Ankle weights

[SubMariner]

SubMariner, I thought I presented a couple of reasons to prefer heavy fins to ankle weights -- you're less likely to forget or lose them. Either requires more effort at the end of a long lever.

I guess we will have to agree to disagree on this one.

Personally, I don't think constantly overloading your legs with heavier fins is the answer to any problem. I would much rather have the option of a lighter fin whenever possible.

FWIW, the only time I "misplaced" an ankle weight was when my hubby dropped it off the dive boat in 100+ feet of water. (Naw.... not going after THAT one!) IMHO a disorganized diver is just as likely to forget their fins as their ankle weights.

The bottom line is that you have to do what you have to do to achieve static balance. The first thing to fix is posture; the next thing to fix is the position of the tank and the normal weights (weight belt, integrated pouches, etc.). If you cannot achieve static balance with good posture and adjustment of normal weights, you can add things like ankle weights. I do think some people in thick wetsuits just plain need them, especially with Al tanks. In a dry suit, you can almost always solve the problem another way.

Agreed. However, in the absence of a pair of gaiters (or similar results using Rock Boots) there really isn't another alternative in a dry suit unless you go back to the heavier fins argument.

 

[JamesK]

Personally I feel to many people are concerned with "floaty" feet and ankle weights when in reality they don't need them at all! They feel their feet are floaty, but in reality they are in decent trim. For some reason a lot of new divers, and old divers for that matter, feel that if when you stop kicking you are not dang near standing up in the water, your feet must be floaty. I have seen instructors recommend ankle weights to students and then when I watched them dive they could not get horizontal at all and swam around at a 45 degree angle. After class they dove with me, removed the ankle weights, and then were in good trim. Just my 1.5 cents. Economy is bad, I have to save money so you are only getting 1.5 cents.

 

[TSandM]

I dove with a novice diver last night. She was wearing ankle weights, but that wasn't the whole reason why she was in 45 degree head-up trim whenever she was swimming. At the end of the dive, she said, "My legs are always squeezed and my arms are full of air!" I told her that was because she was feet-down all the time, and she said, "I don't want to let my feet go up, because they get floaty and I'm worried I'll do a feet-first ascent!" I think that's ankle weights in a nutshell.

BTW, it doesn't matter whether you use heavy fins or ankle weights -- you're putting mass at the end of a long lever either way, and they're probably an equivalent amount of additional work.