Dumpable weight vs trim

[lowwall]

News Flash: If you aren't overweighted (and for some even if you are), there are multiple ways to achieve positive buoyancy in the last resort buoyant ascent:
Choice #1. Inhale fully. Yup, that's it.

That should read "Inhale fully to initiate the ascent." Then you'll switch to choice 2 or 3.

 

[Rickk]

If the BCD/wing bladder is compromised, just inflate your SMB. Clip it to a D ring and up you go.

But if correctly weighted it should not be necessary in the first place.

 

[Ayisha]

That should read "Inhale fully to initiate the ascent." Then you'll switch to choice 2 or 3.

Only one of the 3 choices I mentioned would be necessary to become positive and then continue ascending. Once you have inhaled fully, you will start rising and as you breathe or exhale lightly, you will continue to ascend unless you vent gas from the BCD.

If you watch students learning to begin graduated ascents with breath control while remaining neutral and making stops every 10 feet, you can see how they sometimes lose control really quickly. They are usually horizontal with their feet stationary. After any of the breath control ascents, if they don't manage their venting, they make a really quick ascent, even to the surface. If you need to ascend even quicker than that, by all means.

 

[TMHeimer]

News Flash: If you aren't overweighted (and for some even if you are), there are multiple ways to achieve positive buoyancy in the last resort buoyant ascent:
Choice #1. Inhale fully. Yup, that's it.
Choice #2. Kick to begin the ascent.
Choice #3. Automatically or orally inflate the BCD.

As said, if you're correctly weighted, having ditchable weight isn't necessary.

You can't do 1 and 3 because you have no air. Maybe that's why a buoyant ascent when you ditch weight is mentioned in the OW manual? I know you can get access to some air as you ascend, but not when starting out, otherwise you would do a normal ascent. For #2, yes you can kick, like what you do to begin a normal ascent when you have no problems. I would think if you're down 100 feet and OOA you'd want the quickest way up, so you'd drop your weights, the heck with the Bends, no?
I would assume if there were no situations where a buoyant ascent is needed it would not be in the manual.

 

[Ayisha]

You can't do 1 and 3 because you have no air. Maybe that's why a buoyant ascent when you ditch weight is mentioned in the OW manual? For #2, yes you can kick, like what you do to begin a normal ascent when you have no problems. I would think if you're down 100 feet and OOA you'd want the quickest way up, so you'd drop your weights, the heck with the Bends, no?

If you got yourself into a situation where you had no gas, you would use choice #2.
Kick, and the gas in the seemingly empty BCD and tank at depth will expand. Rather than pass out, you should attempt to draw a breath occasionally. No need to ditch weights.

If that OOG situation occurred due to poor gas planning and management, and you had no teammate, I would think it would be well past the time to review gas planning and management, as well as redundancy.

 

[johndiver999]

If you got yourself into a situation where you had no gas, you would use choice #2.
Kick, and the gas in the seemingly empty BCD and tank at depth will expand. Rather than pass out, you should attempt to draw a breath occasionally. No need to ditch weights.

If that OOG situation occurred due to poor gas planning and management, and you had no teammate, I would think it would be well past the time to review gas planning and management, as well as redundancy.

Ditching lead is something I would consider if/when I have a failure in my BC. That is the primary reason in my mind to drop lead. If you run low/out of air, you should be able to sip your air and come up with a few kicks and then as you mention, ride the BC up. If all your other gear is working, dropping lead is probably not needed when you just suck the tank down to zero.

You seem to be so confident that there will be no need to drop lead in any scenario - that seems unrealistic to me.

 

[Ayisha]

You can't do 1 and 3 because you have no air. Maybe that's why a buoyant ascent when you ditch weight is mentioned in the OW manual? I know you can get access to some air as you ascend, but not when starting out, otherwise you would do a normal ascent. For #2, yes you can kick, like what you do to begin a normal ascent when you have no problems. I would think if you're down 100 feet and OOA you'd want the quickest way up, so you'd drop your weights, the heck with the Bends, no?
I would assume if there were no situations where a buoyant ascent is needed it would not be in the manual.

Amazing how your full post as I quoted further above doubled in length, kept changing, and then retroactively addressed my post after the fact.

At least be honest and address a post rather than making it appear out of context.

 

[Ayisha]

You seem to be so confident that there will be no need to drop lead in any scenario - that seems unrealistic to me.

The caveat being that one is correctly weighted, ie, not overweighted.

 

[boulderjohn]

What about if you for some reason have to do a "buoyant" ascent, as we learned in OW course being the 5th way to ascend and a last resort?

Actually it has been the 4th (and last) choice for quite some time now. One regulator buddy breathing was eliminated as a choice long ago.

What people are saying is that if you go OOA while diving and are neutrally buoyant, it will take little or not effort to start your ascent. Once you start your ascent, the expanding air in the BCD will do the job without any more effort on your part.

The problem you describe would require two unrelated major failures (OOA and BCD bladder failure) to occur at precisely the same time. For many people, the possibility of two unrelated major failures to occur simultaneously is so remote that it does not need to have to be considered.

 

[johndiver999]

The caveat being that one is correctly weighted, ie, not overweighted.

If someone is wearing a thick wetsuit, then they can not just swim up if the BC fails.