Losing integrated weights

[Joaz Banbeck]

Buddy and I were in hunting lobsters off of Anacapa in the Santa Barbara channel yesterday. We were about 25 feet down with an irregular bottom at about 30 feet. We were maybe 5 to 10 feet apart. Visibility was about 20 feet near the surface, 35 near the bottom. We had been down maybe half an hour.

I was using my 4-and-1 rule of thumb: look around for 4 seconds, then look for buddy, and repeat. I had looked for lobsters for 4 seconds, then I looked for my buddy. He was gone. In 4 seconds he had just disappeared.

I did a few slow pirouettes, saw nothing. Then I started swimming in circles about 20 feet in diameter, maintaining depth of about 25 feet. I was expecting to see him emerge from a crevice with a lobster. Still, no buddy.

Then I saw a black object on the rocks at about 30 feet. It was a weight pack. It was all I could find of my buddy. I went down and grabbed it, adding a burst of air into my vest so I could lift it.

I had a weird image slipping though my mind of Delmar picking up the frog in 'Brother, where art thou?', and then the obvious realization followed. I had been buddyless for about a minute at that point anyway, so I went up.

He was on the surface. He was fine, except that he reported that he had experienced some buoyancy problems. The integrated weight pack had slipped out, and he didn't know it.

We were able to laugh about it, but I started wondering later: what if that had occurred at 125 feet instead of 25? I'm thinking of going back to the old fashioned weight belts.

Any thoughts?

 

[nimoh]

my thoughts on weights are that ditchable weights are nice on the surface, but it is far more important that your weight stays on you while diving rather than being easy to ditch.

 

[tracydr]

I agree that you might consider going back to a weight belt, or better yet, since you dive cold water, divide the weight up between a steel backplate, steel STA ( a weighted piece that can be added to the backplate), and a weight belt, or some weight pouches that are made to go on a HOG harness like the Halcyon pockets that are dumpable and slide through the weight belt. When you have to wear 15-30 lbs because of the exposure protection needed for cold water, its a good idea for a lot of different reasons, to spread the weight around to various locations. Which is part of the reason many cold water divers have gone to a backplate/wing system. A steel tank is also helpful because you don't have to compensate for 4 pounds of positive buoyancy at the end of the dive.

"I had a weird image slipping though my mind of Delmar picking up the frog in 'Brother, where art thou?', and then the obvious realization followed. I had been buddyless for about a minute at that point anyway, so I went up."
Spitting coffee all over my IPAD!

 

[herbdb]

I use integrated weights and have had a weight pouch slip out once. Guess I got sloppy and did not get a positive click. Because I divide my weight pretty much equally between trim pockets and weight pouches, this was an inconvenience barely noticable at the start of a dive. If it had happened at the end of the dive it still would not have been a big deal.

I realize that all weight pouches are not created equal, but I don't believe weight belts are better. One handed releases are subject to failure and inadvertent activation, too. Then you have lost all of your weight.

I think one should really consider the distribution of weight as much as how it would be released.

 

[TSandM]

The problem with any kind of weight system is that it's trying to do two diametrically opposed things equally well . . . it needs to retain the weights until it has to let them go easily. Most systems seem to do one better than the other, and unfortunately, the one they seem to do better is release the weights. However, the issues exist with belts, too, especially the friction buckles that are used on most weight belts.

It has already been mentioned that a good strategy is to distribute your weights between ditchable and non-ditchable, so that the loss of any portion of ditchable weight does not result in a buoyancy loss you can't counter. But even a loss that you CAN counter can be stressful (she says, remembering an ascent in the San Juan Islands that was done hand-over-hand up a kelp stipe, after a five pound soft weight managed to slither out of a weight pocket).

I use a Mako freediving belt, because the tongued buckle seems much more secure than the friction buckles, but will release -- but I also wear my belt under my harness, so that ditching it requires two maneuvers and not one. Yes, that will complicate a rescuer trying to drop my weights, but it's still doable, and I'm willing to deal with the issue, given that I dive dry everywhere, so I have enough buoyancy to float at the surface even if one of my buoyancy options fails.

 

[BDSC]

I much prefer the weight integrated pouches with a BC than a weight belt. The weight pouches I use have big clips that hold them in place and in many years of using them, I have never had one come off. I have seen others with the velcro style pouches and have known a few folks who have lost them during a dive. Usually it's when they first jump in it seems. Do whatever you feel most comfortable with but if you have a system that you believe holds them and they won't or haven't come off, I'd stick with what you have.

 

[Joaz Banbeck]

... A steel tank is also helpful ...

FWIW, we were both using steel 100s.

 

[Agility]

I was diving in Egypt when my Buddy lost one of her weight pouches at 25m , i saw it falling and dived after it to the sandy bottom at 32m. The moment I picked it up I realized I had gone in the wrong direction. I should have raced to my buddy first to help her stay down. Gladly enough she had experienced the same problem before and we were deep enough so she could hold her depth by emptying her BCD.
Lesson learned.

 

[nimoh]

I was diving in Egypt when my Buddy lost one of her weight pouches at 25m , i saw it falling and dived after it to the sandy bottom at 32m. The moment I picked it up I realized I had gone in the wrong direction. I should have raced to my buddy first to help her stay down. Gladly enough she had experienced the same problem before and we were deep enough so she could hold her depth by emptying her BCD.
Lesson learned.

If she can drop a weight pouch and stay neutral by dumping some air from her BC, then I would suggest she is carrying too much weight.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

If she can drop a weight pouch and stay neutral by dumping some air from her BC, then I would suggest she is carrying too much weight.

No way! That is the whole point of a BC (and a wetsuit). At depth, the suit is crushed, the need for lead is eliminated or reduced.