Underweighted and Ascended Too Fast

[Lopez116]

Hi guys,

I did a very shallow, short dive today and the last part of my dive has left me unsettled. During the ascent to the surface, in the final 12-15 feet, I could not slow my ascent. I was diving with a full 7mm, gloves, boots, hood and 22 lbs of lead. My last dives have been with 24 lbs and I've felt overweighted especially towards the first half of the dive. Today, I tried 22 lbs.

It was definitely a little more difficult to descend. I had to duck dive to get down, but wasn't too bad. At depth, I felt very properly weighted. But, the last 15 or so feet, it was very difficult not to float up. I had ALL the air out of my BC (in fact never added any during the dive but made sure it was empty before I began my ascent). During ascent I kept trying to dump any air that might have expanded, but nothing.

In my last 15 feet, I got a bar, then 2 on my Zoop's ascent rate indicator. I did everything I could to try to slow and was trying to empty my lungs as much as possible. In the last say 7 feet, I got more bars and eventually the SLOW indicator before I broke the surface.

I dove to 31' max for 24 min, but avg depth was 22'. I am a conservative person by nature and have my Zoop set to the most conservative setting. It's now been 2.5 hours since I surfaced. I feel fine, but 1) how at risk am I for DCS or AGE, and 2) what do I look for/when so symptoms usually appear?

I am embarrassed to be positing this, so try to take it easy on me.


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[00wabbit]

You will always feel overweighted at the beginning of the dive because the air in your tank adds to your weight. As you breath it down it will become more buoyant.

Check your weight at your safety stop with a near empty (500psi) tank. Let all the air out of the bc. If you sink you are heavy.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

You are not going to get bent from a dive like that. AGE symptoms would be evident quickly.

You said you did everything to slow the ascent. Did you lay flat out on your back spread eagle like an upside down sky diver? That will slow you down a lot. Also, just exhaling for the last 10 feet over a duration of 10 or 15 seconds will reduce your buoyancy a lot.

 

[Lopez116]

You are not going to get bent from a dive like that. AGE symptoms would be evident quickly.

You said you did everything to slow the ascent. Did you lay flat out on your back spread eagle like an upside down sky diver? That will slow you down a lot. Also, just exhaling for the last 10 feet over a duration of 10 or 15 seconds will reduce your buoyancy a lot.

Not upside down skydiver, just regular skydiver. Just trying to create drag basically. I didn't know about that. Thanks for the tip.

I did exhale out pretty much the entire last 10' ish.

I didn't think I would be too at risk since it was a very mellow profile, but I know the pressure changes are greatest towards the end of the ascent. The mantra "slow down the most during the last 10-15'" kept going through my head!


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[Mr Carcharodon]

You did well. Ideally you should dial back your weight until you become slightly bouyant on an empty tank in shallow water. Now you know what you need much more precisely than any estimate or formula could provide. And this was accomplished in shallow water at low risk. This was a good outcome.

 

[fnfalman]

Next time, go invert and kick down to slow your ascend rate.

With your dive profile, I think that you're OK on the DCS and if you didn't hold your breath, I don't think that you have to worry about embolism.

 

[Gren]

I've been on 3 dives lately where someone had this begin to happen just to have a buddy or DM swim over and pull a dump and have plenty of air come out. Make sure you know where your dumps are and know how to move to get the air to them.

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[Lopez116]

Thanks everyone for your comments and suggestions.


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[diversteve]

It's been 4 hrs. between your posts. So you're fine.

I can't tell you the # of times I've done that, usually following turtles or dolphins to the surface while filming. And I vent all the air out of my BC that I can. The buoyancy swing on an AL-80 still gets you once in a while - [-]try it[/-] it's worse with a 100. It's why I like to dive small steels.

When I first started diving, we didn't do safety stops. They weren't taught either. We just exhaled, controlled our ascent rate and surfaced. My first 20 years I didn't have a computer either - just stay below your bubbles if your depth gauge was inaccurate from 0-20' - many were.

 

[Lopez116]

It's been 4 hrs. between your posts. So you're fine.

I can't tell you the # of times I've done that, usually chasing turtles or dolphins to the surface while filming.

When I first started diving, we didn't do safety stops. They weren't taught either. We just exhaled, controlled our ascent rate and surfaced. My first 20 years I didn't have a computer either - just stay below your bubbles if your depth gauge was inaccurate from 0-20' - many were.

Always appreciate your input.


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