BDSC
Contributor
You're cracking me up Dude!
Equipment Trends: The BCD
- Thread starter Dive Right In Scuba 2
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
- Messages
- 5,884
- Reaction score
- 2,998
- Location
- Lake Worth, Florida, United States
- # of dives
- I'm a Fish!
Then you will LOVE this one
[video=youtube_share;2VEthluthE4]http://youtu.be/2VEthluthE4[/video]
Note the delicate balance of form and function, in the way the gear this diver is wearing, acts to PREVENT all that UNWANTED forward movement....While holding on to an anchor might be an even better gear solution, this Jacket wearing diver has clearly achieved a level of resistance in the water that Bp/wing divers can only dream about....( and if they do, you know they will wake up screaming
)
BDSC
Contributor
I'm throwing in the towel. No mas. No mas.
regardless of equipment used, poor instruction is poor instruction... That diver could be placed in a BP/W and your favorite free diving fins, and likely look just as bad..... a new diver, which you love to video to show how bad the world of diving is, isn't the best subject to support your cause.
- Messages
- 5,884
- Reaction score
- 2,998
- Location
- Lake Worth, Florida, United States
- # of dives
- I'm a Fish!
If this diver was TAKEN by a Scubaboard "scientist", and re-geared in bp/wing and freedive fins, I agree with you--the results would be horrific for this also....
On the other hand.....You just dont see bp/wing wearing students in a class that looks any thing like this.
If you find a class where all the students are in bp/wing, with no diving prior to the class, the instructor will be someone like Peter Guy ( PADI I think), or some other instructor that would never allow the horrors shown in the last video to occur.
Part of the problem is the old business model that "some shops" embrace, where students are dropped into floppy gear with poor training.
These students often don't really have much of a shot at ever becoming good divers, unless they end up re-taught by someone good.
One of the good things about the instructors starting new divers off in bp/wing, is that to do this, the instructor really does have to embrace proper weighting and trim, and the ideas we have been discussing here. You end up ELIMINATING a huge chunk of the bad instructors that use the bogus business model ( kneeling on bottom, 30 pounds too much weight, huge jacket BC, and the list goes on).
You guys know I like to exaggerate to make a point...and that I am trying to go over the top and add some humor to this whole thing.
So if it was not obvious to you before, sorry
You guys know I like to exaggerate to make a point...and that I am trying to go over the top and add some humor to this whole thing.
So if it was not obvious to you before, sorry
Oh, really?????? Nah.....
Rich Keller
Contributor
That is the way I used to do it when I started. I didn't have money for a SPG so I relayed on the J valve and over a short period of time I got used to the feel of the reg as the tank was getting low. Try explaining how that worked to a diver today and most of them would have a meltdown. I still dive my steel 72 made in 1965 though I replaced the valve in the pic with a Scubapro DCAR valve that I got on line for $25. Now all I need is the pull rod.
Last edited:
For those of you in the Seattle area, you can do just that with Bellevue Divers, a relatively new store on the Eastside. Just trying them out in a pool got me to upgrade both my warm and cold water BCD's. It wasn't cheap, but I love the stability that backplates give me.
Eric Sedletzky
Contributor
Here's another good one I found on Youtube.
Wow! some people!
I got a kick out of the verticle bicycle action (no pun intended).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfqZZeDp1Hk
And this one...even a bigger WOW!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SF3dQDgynT4
Holy crap, is this the current state of typical training these days?
---------- Post added March 2nd, 2015 at 08:58 PM ----------
---------- Post added March 2nd, 2015 at 09:28 PM ----------
I hate to break it to you naysayers about hydrodynamics and drag.
If hydrodynamics didn't play a huge part in diving you wouldn't see freedivers doing everything they can to streamline themselves down to the hair on a gnats ass.
Special suits, special fins, special masks, lot's of training and experimentation in body positioning, etc. If they move their heads slightly off it slows them down. If you put a hand out it will markedly slow you down.
How does this affect scuba diving you say, well if you are just puttering around going very slow, taking pictures, etc. probably not at all. However if you plan on covering any ground and want to maximize efficiency then the faster you go the more all these things drastically affect slipstream. Air/gas consumption also drastically increases along with CO2 loading and all the other bad stuff that happens when you work too hard underwater. When a certain speed is achieved even a hose that is too long will affect efficiency. If something begins to flutter in the water it means it's causing uneeded resistance, better to find a way to tuck that hose away so it doesn't flutter. Big bulky snorkels flutter too, if you are using a snorkel then find the simplest straight bore snorkel you can find at a place that sells freediving gear, they are specifically designed to curve around your head and they are also oval shaped to reduce drag and fluttering, or if you can eliminate it completely that's even better.
I hate to tell you this jacket lovers that want to go fast like the minimalist, you're going to wear yourselves out! I've seen it a hunderd times, these divers getting on boats thinking they are going to keep up with the backpackers to get the bugs, after a days of chasing their dust they finally get pissed off and ditch the jacket for a plate.
All those nifty pockets they put on jackets stick out and will slow you down. The huge air capacity they put on those jackets to make up for the overweighted diver with integrated weight systems will also slow you down. The big padded and overstuffed shoulder pads/straps (whatever you call them) on those isn't going to hold the tank too well. All the padding they put in between that thick plastic thingamabob that the tank cam bands to (with one cam band with a plastic cam buckle no less) will place the tank far far away from you also slowing you down.
