't swim well at all."


Uh, the dog paddle is a stroke isn't it, lol?

I was a WSI, I guess I get all wound up about people being in the water who essentially might drown in a bathtub. If your going to dive, do yourself a favor, learn to swim well enough to stay on top until someone who can swim can get to you. Learn to swim in case one of your children or friends falls into your home pool. Learn how to swim, learn CPR/First Aid etc. N

 

[rockjock3]

The basic idea is that when you are in a heavy wetsuit that will compress at depth and lose bouyancy. Add on top of that the weight of the air in the tanks (could be upwards of 18 to 20 lbs) and you could have a rig that you cant swim up at depth.

18-20 lbs of negative weight is not that much to swim up. When I am at 130' I don't have that much air in my wing at all and would have no problem swimming up my rig with a full tank, or even 15-20 more lbs in the system. I have aborted a deep dive before and with almost a full tank I dumped my wing and commenced with my ascent. I had no problem bringing everything up with just occasional kicks and breath control.

 

[JeffG]

18-20 lbs of negative weight is not that much to swim up. When I am at 130' I don't have that much air in my wing at all and would have no problem swimming up my rig with a full tank, or even 15-20 more lbs in the system. I have aborted a deep dive before and with almost a full tank I dumped my wing and commenced with my ascent. I had no problem bringing everything up with just occasional kicks and breath control.

You warm water people.

Read what you quoted. 20lbs of gas (double 130's) and suit compression, lets take a double layered 7mm suit (a typical suit used in cold water). It takes ~15lbs to sink that thing.

So, now we are 35lbs negative. Start your swim up now.

The Single tank warm water weenie stuff is easy.

 

[lamont]

You warm water people.

Read what you quoted. 20lbs of gas (double 130's) and suit compression, lets take a double layered 7mm suit (a typical suit used in cold water). It takes ~15lbs to sink that thing.

So, now we are 35lbs negative. Start your swim up now.

The Single tank warm water weenie stuff is easy.

yeah, but that person needs to buy a drysuit.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

It continues to amaze me that people state that they can swim rigs that are 12 or more lbs negative up from the bottom (after a BC failure) but these same people will tell you that should you accidentally lose an 8 lb weight belt, you will go rocketing toward the surface in an uncontrolled manner. Seems like you can't have it both ways. I know for a fact that I can control an ascent when I am 20 lbs bouyant with little effort; it is actually much easier than swimming up 15 lbs of extra lead.

 

[louisianadiver]

I don't mean to give my age away, but I dove for 10 years before I bought one of those newfangled buoyancy devices. Not a big deal at all. -Clay