2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 kilos? Difficult, especially when you start, to estimate the number of pounds of lead needed. But to control its buoyancy, beyond the ballast, it is especially and above all to learn to breathe. This is the guarantee of a successful dive, both comfort and safety.
TOO LASTED, DANGEROUS TO DOWNHILL ...
From the surface, if you are too weighted, trouble begins: you have to wait for the others, and you make superhuman efforts to keep your head above water, before you realize that your only chance of "survival" is to. inflate your stab… thoroughly! If you pass this stage, you might think to yourself that after all, thanks to the stab, you will still be able to go up and that it is better to charge the beast briskly. It is also often the technique of the beginner, reassured to be able to descend like a stone when he is not sure of controlling the situation. But he runs the risk of descending very quickly, without giving his ears time to "pass" quietly.
GOURMET IN THE AIR IN THE BOTTOM!
Another element to take into account, if you are too heavy, you will consume a lot of air, often much more than your dive buddies well balanced, and it will be necessary to shorten the ballad. You will have to provide a lot of effort, and you will spend the dive inflating your stab, then emptying it because you start going up dangerously, and so on. Besides being too busy managing your depth, you will not see anything, you will not enjoy diving. And we do not even talk about your ears, which may not appreciate to change depth without stopping.
... BUT ALSO UP
If you're lucky enough not to have run out of breath at the bottom, things could get tough on the ascent. A long time ago, novice divers were often not entitled to anything, neither stab nor fenzy. They had not yet deserved such comfort! And those who had weighted too much regretted it bitterly, and sometimes ended up with paralyzed thighs. It was hard, perhaps limited in terms of safety, but it made it possible to quickly understand the value of good ballasting. Again, cramps and shortness of breath are to be feared. And if you ballast yourself too much, your back will pay dearly for it too.
TOO LIGHT, A DIFFICULT DESCENT
To be too light is also not the solution: to go down becomes a nightmare, you try to reach the bottom as quickly as possible because you know well that everything will be better, ignoring if need be the pain in your ears ...
AND WRONG UNCONFORTABLE BEARINGS
The ascent, almost empty bottle, is a test (especially since you always have ears ache after your speed record on the descent), and the bearings are virtually impossible to hold: in the open water, not even worth the effort. 'try, and if you are lucky enough to have a bearing bar under the boat, you will find the weather very long, clutching the cramp, feet up, not to burst the surface! Unless you take the side, after having painfully joined the bottom, start a harvest of stones to stuff in his pockets stab ... pitiful ... and very uncomfortable.
EXPIRATION, THE BASIS OF EVERYTHING
Beyond calculating the necessary weight, learn to exhale. Tell yourself that you are working exactly like a little submarine: blow the air out and empty the ballast tanks, run, fill the ballasts and go back up quietly. This is called lung-ballast, the absolute basis of diving. And it is only by perfectly mastering this technique, knowing how to inspire but especially to exhale correctly, that you will be able to acquire a perfect ease. If you are registered in a club that offers pool sessions, train again and again. The pool is not very deep? Perfect, since it is closer to the surface that this adjustment of finesse is the most difficult to control. And you will see that very quickly, just by filling and emptying your lungs, you will be able to go up and down without making a movement. BE CAREFUL NOT TO BLOCK YOUR INSPIRATION TOO LONG: PULMONARY PRESSURE DOES NOT ARISE THAN OTHERS.
A BASIS TO ADJUST
Start by asking for advice from the nearest instructor, who by experience probably has some idea of ballasting that may be right for you. You can then, for example in a corner of your notebook, note some benchmarks according to your dives: "such material, such amount of lead, I was well balanced, or a little heavy ...". No need to copy on your neighbor: in addition to differences in material, remember that it may not have the same density as you: the "fat" float better, dry muscular flow in principle like stones! Finally dive with clothes to your size: the big air bubble in the hood or in the upper back has never helped anyone to go down quietly!
TAKE ACCOUNT OF EQUIPMENT
Pay attention to your dive conditions: in shorty or 7 mm, you will not have the same buoyancy. With an aluminum or steel bottle, the deal will not be the same. And beyond these obvious differences, it is easy to be had: because we just changed clothes and we replaced his old skin with a neoprene brand new, or because we do not has not plunged for a long time ... and this is where your ability to fully master your lungs will be very helpful.
TEST
Also take the time to experiment: it's true, when a group of people dive, others may look askance if you tell them that you need a few minutes between two waters to check your ballast. But this lost time will ultimately benefit everyone. And what is called rehabilitation diving should not be considered as a punishment, but as the privileged moment to refine your settings. Training and experience in buoyancy are the keys to success.
INTEGRATED LATCH BELT
Once you really know your buoyancy, and you know what weight you need to take with you, you'll have to choose from the existing models. With always one imperative: to drop its lead quickly (which does not mean losing it under water!).
There is a wide range of weights at your disposal. Without going into the details of all the available models presented by the various brands, you will have to choose between a classic belt, a belt with pockets, a belt with shot, a weighting harness, or a ballast integrated in the stab.
The classic belt is not always comfortable, especially when a badly blocked lead slips between the back and the bottle. Pocket belts solve this problem, since they are fixed. The belt shot, in this sense, is even more comfortable since it marries the shape of the body: but since its principle is to fill an elongated pocket with tiny beads, it does not allow to change its weighting along the way, for example on the boat, in a simple and fast way. The harness, copied to the models of the divers, allows not to carry the weight on the lower body, but is perhaps more suitable for heavy weighting, for example with a dry garment. Finally, more and more models of stabs provide an integrated ballast, practical but has a disadvantage: the set, once installed on the bottle, becomes very heavy. Here again, the best solution is to try to find "his" solution, and gain in ease to take away as little as possible.
Text: Isabelle Croizeau
0 comment
Hello,
I came back from TABA last night… and well it's exactly the same thing…. I got rotten for having made the level of secu (not obligatory of my suunto)… it is even a little limited… after a small load with the DP, we managed to make no levels of security….
@+