What would you have done?...

[scuba_junkie]

So I keep analyzing the minor incident from my Tobermory trip over and over in my head. The one where my dive buddy lost one of his intergrated weight pouches.

My first instinct was to swim for the pouch since I was close to it while it was falling. When I think about it, should I have swam for my buddy instead? Luckily he was experienced enough to dump all the air from his BC, and he had his weights distributed in the back trim pockets, front BC pockets as well as the integrated pouches. Plus the fact that he was right next to a railing on the ship that he grabbed onto. If things where different, and he had a higher % of his weights in the integrated pouches, he may have gained too much positive bouyancy before he had a chance to grab the rail. Thats what made me think I should have checked on him first instead of worrying about the equipment. After all, losing a weight pouch is well worth avoiding the chance of getting bent from a bouyant ascent from 70 feet down. Perhaps I am over-analyzing this?? I guess in hindsight, I should have swam to him instead to make sure he didnt float away. Could have, should have, would have... just another lesson learned to add to my experience.

So what do you all think??

Erich

 

[Genesis]

You might not be able to stop him, even if you go fully negative!

If you've got significant exposure protection on, AND you catch him immediately, AND you're deep enough, you should be able to get 3-5lbs negative if you dump all your air from your BC.

If he ditched more than that much weight then you're BOTH heading to the surface at a greatly accelerated rate and if you both try to fin against it you're likely to interfere with each other (e.g. kick one another) - not good!

I don't know what the "correct" answer is to this one; in many cases the positive person can swim down against the buoyancy, at least temporarily (e.g. long enough to grab the errant pouch and/or something solid)

 

[MSilvia]

It's a lot harder to "unbend" a buddy an hour later than it is to retrieve a belt.

Unless, of course, you're close enough to grab it and hand it back before they start to rocket skyward.

 

[Genesis]

you probably can't stop him if he has inadvertantly ditched all (or even a signficant part of) his weight if he is overweighted.

HE may be able to stop HIMSELF by swimming down, but YOU almost certainly cannot - you simply can't get negative enough for it to matter unless you're grossly overweighted in the first place.

This, by the way, is one of the reasons that weight and balance seems to be VERY important. Your ditchable weight should be limited to that required to (1) compensate for the tank's buoyancy swing and (2) compensate for compression of your wetsuit at depth.

If it is, then you CAN successfully swim against accidentally-ditched weight - and so can your buddy.

 

[MSilvia]

Prevention and self-rescue are pretty key. That's why I wear two buckles... the odds of popping both are a lot less than the odds of either of them coming loose.

 

[O-ring]

This, by the way, is one of the reasons that weight and balance seems to be VERY important. Your ditchable weight should be limited to that required to (1) compensate for the tank's buoyancy swing and (2) compensate for compression of your wetsuit at depth.

Exactly. With the weights spread between the rig itself and a belt, you shouldn't be able to ditch enough to make a truly dangerous rapid ascent if all you do is drop a little weight. In that situation, I would have dumped my BC, grabbed him, and signaled him to flare out and dump his BC or tried to do it myself to arrest the ascent. If you can't stop it, you would have had to let him go.

Of course, being close to the railing is a much better solution

 

[Rick Murchison]

Yep... gotta agree here... buddy first.
When's that?
Well, that's before you ever get in the water. Your ditchable weight should not be more than you can stand to lose without an uncontrolled ascent.... nor should your buddy's. And this should be discussed, decided and known before the giant stride.
Now, to the incident.
We've already determined, through our pre-dive prep, that inadvertant loss of ditchable weight is at worst inconvenient, and not an emergency. But still, we want to keep our buddy first, right? So now the question becomes "Was the weight loss inadvertant?" What if it was intentional, and your buddy has begun an EBA? Would stopping him be a good idea? Probably not!
So, just go get the weight - if it was inadvertant, your buddy will still be in control and on his way to meet you. If it was intentional, you can return the weights on the surface. Either way, your buddy's safety came "first."
Rick

 

[WreckWriter]

It's a minor incident, a sh!t-happens thing, not an emergency. It's good you're thinking on it but don't let it ride you to bed. All is well.

Tom

 

[Scubamedicjoe]

first if he loss his weight theres not allot you would be able to stop him if you are properly weighted , if you ever had the advance bounancy class you know that you learn to get rid allot of the weight that most divers carry , this the average diver might carry roughly 15-25 ibs while I have seen some divers end up taking off as much as 50% of there weight and still be able to dive just fine . this being said as he accends he could do a number of things one empty his bc of air also add water to same second lay flat and try to swim and slow his accent and maybe slow enough, but yes your self is most important second him and last that gone weight belt remember if you grab him and you both sky rocket to surface now your both up the creek this may sound mean but you wont be able to help him if you get in same boat yes assist him anyway you can but do it with in reason that will help you both anyway glade it came out ok .
oh what BC was he using ?

 

[art.chick]

I understand the desire for nice trim, but is it really true that you should make that much weight non-ditchable? I keep hearing about these divers who are even putting weights in their wetsuits to reduce BC pocket weight. Most of those pockets won't accomodate enough for some divers in full 7mm wetsuits.

So what happens if I have to drop your belt to make you possitively buoyant? It is my own instinct to want all my weight (21lb) ditchable. Occasionally, I wil have 2 lb on ring weights, but I want to know that when the belt drops, I can be rescued without further surprises to my rescuer.