weight belts? we don't need no steenkin' weightbelts!

This is a story of the state of dive training, or, more accurately, the state of some dive trainees learning abilities...

I was at the LDS today to drop off my regs for service (I do them yearly; call me brainwashed, but that's another thread), and I have to wait in line.

There's a group of 4 people talking to the owner. After listening a bit, I gather that they're gearing up for a trip somewhere. There's some talk about needing wetsuits. Then some talk about needing tanks. Then some talk about needing weights. One guy is doing most of the talking. The conversation then goes something like this:

Guy says "I think I need 30 lbs". (this is Monterey diving, so this is actually a reasonable figure)
Owner asks "where are you going to put it? do you have a weight integrated bc?" (he's trying to figure out what sort of weights to give this guy)
"um yeah, it's got some pockets"
"how much weight can it take?"
"umm..."
"what brand is it?"
guy wanders over to the bc display and says "it's kinda like this one" which is a non-weight integrated bc.
owner asks "where are you putting the weights?"
guy unzips the bc pockets and says "in here"
owner says "umm, I don't think that's good idea. How would you ditch your weight? Don't you remember about that?"

There's learning the skills and passing the tests, but actually understanding what you're learning is another matter, it seems...

-Simon

"Only two things are infinite; the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the universe."
Albert Einstein

Low level of scuba education is the other. The two combined are a time bomb (hopefully killing only the ignurant diver and not more).

Sad story indeed.

Ari

For a recreational dive, I agree with you entirely. If I need weight to sink, it had better be ditchable (or most of it in any case). My recreational BC is weight integrated so I have never used a weight belt.

However, in my doubles, I rely on redundancy of my BC systems. Like many divers here, in doubles I am negatively buoyant the minute that I hit the water with no additional weight. It's difficult to ditch my weight without ditching my gas supply in that case.

Having said that: When is the last time that this guy was diving? I am either crying because of his ignorance or laughing at the joke being told!

Well at least the guy in the LDS was wise enough to say something to this guy about it.

That weight might actually be ditchable. You know, when the pocket or zipper fails because they're not designed to hold 20lbs of lead.

The last thing the guy's going to hear before his rocket ride to the surface is the sound of fabric tearing.

My own absent minded ness caught up with me this weekend in MI.

here's a quote from my dive report for the final dive of the weekend.

Well, last dive of the trip...we descend down and begin out journey around the starburd side of the boat. About 8 minutes into the dive, peering into the portholes and just getting a feel for the wreck, I say to myself "I haven't put any air in my BC"....I feel for my weight belt....ummm...not there...I think back to the descent....hmm, it was harder than usual for me to get down....5H!T, my belt is on the boat, but my bouyancy at depth is fine, and I'm not having a problem. So, I tell my buddy I don't have my belt...he thinks I'm a little nuts, but due to the fact we're into the dive, and I don't have any problems (other than the psychological one at this point) we continue the dive

Click to expand...

Maybe the guy is like me and wants some non-ditchable weight on the BC itself....(I have 6 lbs permanently attached to my BCD's hard pack)

I personally keep some of my weight in the ditchable portion and about 1/3 of it in my non ditchable portion (I dive with 16-22 lbs). My thinking is this...if I need to ditch my weight and I drop 10-15lbs I'll come up pretty quick anyway. If I am really desperate I can open those pockets and ditch more (if I am calm enough)

I have eight non ditchable pounds also.

Big-T, how much was actually on the belt you left topside, and how did your buoyancy feel during your deco hang/safety stop??

Do you think you may have accidentally discovered that you can drop a few more pounds?

Its really sad to know every here can see a potential hazard with this guy, and can make fun of him. He walked into the shop thinking he knew what he was talking about. Now lets remember when we first started diving, when we were around our friends. Instead , did someone try to explain or was the guy the type you could'nt tell him anything?