I found and lost the perfect Safety ROCK

[ClevelandDiver]

I went out on a vintage dive last weekend at the local quarry. Healthways double hose (my Aquamaster is on its way), steel 72 with J-valve, 1/4" sharkskin, rocket fins, black rubber oval mask, 6lbs of lead and the mandatory dive machette strapped to my calf. I weighted myself perfectly for the 25-45 foot range I was diving in, using just the suit and my lungs for bouyancy, but was quite floaty in 1-20 foot range.

After a nice 30 minute dive, I carefully surveyed the bottom for the appropriate ballast to hold my safety stop. At first I found 2 rocks that had the right feel to them, but then I spotted a beautiful meduim sized rock that just felt perfect.

I signalled to my buddy, the tech diver, that I was heading up and ascended slowly to 20 feet. With my perfect safety rock I floated effortlessly for the next 3 minutes, never rising or dropping more than a couple of feet.

At the end of the stop I signalled again to my buddy that I was going up, and regretfully parted ways with my perfect "Safety Rock". The exit point has a ladder that descends about 10-12 feet, so I dumped the air from my lungs and let the suit carry me to the bottom of the ladder.

I will miss that rock.

 

[Nemrod]

Nothing like the perfect rock!!!!!! Amazing how we vintage divers take note of "nice" rocks along our path so as to remeber where they might be should we want them. Maybe you could just let your "Tech buddy" hand you one of his weight belts. I imagine he has at least two on just in case one fails---lol! In fact, you could just use your "Tech buddy" for ballast since they generally are so overweighted with "gas" cylinders and back up gear they might substitute just fine for a nice rock! N

 

[duckbill]

The river where I dive here only has "mud rocks". Once you grab hold of a "rock", it disintigrates into pieces, clouding the already murky water. I remember one time I was trying out a new (to me) set of twin 38s in the fresh water for the first time, and had underestimated the weight I needed. Man, I looked all over the bottom of our river, but ended up having to get out and hike 40 feet up the levy to find a suitably sized smooth rock. I'm sure the fishermen in the boats thought that rather odd!

 

[fdog]

Ahh...the days of weighting for neutral at 30'...

Of course, back then I would have said "safety what? Are you kidding?"

All the best, James

 

[Bob3]

I had a chunk of high grade iron ore from an old wreck that I was so fond of that I took it home with me.
I gave it to my dad for X-mas that year. Hey, at least it wasn't a lump of coal.