June 2009    Download the Entire Issue (PDF)

Vol. 24, No. 6   What's this?

New Divers Need to Reduce Their Weights

from the June, 2009 issue of Undercurrent  

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Dear Undercurrent,

Regarding part two of “Why Divers Die” about overweighting in the April 2009 issue, I believe dive operators are partly responsible for overweighting divers. Their goal is to get divers down by adding weight. They do not explain that you should fully exhale, then breathe from the lower part of your lungs to break the surface. No, it’s “add weight, get them down.” This is why we see so many divers swimming at a 45-degree angle, pushing water as they go and using up air. They have too much weight on their hips so they need air in the BCD, which is on their upper body and causing the upright swim. But the divemaster got them down anyway. ...