Diving without releasable weight

[Scuba Lawyer]

My wife had her drysuit neck seal completely separate from her suit once. The loss of buoyancy from that, especially because she was in an older fleece type undergarment that saturated easy, was extreme. She had to drop her lead at the surface because her BC had some reserve buoyancy but not enough to counter the loss of 10-15 or whatever pounds of lift even a vented drysuit provided. As you can imagine with only her head out of the water and no functional neck seal water pressure completely vented and flooded the suit (and it was crazy cold)

If you only have 5lbs of lead total having little or none be ditchable isn't great but isn't the end of the world.

When you have 20+ lbs of lead you really to have a decent amount of that be ditchable (half-ish would be good)

Same thing happened to me maybe 30 years ago. I had a 36 lb belt on and was diving a drysuit (don't recall brand at this point, may have been an SAS) diving Eagle Rock on the West End of Catalina Island. I had circumnavigated at depth around the base and had a bag full of lobster. Got down to around 500psi (maybe a tad less chasing bugs so 1st mistake) at 90 feet and added some air to my suit (no air in my BIU - yeah, I know) to ascend.

Followed the wall up and got to the surface and all the sudden my neck seal blew out and in a nanosecond (or so it seemed) I was back at 90 feet with a drysuit full of water. I put a few squirts of air into my BIU but the tank was nearly dry. Dropped my 36 lb belt (for the first time ever) and was still way heavy and now completely out of air (yeah, another reason to have a pony bottle). I literally climbed the wall hand over hand while exhaling whenever the air in my lungs expanded enough to be able to do so. It was the longest 90 vertical feet ever. The second I hit the surface and took a breath my first exhalation went into the oral inflator of my BIU. I still hung onto the rocks until the Avon tender from my friend's boat we were on was able to come get me.

It was an all around bad day for diving because when I rounded the stern in the Avon I saw one of my dive buddies laying on the swimstep unconscious. We started working on him and called LA County Baywatch. We upped anchor and headed back around the West End where we met the lifeguard boat and transferred him to their boat who in turn took him to the Isthmus where a helicopter transported him back to a hospital on the mainland. Turned out he had a cardiac event underwater but managed to get to the surface, dumped all his gear, and pulled himself onto the swimstep where he passed out. He survived to dive again, but that was one day I'll never forget.

Amazing how one post can bring back such a flood of memories. Back to the original topic, if my weight was not ditchible I wouldn't be here to write this.

P.S. I forgot all about my bag of lobster and it was still attached to my harness when I got back on board the Avon. The day was not a total loss.

 

[lermontov]

i

I think I just solved my problem. It looks like these pockets may be able to be attached so that they are oriented upside down. So in that respect, they are just like the scubapro weight pockets i mentioned above. Voila! Ditchable weights!
Back side:
View attachment 541051
@Scubada

is that a single weight pocket what brand are they

 

[Storker]

I forgot all about my bag of lobster and it was still attached to my harness when I got back on board the Avon.

OTOH you might have had it easier if that had been the first thing you ditched.

The only time I have a catch bag attached to me is when it's empty. If I've put anything into it, I'm hand-holding it. A full catch bag is heavy, and people have died with a bag full of scallops attached to them.

And if it's full I prefer to clip a lift bag to it and send it up by itself instead of holding on to it during my ascent

The day was not a total loss.

If it were me not ditching my full catch bag, my comment would rather be "that was pretty stupid"

 

[Centrals]

I dive with a weight belt with weight since Day 1 and I am NOT going to change the practice.

Safe diving.

 

[happy-diver]

Yep catch bag clipped to the chest and waist two or three clips so the thing doesn't drag through the dust making a mess so I can't see the next scallop merrily plucking one really good one out of loose clumps of ten averaging 60 per dive

Yeah weight belts or pouches if I'm heading back strap them on like a weight belt stuff them somewhere very very securely with available carried equipment and keep diving

just like anchors and other general recoverable pieces of ships

Lobster, a couple of nylon bags folded up to nothing in a pocket
to be pulled out when you catch a lobster

nylon bag for abalone strapped to chest

because it would be really dumb to cart around a huge catch bag with no catch

Because a DIVER can't hold this stuff in the hand for more than not long at all if at all
and when ultra diver loses his grip, well I would suggest tempting this is really stupid!

