Posted by Wayne on December 09, 2000 at 18:31:50:
In Reply to: Re: Mike Nelson used CO2 "Rescue Packs" posted by AADIVER on December 08, 2000 at 22:15:29:
Good point Frank. You can make up for a fair amount of weight with breathing. And the use of BCDs has made us tend to be overweighted and use the BC to control everything.
A couple of years ago I had a failure of the inflator hose on a BC and it really frustrated me (happened very early in the dive). Not really a problem, but I was tending to drag and crawl along the sand instead of cruise above. Of course when I was moving, it was not a problem. Ascent was not a problem either, but I really like a full BC on the surface. Kinda nice to float high and feel the sunshine on the face.
The equipment has gotten much better, but we have become more reliant on the features. Last year a friend and I went diving. When we geared up, his inflator started leaking. We spent about 5 minutes horsing around with it on the surface, before we unplugged it and dove like we did before power inflators. What if he was not comfortable orally inflating it?
When I dive with folks who own all their own gear, it is not an issue as they have usually fine tuned their weighting. Folks who must rent wet suits have the greatest problem because they err on the heavy side. When they lose their BC, they sink like a rock and have to dump weight and flare. But a failure of equipment in diving is not always so terrible. I think of skydivers. If they lose their 'chute, it is a hard landing. I can always ascend and there is air up there.
[Caveat: If I am in a hostile environment (overhead obstruction, for example), I need to make my plans and preparations before the dive so I am not harmed by an equipment failure. Oh yea, do not try this one at home without training.]