Water and Air in my wing

[drbill]

As others have said, it is normal to get some water in your wing.

Personally, I find donut wings a LOT easier to "fully" evacuate than horseshoes and greatly prefer the donut since, as a videographer, I am constantly making changes in my depth and need a "fully" evacuated wing to stay stable while filming subjects on the bottom.

I also agree with IrishSquid about rotating from a vertical, feet-down position to a horizontal one as I start my descent. Personally I avoid a full inversion to head down/feet up position as a descent that way runs a small risk of introducing any grit in your tank into the valve's dip tube with the potential for clogging your valve and rendering it unable to deliver air. Not a high probability, but I've had it happen.

 

[BenZed]

After the dive: just make sure you rinse the inside of your wing as well as the outside, because you probably weren't diving in tapwater. I usually blow it up and keep it upside down to let all the salt water out through the inflator hose, then I put the mouthpiece under the tap to let in clean water and repeat. Then I blow it up again to let the whole thing dry.

This way, the seals of your vents don't get crusty with salt residu.

 

[irishsquid]

...I avoid a full inversion to head down/feet up position as a descent that way runs a small risk of introducing any grit in your tank into the valve's dip tube with the potential for clogging your valve and rendering it unable to deliver air. Not a high probability, but I've had it happen.

That would suck or actually NOT!

 

[fnfalman]

The head down diving technique works, but one also has to worry about equalization. It's hard to equalize when your head is down and feet are up. So, make sure that you've equalized first and then duck dive down.

I like to do this descend technique when I know that I'm going deep but knowing the depth of the bottom. It's kind of fun to do the sky diver thing and just arrow down then flair out and achieve neutral buoyancy just before hitting the bottom. Probably not PADI/NAUI/SSI approved, but I like it.

 

[blackvans1234]

The kneeling thing is no big deal IMO. While doing pool sessions, I looked like a dang fool in the water, turnin' turtle etc.
In OW it was a different story

 

[pixelpixie]

I love this post! I have the same Infinity set up and and (sometimes, usually on the second dive,) the same problem. Great suggestions for tricks to deflate lungs and positioning. I gotta try some of this! Thank you all for some great ideas.

 

[BluewaterSail]

Your great advice worked! You guys are wonderful!

I did 4 dives this weekend, and not one problem with the initial decent. I think that the problem was the timing of taking a breath and letting it out.

Now the only issue concerning bouyancy and my wing that I still have is controlling the amount of air that I let out with the rear dump. I hold it because I don't think anything came out, then end up letting out too much and have to put some back in. I find the autoinflator much easier to use to let just a little bit of air out, but it seems like a bad habit to get into because it necessitates breaking trim.

 

[Hatul]

In the first descent from swimming on the surface I also have some trouble getting negatively buoyant, and I attribute that to some air trapping in the wing. After all I'm swimming with the BC fully inflated, then have to empty the wing to descent. It's hard to empty the wing at the surface as there is not much pressure to compress the wing. So I think some active swimming down is OK at this point. After some compression by water pressure and the problem is resolved.

Adam

 

[Bubbletrubble]

Now the only issue concerning bouyancy and my wing that I still have is controlling the amount of air that I let out with the rear dump. I hold it because I don't think anything came out, then end up letting out too much and have to put some back in. I find the autoinflator much easier to use to let just a little bit of air out, but it seems like a bad habit to get into because it necessitates breaking trim.

@BluewaterSail: I have a Halcyon Eclipse 30 with a simple hog harness.
I very rarely use the rear pull-dump. To dump gas, I almost always use the power inflater/exhaust assembly. To be successful at this, you need to:

1. Hold up the power inflater/exhaust assembly so that it's higher than the rest of the wing in the water column and
2. Ensure that the bubble inside the wing is positioned at/near where the corrugated hose attaches to the wing.

I realize this sounds complicated, but it isn't. You'll get the hang of it with more experience. For what it's worth, I don't get really comfortable with a piece of new gear until I've had tens of dives using it. YMMV.

In the first descent from swimming on the surface I also have some trouble getting negatively buoyant, and I attribute that to some air trapping in the wing. After all I'm swimming with the BC fully inflated, then have to empty the wing to descent. It's hard to empty the wing at the surface as there is not much pressure to compress the wing. So I think some active swimming down is OK at this point. After some compression by water pressure and the problem is resolved.

@Hatul: I keep my wing near full inflation at the surface, too. If I need to get all of the air out of it quickly during my initial ascent, shortly after dumping as much air as I can from the wing at the surface, I roll onto my back (supine) momentarily while holding down the exhaust button. I then rotate back into skydiver/prone position for the rest of descent.

Admittedly, the descent procedure is somewhat different when one is wearing a drysuit. During descent, the diver hits the drysuit inflater to offset squeeze and maintain near-neutral buoyancy, which modulates descent speed. FWIW, I find that my trim control is much better in a drysuit vs. a thick wetsuit since I can control the position of the drysuit bubble.

I really don't like doing head-down descents in my drysuit because of the combination of the increased pressure on my head and the restriction of the neck seal. It feels like my head is getting squeezed like a grape, and it's harder for me to equalize my ears. Moreover, in that position, my drysuit exhaust valve is unable to dump air.

 

[knowone]

I'm just pleased the girl was initially decent

I hope it generally continues