Snorkeling with weight

[Painter]

I have been snorkeling for a few years in the Virgin Islands, and enjoy it very much. I am so buoyant, though, that I find it difficult to dive down and stay down for any length of time. It occurred to me that wearing some weight might help ( I wear 14 lbs. when scuba diving). Any suggestions?

 

[tursiops]

Snorkeling would mean you pretty much stay at the surface. Free diving would mean you try and stay underwater. For the latter, a class might be good. A little weight is fine, too much is dangerous.

 

[decompression]

Agreed, a good snorkeling class can give you some great techniques. For neutral weighting, you'll need to see how buoyant you and your wetsuit are (if you wear one). Hit the pool, bring some small weights, see how much it takes to keep you down on a half to empty lung. It's easier if you have your scuba gear lying on the deck or in the pool, depending on hose lengths.


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[jimbeeler]

I usually wear a soft weight belt with 5lbs when snorkeling (with just a suit and shirt). I'm still slightly buoyant but not enough that I can't dive down to check out something.

Jim

 

[dumpsterDiver]

The older I get the deeper I snorkel.. well that's a lie... The older I get, the more lead I wear.

You may want to weight yourself so that as your lungs compress and you get heavier, that you attain neutral buoyancy at your desired depth. Freedivers who are going to maybe 60 or 80 feet, generally want to weight themselves to be neutral at about 30 feet. The deeper you dive the less lead you should wear.

Also, you should not wear so much lead that it is at all difficult to relax and float on the surface. I generally need 3- 4 lbs of lead when snorkeling in a bathing suit, maybe 6 lbs if I want to be able to lay on the bottom in 12 ft or so. Less lead is safer than too much.

Having the correct ballast is much more important for snorkeling than scuba diving. Even being 1 lb too heavy or light will hinder your performance.

 

[boulderjohn]

I will echo those who advocate a class. I am by no means an avid or truly skilled free diver, but I am a heck of a lot better than I used to be. I had to learn BASIC free diving technique in order to teach scuba, since it is part of the open water instruction. Just that little instruction improved my abilities dramatically. Simply learning how to get under water efficiently makes a huge difference.

Friends who do free dive seriously have told me that the very first session with a real free dive instructor will take you farther than you thought possible.

Oh, and, yes, the weights will help a lot.

 

[Phantom Menace]

The comments from BoulderJohn and DumpsterDiver are good. And I would support doing a short course and/or joining a free diving club - you will get a lot out of it.

You should be positively buoyant at the surface (not neutral or heavy) when snorkeling or free diving.

I adjust my weights depending on the general target depth of a session. If I am planning on doing deepish dives then I will dive with less weight. E.g. I have a relatively deep training session planned for this Thursday here in a freshwater lake. I will be wearing a 5mm wetsuit and will have 3kg (6.5 lb) on my belt. This will mean I should be neutral at around 12m (40 ft) deep - but the target depths will be 30m - 40m (100 ft - 130 ft).

If I am doing shallower dives then I will put more weight on my belt - generally trying to be neutrally buoyant at round one-third of my target depth.

 

[seeker242]

I wear 10 lbs in a 3mil shorty diving. I use 3 lbs snorkeling with no wetsuit, and it's good. Just enough to still be able to easily stay on the surface.

 

[jbilicska]

I find that when I'm snorkeling with my shorty wetsuit that I need either 2 or 3 lbs to dive down easier
I love to take pictures and with the wetsuit I'm always surface bound. LOL
I'm not a freediver but My wife and I usually are in about 15 or so foot of water and constantly dive down and swim around .
The weights do help
Just enough to get you down but not so much that you feel like that you're dragging around an anchor

 

[charlier]

As suggested by others, I suggest that you work with a good free dive instructor. He/she can easily help you out and make sure that are neutrally buoyant with your wet suit(s) of choice. I use a free dive two piece 2mm wetsuit with 1 kg. I am neutral at about 10 meters, but use 1 kg between 5 - 30 m depth. What works for me, may not work for others. I also found that moving underwater the water with free dive techniques makes a substantial difference with efficiency, trim, and even my breathing.