Especially a shore diver
and diving down there

solo

Nothing to do with safety as if you can dive wearing 40 kg of stuff and 100kg of person
you can dive wearing 50kg of stuff and 100kg of person with the right fastening system
that permits unhindered unclipping, if you are a diver

and on these occasions, two thirds of your weight on a belt so you don't become positive
if you take your breathing apparatus off

but of course when boat diving you've collected them so let some other mug haul em up

and of more course, more room on the chest required for fins, so when the ocean spits you out
you can run

or stagger better

 

[Storker]

catch bag clipped to the chest and waist two or three clips so the thing doesn't drag through the dust making a mess so I can't see the next scallop

If you're that bothered with your catch bag dragging, I suggest improving your technique.

because it would be really dumb to cart around a huge catch bag with no catch

Uh, what? My bag doesn't contain any catch at the start of the dive. Sometimes there's hardly anything in it at the end of the dive either. Still I'm carting it around. How is that dumb?

I don't know what kind of catch bags you're using, but mine has a stiff opening made from a hinged stainless steel hoop, and a clip to keep it closed. When the bag is empty, I fold it up and pinch the bag inside the opening before clipping it off to a D-ring. When I need it, I unclip it, open it, stuff my catch into it and hold it in my hand. And I have more control of the bag, less issues with it dragging when I'm handholding it than if it were hanging from a D-ring.

To be perfectly clear: I think that having a filled catch bag clipped to your rig is a stupid and dangerous practice. Like I said upthread, people have died because they didn't or couldn't ditch a catch bag full of scallops. Stupid and dangerous.

 

[johndiver999]

I think I might worry more about unditchable lead than a heavy catch bag that can be unclipped from the harness or BC or weightbelt. .

 

[hammet]

i

is that a single weight pocket what brand are they

aqualung proprietary for outlaw bcd only as far as I know.

 

[Storker]

I think I might worry more about unditchable lead than a heavy catch bag that can be unclipped from the harness or BC or weightbelt. .

Yes, it can be unclipped. Question is, how easily can it be unclipped in an emergency? A bag full of scallops is several kilos negatively buoyant. Have you - or others who seem to be ok with attatching it to themself - actually tried to unclip and ditch one? How easy is that in an emergency? How probable is it that you remember it? After all, it isn't a skill which is taught at basic level and re-rained at higher levels.

It's a completely unnecessary risk factor.

 

[Scuba Lawyer]

Yes, it can be unclipped. Question is, how easily can it be unclipped in an emergency? A bag full of scallops is several kilos negatively buoyant. Have you - or others who seem to be ok with attatching it to themself - actually tried to unclip and ditch one? How easy is that in an emergency? How probable is it that you remember it? After all, it isn't a skill which is taught at basic level and re-rained at higher levels.

It's a completely unnecessary risk factor.

1. I was taught originally (1967) to attach my game bag to my tank harness with a strap with a quick-release loop (just like a vintage tank harness where the strap loops back on itself so one tug releases it.) Very easy to ditch and I have done so in the past. It is still the method of attachment I use. I can see how clipping a bag to a harneness that has to be unclipped, would add complexity to ditching it.

2. Remembering to do ditch the game bag in an emergency? Yea, well, guilty there on all counts. Agree that a full game bag carried in the hand is best. One less thing to worry about in an emergency. Back in the days when my game bag had 7 lobster, 10 rock scallops and whatever the abalone limit was at the time (4?), plus maybe a speared ling cod and a few Calico Bass, I carried a 50 lb lift bag attached to the game bag along with 50 feet of line. I'd deploy the lift bag at depth, leave the game bag as a counter weight on the end, and use the line to ascend.