I found this video on Youtube, showing a tech instructor doffing and donning a single tank BP/W underwater, and it made me question a couple of things regarding this skill:
Questions:
- Has anyone here been taught and/or practiced this skill? Does it have any real world application?
I guess entanglement of a part of the tank you can't reach while solo diving is a possible application, but other than that I can't think of many scenarios that would justify the risk of removing the rig (and gas supply) underwater. Am I underestimating the value of this skill?
- Is it possible to weight yourself in a way that makes this skill possible to execute in a safe way (read: balanced rig and neutral diver)?
If yes, what configuration would that require? As you can see in the video, the diver is positive, and the rig is negative. If he were to drop the rig, I'm guessing he would rocket to the surface (and lose his gas supply) unless he was able to swim down against his buoyancy. If the diver was neutral, he could inflate the wing to make the rig neutral, but I'm guessing he didn't because he wasn't neutral himself without the rig - which makes sense considering he has a wetsuit and no weight belt. In my steel doubles and drysuit with heavy undergarments, I'm pretty sure it's impossible to make it work, as I would need a lot of weight on my belt to make me neutral, which would make the whole rig very overweighted. In any case, I have never seen this (being neutral without rig) being discussed on the topic of making sure your rig is balanced.
- How do you mitigate the risk of being separated from your gas supply?
I guess if you're entangled, it's probably close to the bottom, which would at least stop the rig from falling too far away from you. But if you're positive and you lose your grip, I hope you can swim down against your buoyancy to reach the rig.
- Am I overestimating the importance of being neutral without the rig?
I mean, even with a balanced rig you have to be prepared to swim up a few kilos if you have a catastrophic loss of buoyancy at the start of the dive with full tanks, but you have a lot of gas to deal with it, and it would get easier the more you breathe it down. I don't know how I feel about having to swim down against a few kilos to chase your gas supply. Actually, I know how I feel about that: it's frigging scary!
PS.
I also just realized:
If a single tank is a requirement for being able to perform this skill safely, and solo diving is the only reason you would need to take off your tank underwater - what about redundancy?!
Questions:
- Has anyone here been taught and/or practiced this skill? Does it have any real world application?
I guess entanglement of a part of the tank you can't reach while solo diving is a possible application, but other than that I can't think of many scenarios that would justify the risk of removing the rig (and gas supply) underwater. Am I underestimating the value of this skill?
- Is it possible to weight yourself in a way that makes this skill possible to execute in a safe way (read: balanced rig and neutral diver)?
If yes, what configuration would that require? As you can see in the video, the diver is positive, and the rig is negative. If he were to drop the rig, I'm guessing he would rocket to the surface (and lose his gas supply) unless he was able to swim down against his buoyancy. If the diver was neutral, he could inflate the wing to make the rig neutral, but I'm guessing he didn't because he wasn't neutral himself without the rig - which makes sense considering he has a wetsuit and no weight belt. In my steel doubles and drysuit with heavy undergarments, I'm pretty sure it's impossible to make it work, as I would need a lot of weight on my belt to make me neutral, which would make the whole rig very overweighted. In any case, I have never seen this (being neutral without rig) being discussed on the topic of making sure your rig is balanced.
- How do you mitigate the risk of being separated from your gas supply?
I guess if you're entangled, it's probably close to the bottom, which would at least stop the rig from falling too far away from you. But if you're positive and you lose your grip, I hope you can swim down against your buoyancy to reach the rig.
- Am I overestimating the importance of being neutral without the rig?
I mean, even with a balanced rig you have to be prepared to swim up a few kilos if you have a catastrophic loss of buoyancy at the start of the dive with full tanks, but you have a lot of gas to deal with it, and it would get easier the more you breathe it down. I don't know how I feel about having to swim down against a few kilos to chase your gas supply. Actually, I know how I feel about that: it's frigging scary!
PS.
I also just realized:
If a single tank is a requirement for being able to perform this skill safely, and solo diving is the only reason you would need to take off your tank underwater - what about redundancy?!