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While i was doing my checkout dive 2 months ago, i had a slight problem. We dove down into a rock mass, 35feet and w/ a bunch of lobsters for more than 20 minutes. When we were coming back up to 20feet, my compressed wetsuit expanded & i floated to the top with my BCD totally deflated!
This could be very dangerous if i was diving at a deeper depth, right? Are there any ways to prevent another accident like this from happening?
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That's a little odd. If you were able to descend with that weight from 0-20 feet, then you shouldn't have gotten shot like that. The only explanation i can think of why it happened is maybe you descended w/ u head first, that's why the bubbles floated into your wetsuit opening. and when u finally ascended, the trapped air in ur wet suit expanded.
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The first solution would be to start doing a formal weight check. Do it in a shallow water& make sure your BC is tatally empty. The idea is to float at an eye level w/ yur normal breath & to sink if you exhale. This can be done with a full tank & then u can add the weight of the gas that u carry. Another way is empty the tank to the PSI that u would like to use as ur minimum reserve.
if you won't do this, u wouldn't know if you're underweight or if you're not successful in venting your BC or if you're holding too much air in your lungs. BREATHING is a major factor in buoyancy. actually, even those properly-weighted & professional divers also lose buoyance control because they also sometimes lose control of their breathing,,,
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It is but normal for your wetsuit to compress at depth but it will expand back to its original size as you ascend. That's common to all wetsuits. Buoyancy control is also something u will learn only from experience & practice. Your situation normally happens to new divers who haven't figured out how to manage their ascents yet. Try to practice ascending at a much slower rate. maybe limit it at about 5-10 feet per minute, then hold for 1 minute every 5ft interval. Ohhh, ul figure it out soon.
Let's dive some more!  
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The moment you become more comfortable in the water, u'd soon be able to lose many many pounds. Plus, dont pick a diving equipment or diving suit with too much weight on. Anyway, i recommend that you do a lot of diving and focus on buoyancy control. Get some more experience in the water in every scuba diving lessons u take.
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You know, there is a combination of things that causes divers to be buoyant when ascending. Always work with ur BC, ma sure you're able to get all of the air out of it. My BC is a back wing type & it holds a small amount of air if i don't tilt myself properly to get the dump valve to the highest point. And if urs is an aluminum tank, it will really become buoyant as u comsume the air up & that really makes a big difference at15-20ft. I got no idea what ur exact weight is. But i, for one, i always take a stop at 20ft bcz the shift in buoyancy at 15ft is a little tough to deal with.
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I only have a couple of observations. One is that, if you check your weight before diving w/ a full tank, then you were carrying the extra weight of the air at that time, that weighs about 6 pounds per 80 cubic feet.
second is that, the volume of your lungs make several pounds difference during buoyancy. The tendency is you'll take a big breath of air if you are having some sort of difficulty. And if you combine this with the little air left in ur BCD or the one trapped in your wetsuit, then taking a big breath will really make u pop to the surface. You need to drill yourself so that a super full exhale can become ur initial response when u are beginning to pop upward.
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Your issue sounds like it's happening because your weight is being adjusted for a full cylinder & an empty BC at the beginning of your dive. Note that the accurate checking of your weight is done using a cylinder on reserve air & an empty BC to simulate your buoyancy by the end of diving. AND it has NOTHING to do with your scuba diving wetsuits! But only with the weight of the air u consume as u were diving.
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lincoln
Free Diver
Posts 33
Points 33
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Absolutely true! Those theories on scuba diving wetsuits really make no sense at all. The logic is if particular scuba diving wetsuits can push a diver back up, then the same wetsuits also won't allow the diver to go down. In addition to that, doing a weight check w/ a full tank also won't work unless there's added amount for your consumption.
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hop_derek posted the following on Thursday 15th November 2007
AND it has NOTHING to do with your scuba diving wetsuits! But only with the weight of the air u consume as u were diving.
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It is actually BOTH the weight of the air consumed & the compression of the scuba diving wetsuits. Because even if the diver has the perfect weight, at the beginning of the dive & is able to go down, the wet suit will still compress at depth & lose its buoyancy, and it will allow the diver to stay down while the tank weight decreases. And upon a diver's ascent, the suit will expand again & will regain its buoyancy. ONly then, the diver is already too light-weighted to stay down.
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lincoln
Free Diver
Posts 33
Points 33
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And the buoyancy of scuba diving wetsuits is practically the same at the start and end of the dive, The difference only happens because of the weight lost to the air that expired.
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