Not everybody wants to go fast, but I'd rather have the option to go fast (and slow sometimes) knowing that I'm still more streamlined and will get better mileage at any speed.
I see absolutely no downside to streamlining and minimizing gear, you save money, you save air/gas, you can move, you can glide, you can have loads of fun!
Less is more.
Wow! some people!
I got a kick out of the verticle bicycle action (no pun intended).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfqZZeDp1Hk
And this one...even a bigger WOW!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SF3dQDgynT4
Holy crap, is this the current state of typical training these days?
---------- Post added March 2nd, 2015 at 08:58 PM ----------
I have one, you need it?
---------- Post added March 2nd, 2015 at 09:28 PM ----------
I hate to break it to you naysayers about hydrodynamics and drag.
If hydrodynamics didn't play a huge part in diving you wouldn't see freedivers doing everything they can to streamline themselves down to the hair on a gnats ass.
Special suits, special fins, special masks, lot's of training and experimentation in body positioning, etc. If they move their heads slightly off it slows them down. If you put a hand out it will markedly slow you down.
How does this affect scuba diving you say, well if you are just puttering around going very slow, taking pictures, etc. probably not at all. However if you plan on covering any ground and want to maximize efficiency then the faster you go the more all these things drastically affect slipstream. Air/gas consumption also drastically increases along with CO2 loading and all the other bad stuff that happens when you work too hard underwater. When a certain speed is achieved even a hose that is too long will affect efficiency. If something begins to flutter in the water it means it's causing uneeded resistance, better to find a way to tuck that hose away so it doesn't flutter. Big bulky snorkels flutter too, if you are using a snorkel then find the simplest straight bore snorkel you can find at a place that sells freediving gear, they are specifically designed to curve around your head and they are also oval shaped to reduce drag and fluttering, or if you can eliminate it completely that's even better.
I hate to tell you this jacket lovers that want to go fast like the minimalist, you're going to wear yourselves out! I've seen it a hunderd times, these divers getting on boats thinking they are going to keep up with the backpackers to get the bugs, after a days of chasing their dust they finally get pissed off and ditch the jacket for a plate.
All those nifty pockets they put on jackets stick out and will slow you down. The huge air capacity they put on those jackets to make up for the overweighted diver with integrated weight systems will also slow you down. The big padded and overstuffed shoulder pads/straps (whatever you call them) on those isn't going to hold the tank too well. All the padding they put in between that thick plastic thingamabob that the tank cam bands to (with one cam band with a plastic cam buckle no less) will place the tank far far away from you also slowing you down.
Not everybody wants to go fast, but I'd rather have the option to go fast (and slow sometimes) knowing that I'm still more streamlined and will get better mileage at any speed.
I see absolutely no downside to streamlining and minimizing gear, you save money, you save air/gas, you can move, you can glide, you can have loads of fun!
Less is more.
Last edited:
- Messages
- 5,884
- Reaction score
- 2,998
- Location
- Lake Worth, Florida, United States
- # of dives
- I'm a Fish!
[video=youtube_share;AmT-KwGtri0]http://youtu.be/AmT-KwGtri0[/video]
To support what Eric was just saying about hydrodynamics,
start this video at 3:00 minutes in....Watch the kick and glide.
Watch the way this freediver moves so easily, and his position relative to the scuba divers
changes as if he can be anywhere, but they are essentially stuck in place.
The Dol-Fin Wing is not "faster" than good freedive fins in any major sense, but it allows less blood oxygen to be used, as the power is not generated from the quads and hamstrings and calves like with freedive fins, but from oscillations of the entire body--which surprisingly, use much less energy up....If you were using a steel 72 with one of these Dol-Fins, and simple harness ( no stinking BC) , you would still have most of this glide you see....your position relative to the other scuba divers would make them appear anchored, while you are all over the place....and the air supply could last you as long as a 105 might last the other scuba divers.,,maybe longer if you don't go off keeping up with turtles or nurse sharks or goliaths.
Eric can demonstrate this in San Diego with good freedive fins...I can demonstrate it in Palm Beach.
If you SEE this for yourself, you should not need a "scientist" to tell you what you are watching
***All freedive fins are NOT equal....some are Hyundais, some are Lamborghinis The better ones show off the hydrodynamics better, with more effective big kick and big glides, and less use of air.
To support what Eric was just saying about hydrodynamics,
start this video at 3:00 minutes in....Watch the kick and glide.
Watch the way this freediver moves so easily, and his position relative to the scuba divers
changes as if he can be anywhere, but they are essentially stuck in place.
The Dol-Fin Wing is not "faster" than good freedive fins in any major sense, but it allows less blood oxygen to be used, as the power is not generated from the quads and hamstrings and calves like with freedive fins, but from oscillations of the entire body--which surprisingly, use much less energy up....If you were using a steel 72 with one of these Dol-Fins, and simple harness ( no stinking BC) , you would still have most of this glide you see....your position relative to the other scuba divers would make them appear anchored, while you are all over the place....and the air supply could last you as long as a 105 might last the other scuba divers.,,maybe longer if you don't go off keeping up with turtles or nurse sharks or goliaths.
Eric can demonstrate this in San Diego with good freedive fins...I can demonstrate it in Palm Beach.
If you SEE this for yourself, you should not need a "scientist" to tell you what you are watching
***All freedive fins are NOT equal....some are Hyundais, some are Lamborghinis
The better ones show off the hydrodynamics better, with more effective big kick and big glides, and less use of air.Similar threads
