RiverRat:
I can't get over the fact that many divers (experienced too) feel YOU MUST add air to your BC when diving warm with minimal thermal protection, to become neutral. That YOU CAN'T use your lungs to get to neutral (only to make minor adjustments). That in order to compensate for "gas weight" you HAVE to use a BC.
Since the displacement of your lungs is limited, I'd say it would depend on how much gas you are carrying and how much of a buoyancy change you have to compensate for.
So...yes, warm water, no buoyant exposure protection and a small tank...probably not to big of a deal.
I always bring up the fact that divers were actually diving before BC's were invented. I get no responce.
What did they do? Scurry along the bottom until their tanks ran dry????
There's a lot written on what cave divers did before they had a BC. They had to lite on the floor when they stopped finning. They silted everything out and it caused all kinds of problems. Read "Caverns Measureless to Man" if you haven't. So...they started using whatever kind of plastic bottle they could find to put on a string and used it for a bc until someone built a real one. They also used drop weights. These very skilled divers had a pretty rough time with the equipment they had at the time.
OW divers in compressible wet suits went in the water underweighted at the surface and swam or pulled themselves down so they can be neutral at depth. Lots of ascents had to have been pretty fast.
I remember watching all the Coustou shows when I was young. They spent lots of time on the bottom. They weren't at all excersizing the same sort of buoyancy control and trim that we shoot for.
Anytime the diver had significan't buoyancy changes to deal with (either from exposure protection or carrying lots of gas) it was a mess, which is why most of us use a BC now days. It's better.
Beyond that, a pool is the only place I've been able to dive much where I didn't need a heavy exposure suit...and some of the pools I've had to use were to cold for diving without one too. But....just a swim suit and a small tank...no problem.
I agree it takes very little air to manage the swing. Sorry for getting a little testy. I'm actually pretty mellow. I think we're agreeing on the key points. Buoyancy is definitely much less of an issue when neoprene isn't a factor, as you have pointed out.
