Floaters and sinkers

[Albion]

I met a guy who was diving in 3mm wetsuit with D-R Transpac (not Backplate) and needed 0, thats Zero weight, and yes he could hold his stops.

 

[lamont]

I've always heard that everyone could float. When I did my OW, however, I found that I was negative, even though I was about 20% body fat. Guess I'm a natural 'diver.' Had to cheat on the float test. I slowly worked my way to where I could just touch my toes on the bottom.

With 25% body fat I can barely float with my mouth above water and breathing out of the top of my lungs. I'm trying to lose weight which should make me sink like a rock...

 

[grazie42]

I´m @ 10% bodyfat (yes I know having it measured is sorta sad but I was curious).
Anyway...my point was that when I relax I still float...
Think the ideal/acceptable % is between 8-20%, so lamont, you really dont have to worry about sinking...or even about losing weight ;-).

 

[dweeb]

On another thread, someone posted:

"My experience is that NO ONE (at least those who are not really obese . . . ) is inherently bouyant."

I thought that was very interesting. In the years that I've done swimming, snorkeling, and now diving, I've always heard that some people tend to be "floaters" and others "sinkers."

What's your take?

Physics is a science, not magic. Human bodies are almost entirely made up of water. There are only two sources of buoyancy in a human body, fat, and air spaces(lungs, GI tract, ears.) The amount of both these buoyancy sources is controllable to the point that any human can be a sinker or floater, but not necessarily both on the same day.

Everybody knows how to control the fat part, although the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. The air part can be reduced to where you will sink, as well. The single biggest factor in that is stress, which causes your body to maintain a larger lung volume.

 

[dweeb]

I met a guy who was diving in 3mm wetsuit with D-R Transpac (not Backplate) and needed 0, thats Zero weight, and yes he could hold his stops.

Not unusual. I wear a 3mm shorty under a 3mm full suit when the pool is really cold, and with a jacket BCD and 500 psi in an AL80, sink. A lot of people I dive with do the same.

Just think ponderous thoughts, and they pull you down.

 

[rab]

Like the earlier post, I sink in fresh water unless I keep my lungs *full* (legs sink regardless), but I can comfortably float on my back in salt water.

Back in HS (20yrs ago!) I took an "Advanced Lifesaving Course". For the in-water injury (neck / spine) and AR (artificial respiration) parts we combined with the "Water Safety Instrutor" class. My instructor had made everyone switch partners for the various skills practice, but the other (WSI) instructor apparently had not. Well, when they paired up with one from AL and one from WSI, I was with a girl about my age, but bouyancy was another matter. She floated like a cork and was easy to keep at the surface. Apparently, her usual partner was also a "floater". When it was my turn to be the "victim", she got quite a workout keeping me from sinking! She was very relieved when the classes went their separate ways again.

-Rob

 

[Gary D.]

Years and years ago we did the +- Bouyancy testing in the Escape Training Tank in Pearl Harbor. They pulled me into the 30' lock time after time.

Back then I was a skinny little bad ass with a chest bigger than my butt. Well, 40 years later those positions have changed and I still sink like a rock.

I have some thick dense bones and over my entire lifetime have only broken 2 small bones in my wrist from closing my hand in a ships hatch. It was never treated and in X-rays you can see the healing scars. Not bad for as active as I have been. I have been run over by a Ford Pick-up, fallen out a second story window, raced motorcycles for 7 years never learning how to stay on two wheels, been pinned between a Ford Crown Vic and a Chrysler doing 30 mph and went airborn as a kid when a 57 Chevy, the driver admitted to doing over 30, hit me in a parking lot.

Thats just some of the stuff I can think of. Add that to being brought up in an old fashioned Italluan, Itallion, Italuan, Dago family where getting the crap kicked out of you was normal and I should have broken about every bone in my body.

Getting old and still sinking.

Gary D.

 

[simbrooks]

If i have a lung full of air i float, if i breathe it out i sink, without wearing any other stuff but my bathing suit, unless i breathe in through a snorkel or kick up i would continue to sink. Add in some neoprene and i tend to float a little more than sink. I am slowly losing fat body mass and thus i am also still removing weight from my weight belt, hoping to drop a few more body fat percentage points though, then i will aim to stay at that weight by achieving equalibrium of diet and exercise

 

[IndigoBlue]

On another thread, someone posted:

"My experience is that NO ONE (at least those who are not really obese . . . ) is inherently bouyant."

I thought that was very interesting. In the years that I've done swimming, snorkeling, and now diving, I've always heard that some people tend to be "floaters" and others "sinkers."

What's your take?

The expression is meant to apply to breathing normally on scuba underwater in warm seawater wearing a swimsuit or dive skins.

Extremely lean people will not need any additional weight. They are "sinkers."

Everyone else is a "floater." TV and restaurant food have contributed mostly to this being the case.

 

[O2BBubbleFree]

The expression is meant to apply to breathing normally on scuba underwater in warm seawater wearing a swimsuit or dive skins.

Extremely lean people will not need any additional weight. They are "sinkers."

Everyone else is a "floater." TV and restaurant food have contributed mostly to this being the case.

BUZZ Wrong answer, but thank you for playing. See multiple posts above. Not everyone 'else' is a floater. Simplistic statements like this can mislead those actively seeking good information.