[Ammers]

Hi Lou, thanks for your question.

I have a theory about weighting, sorry if this is a bit on the long side but it's for interest. On my first UK dive I had 28 lbs of lead on and I still struggled like #### to get under. As time went on I found that I could drop weight at a quick rate, 2lbs off the belt every few dives. I noticed upon ascent that if I ascended fast and did not dump air very regularly that I felt underweighted in the shallows. This I first put down to taking too much weight off then I realised it was down to incorrect air management technique (ooh vicar).

Now I can drop down in fresh water with NO weight on all in a pair of twin sevens or twelves. No lead. I never wear neutral fins or any other fins except jet fins and I can thoroughly recommend them to anyone. The backplate is ali so there is no weight there either.

When I dive now I take three torches into the caves so that makes me negative and can use "pull and glide" on the rocks on the floor of the cave, saves air and swimming.

I also have quite heavy torches on my helmet so they make me negative. I have started to use the helmet and mounted lights for open water diving too so that adds a bit of weight and frees up my hands for other stuff. If I don't use the helmet I stick 2 4lb weights into my pockets sometimes if wearing ali stages to counteract the positive bouyancy qualities when they start to empty.

I've had to do an incredible amount of reconfiguring with weight because the doctor told me I couldn't dive due to spine problems last year and the weight belt would make it worse, so I went home and got rid of the weight belt and calculated what I could add in different places.  

I can now use the same weight in fresh or salt water! Some of my rig is DIR orientated and some is not, flexibility is key for me and taking the good bits out of systems then leaving what won't work behind.

Going forward I'm moving more and more towards the alpinist school of thought, i.e. cutting down on open circuit stuff to use dual redundant rebreathers so I will have to totally rethink my weighting again...sigh...