Catastrophic Failure - How much weight to drop? Theoretical Discussion

[flots am]

ok, point taken. CORRECTION for the syntax police: Why are divers dying after they have reached the surface with their weights still on? Do we know?

They go back under, then die.

Unless positively buoyant, the only thing keeping them up is treading water, which only works for a very short time before fatigue or a medical problem (heart attack/etc.) makes them descend again.

Ditching weights either below or at the surface assures positive buoyancy and means that the diver isn't going back down either accidentally or on purpose.

flots.

 

[koozemani]

At 99' on a single breath. Exhale into your bc, assuming that's not the problem, making you more buoyant and breath off the bladder as needed to control your ascent. Deal with the bacterial infection later. There should be enough oxygen in there for several breaths. No weight dump needed.

 

[rjack321]

They go back under, then die.

Unless positively buoyant, the only thing keeping them up is treading water, which only works for a very short time before fatigue or a medical problems (heart attack/etc.) makes them descend again.

Ditching weights either below or at the surface assures positive buoyancy and means that the diver isn't going back down either accidentally or on purpose.

flots.

Treading water, flailing while hyper focused on getting the power inflator to work from an empty tank...

Or they were dead on the ascent from AGE precipitated by going OOA.

In either case, ditching their weights is not going to create more dead divers. The ones dying on acsent from AGE will still be dead. And the ones who are surfacing alive won't sink back down and drown.

I think there's an excess of paranoia about ditching weight. There's also a paranoia about skipping safety stops in emergencies.

---------- Post added March 12th, 2013 at 09:37 AM ----------

At 99' on a single breath. Exhale into your bc, assuming that's not the problem, making you more buoyant and breath off the bladder as needed to control your ascent. Deal with the bacterial infection later. There should be enough oxygen in there for several breaths. No weight dump needed.

Doesn't work. People "discover" they are OOA when they can't inhale. There's little or nothing to exhale. Before an inhale most divers would be slightly negative.

 

[koozemani]

Doesn't work. People "discover" they are OOA when they can't inhale. There's little or nothing to exhale. Before an inhale most divers would be slightly negative.[/QUOTE]

The op specified a full breath was already in the lungs. This wasn't an ooa on dry tanks, but some sort of failure.

 

[raftingtigger]

At 99' on a single breath. Exhale into your bc, assuming that's not the problem, making you more buoyant and breath off the bladder as needed to control your ascent. Deal with the bacterial infection later. There should be enough oxygen in there for several breaths. No weight dump needed.

Won't work that way. Air in your lungs or air in your BCD is both at ambient pressure. Moving the air from your lungs to your BCD does nothing to change your buoyancy. It also won't get you more air to breathe. Keep it in your lungs and vent (exhale) as needed, you will get the most oxygen that way. When I say "vent as needed" means keep your airway open all the way to the surface. Don't force the air out, but don't restrict the outflow either.

 

[koozemani]

Won't work that way. Air in your lungs or air in your BCD is both at ambient pressure. Moving the air from your lungs to your BCD does nothing to change your buoyancy. It also won't get you more air to breathe. Keep it in your lungs and vent (exhale) as needed, you will get the most oxygen that way. When I say "vent as needed" means keep your airway open all the way to the surface. Don't force the air out, but don't restrict the outflow either.

True if you sat at 99'. But during your ascent, the air in the bc would expand and would not be wasted by venting.

 

[rjack321]

True if you sat at 99'. But during your ascent, the air in the bc would expand and would not be wasted by venting.

Or you could skip all this nonsense and drop some or all of your lead. Exhale on your way up and don't worry about "wasting" that exhalation. Which is pretty much what every recreational training agency recommends.

 

[divingpyrate]

recently was faced with the drop or not drop decision. I had ring on my inflator hose come loose during a dive. was not aware my BCD would not hold air until I hit the surface, ahead of others because I am an air hog. Fortunately I still had air, and could breath but was swimming 14 lbs of weight and an almost empty tank. It was very tough, and could have been a panic situation for some. I saw our boat near by as they were following the sausage that was sent up for my early ascent. Signaled distress and got ready to dump as I was indeed tiring fast on a low supply of air. The boat made it to me quickly and i was able to grab on to their side rope.

If I had it to do over, the weights would go as soon as I know the BCD was failing. Dont try and swim weight on the surface. I am 56 years old, and in average to good health. It was not an easy task swimming weights

 

[raftingtigger]

True if you sat at 99'. But during your ascent, the air in the bc would expand and would not be wasted by venting.

The air in the BCD expands at exactly the same rate as the air in your lungs. Leaving it in your lungs lets you get oxygen from it. Then if you drop 5# (about the amount of lift from a breath of air) you will be 5# buoyant (assuming neutral at start) for the whole ascent. No rocket ship ride.

___________________________________________________________________________

Is dropping weight at depth the best option? Probably not, but it sure beats dying on the bottom. I personally would rather be found dead at the surface rather than maybe found -- and dead -- at the bottom. Who knows, I might even be found alive at the surface.

Also, if you don't believe in ditching at depth and you don't have ditchable weight, how do you expect to ditch any in an emergency at the surface? A weight belt falling off doesn't have to be a disaster, I recently helped a buddy put theirs back on at depth. I think it was about a 15-20# (26# in reality) belt and it came off at 30'. He noticed the loss quickly but not abruptly. Turned around, swam back and retrieved the belt.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

recently was faced with the drop or not drop decision. I had ring on my inflator hose come loose during a dive. was not aware my BCD would not hold air until I hit the surface, ahead of others because I am an air hog. Fortunately I still had air, and could breath but was swimming 14 lbs of weight and an almost empty tank. It was very tough, and could have been a panic situation for some. I saw our boat near by as they were following the sausage that was sent up for my early ascent. Signaled distress and got ready to dump as I was indeed tiring fast on a low supply of air. The boat made it to me quickly and i was able to grab on to their side rope.

If I had it to do over, the weights would go as soon as I know the BCD was failing. Dont try and swim weight on the surface. I am 56 years old, and in average to good health. It was not an easy task swimming weights

You hit the surface with a nearly empty tank and a BC that would not hold air and you view this as a situation that requires you to signal "distress" ...What was the nature of your distress? I am confused? Why would you not put your snorkel in, hold the smb and then relax as you wait for the boat to pick you up?

---------- Post added March 12th, 2013 at 05:56 PM ----------

True if you sat at 99'. But during your ascent, the air in the bc would expand and would not be wasted by venting.

If you had more experience, I think you would realize that for a VAST majority of divers, they need to be ditching lead, conserving energy and NOT trying to blow their last dying breath into a BC during an emergency. Most divers can not even orally inflate their BC on the surface when scared or stressed without a lot of difficulty.