Wing vs Drysuit bouyancy

[dammyla]

As i understand it, GUE teaches use of the wing for bouyancy rather than the drysuit. The suit being essentially for keeping snuggly warm and in case of wing failure

I like and think i understand much of the GUE way of doing things (although freely admit i am too undisciplined to do it myself) but cannot understand the reasoning behind this one.

Please could someone share the benefit of their wisdom with me?

ta


P.S. I'm really hoping its not something as simple as 'you might not be wearing a drysuit cos if it is.....

P.P.S. If it is the above, what if you are wearing one, why not use it for bouyancy then...

[Leg Of Salmon]

The wing is a very contained space for the gas, it can't move around a lot. In a suit the gas has a lot of space in which to move around, this causes dynamic instability*.

A wing is easier to use as a buoyancy compensator, although some people manage very well by using their suit.

A wing is designed to control buoyancy, a suit isn't.

There are probably lots of other reasons too, such as "you might not be wearing a drysuit".










*Buzzword Bingo!

[Lou]

Reverse it...why would you use the drysuit, that is for keeping you dry and warm for bouyancy, rather than the wing that is for...er...keeping you neutrally bouyant?

[dammyla]

Ive always used the suit because that is what i was taught (and now as a consequence, i find it much easier and more convenient).

They were quite adamant that 'by this stage, your BC's should have minimal air in them unless at the surface'

As i say, i'm curious as to the logic for eaither side of the discussion

[SilvaFish]

Diving twins, my suit doesn't have enough lift. Hence I use the wing for buoyancy.

[Naomi S]

I use my BC and have just enough air in suit to not get squeezed. If you had too much air in suit a slight change in trim angle is going to see all the air going to your feet/ arms and upper body. It just feels all wrong and squishy i think.

For newbies who are getting used to a dry suit it's got to be beneficial to have air in BC too cos what are you going to do if you find yourself going up by your feet? Pull your kidney dump that's what. If there is no air in your BC you could be doing a rapid by your feet and not be able to do anything about it.

[Lou]

The wing is a far more controlled environment to have the gas, and it puts the lift where you need it, around the heavy bit ie the tanks. There or two dumps that let you dump gas whatever your orientation.

The drysuit is a bag designed to hold you and enough gas to keep you warm and let you move. There is one dump, if you aren't in the right orientation you can't dump.

If you are diving with twins and stages where you might be fairly heavily overweighted at the start of a dive it makes far more sense to have the gas in the right place, in a bladder that is limited, controllable and easy to dump from.

[Garf]

A few reasons I can think of

Standardisation

One of the fundemental principals of the DIR configuration is that the same approach is used whatever dive is planned

Whilst you can use a suit for buoyancy with a single cylinder, it becomes a lot more difficult with twins and/or stage bottles, so you would have to use a different technique depending on what bottles you had.

If you are diving somewhere a tad warmer than the UK, you would use the wing/bcd there as you might not be wearing a drysuit. SO now you have one method for diving in one environment, and another method for diving in a second environment.

Using the wing at all times means we learn one technique and then apply it to whatever environment and whatever dive we have planned.

Efficiency

Using a wing or BCD for buoyancy usually means you can get away with carrying less weight. This is becuase more gas will typically be trapped in the suit than in a wing. The gas in a drysuit is also a far more unstable bubble than the gas in a wing, and far more difficult to control , as it has more scope for moving around, and spreading out.

Stability

A wing puts the gas bubble right underneath the cylinders if you are horizontal in the water. This makes for a very stable platform, especially if you are prone to looking around and changing trim in the water

[Blu DL]

Originally Posted by dammyla

As i understand it, GUE teaches use of the wing for bouyancy rather than the drysuit. The suit being essentially for keeping snuggly warm and in case of wing failure

I like and think i understand much of the GUE way of doing things (although freely admit i am too undisciplined to do it myself) but cannot understand the reasoning behind this one.

Please could someone share the benefit of their wisdom with me?

ta


P.S. I'm really hoping its not something as simple as 'you might not be wearing a drysuit cos if it is.....

P.P.S. If it is the above, what if you are wearing one, why not use it for bouyancy then...

In my opinion, if you drysuit dive, and you use the wing for buoyancy - you do actually use both the wing and the suit for buoyancy to some degree as when you ascend the suit gas expands and you dump it in the same way you dump gas from the wing. I find it easier to use wing for trim and I use some air in suit for comfort and 'micro trim' - dumping both as I ascend - but thats me - not saying anyone else should do it that way - I'm not DIR but I quite like alot of the ideas.

I used to dive on suit only but found that I was wasting air as I constantly lost it thru accidental dumping (ie too much in the suit) and I found when diving twins - you start a little heavy - even when correctly weighted,

[dammyla]

so presumably along the same lines, a shoulder dump left pretty much fully open until back at surface would be the way to go?

Needless to say i currently use a cuff dump for ease of dumping

(left myself wide open to some amusing interpretations havent I? )