Is this a crazy idea or am I over reacting?

[DukeAMO]

I believe it is an excellent idea to know your Ideal weight at 15', 500#, and an empty BCD, however I believe in carrying a bit more weight in case I want to be less than 15' deep, have less than 500#, am in a boat traffic area and need to descend quickly, am shallow in the surge and don't want to be pulled to the surface, and so on. Your weight needs to based on the dive as well as the ideal.

How much do you add the the ideal? Just curious...

 

[Bob DBF]

Normally around 2#, will go 4 to 6# for boat dodging or bad surge depending on the dive, conditions, and perceived risk. It's not much, but it works for me.


Bob
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I may be old, but I'm not dead yet.

 

[Goodtime Adventures]

I think you've been given some sound advice so far. Personally I'm happy using a computer to monitor ascent speed, and train my students to do this from OW dive 3 onwards. That being said the only way to get better is to practice practice practice. So yes, practicing is a good idea, but as some others have said not in a continuous up down up down 'sawtooth' profile.

With this being said, once you get a bit more experience under your belt, you should find you develop a sense of your own ascent speed, so you are not 100% reliant on the computer and can use your own judgement a bit too. As has been mentioned some computers are very sensitive to waves, swell, and sharp movements. But the main thing is to go as slow as you can. It doesn't matter which agencies rules you are using, the max ascent speed is just that. A maximum. It is not a target, and slower is always better!