The Great 'Ankle-weights Debate'.

[Finless]

Quote[/b] (Dominic @ Nov. 20 2003,11:47)]Ankle weights are prone to falling off without you noticing.
Fins aren't.

Surely you would notice diving in the six position (as opposed to the 9) ?

[James28]

Before you go to ankle weights, try adjusting your trim. If your feed are heading skywards, move your tank down a bit, so it shifts the point of balance towards your feet more. I dive in a neoprene suit with fins that float & with quite a lot of air in my suit (on a single cylinder anyway).
Some thing I have found without using ankle weights is that its a lot easier to fin & my air consumption dropped as a result.

James.

[Lou]

My tank would have to be strapped to my arse for that to work !

[Dominic]

Quote[/b] ]Surely you would notice diving in the six position

You'd think. But the crux of the matter is - many divers who use ankle weights don't need them. So when they fall off, it doesn't actually cause them any problems. At least, that's my guess.

I just know that the single biggest cause I've ever encountered of people deciding to try diving without ankle weights has been when they've surfaced after a dive and realised that one or both of their weights has fallen off, and yet they had no problems with floaty feet.

Personally, I'm happy to say I'm the opposite - I'm foot-heavy, to the point that I have small trim weights at the very top of my backplate, just to keep me level..

[Driftwood]

<font color='#0000FF'>Erm,

How about trying a thicker pair of socks? Problem I found was that there was a spare bit of space in my suit around the ankles and feet so naturally had anklies for a while. Put a thick pair of socks on one day, forgot about the anklies and enjoyed diving ever since.

Damn cheap solution.

[daz]

My thoughts, &nbsp;If you really need them then use them, &nbsp;If you don't, then don't

As for ankle weights coming loose, my wife had this problem and there was no way she would stop using them so I modified them slightly with a bit of bungee and she has not had any problems since.

Daz

[Dominic]

You love that bungee stuff, don't you?

[daz]

Quote[/b] (Dominic @ Nov. 20 2003,13:22)]You love that bungee stuff, don't you?

Look out for my new book 101 uses for Bungee and Bungee for Dummies &nbsp;

I am a mere Padawan to you master &nbsp;

[Dave Crampton]

I have a found at times air does enter the lower half of my suit but I can get round this by just pushing my legs down (vertical) and then the air rises into the suit. Our club taught us to dive at an angle just off horizontal so air stayes in the main body of the suit.

My partner dives with ankle weights which she hates and says don't work. A guy in the LDS said she might try tighter fins. She has a pair of Mares fins in a large and they do have a large hole for you foot. I on the other hand have a medium Scuba pro and as they are a tight fit I have managed to get away without weight by monitoring my dive posture and not letting too much air in the lower legs without correcting it. I guess we might just swap and I'll learn to cope with larger fins. (This should be great as they colour coordinate and I get to swap my on Scuba pros for a shiney new set &nbsp;Sorry Josie

Dave C

[tom]

Quote[/b] (Dominic @ Nov. 20 2003,11:47)]If you need them, use them. But IMHO, they should be a last resort after all else has been tried, whereas I've often seen novices on their first ever drysuit dive wearing the poxy things..

OK, speaking as a novice who's just had his first drysuit dives...

On my first dive, I didn't wear them. It was a bloody nightmare.
On my second dive, I wore ankle weights. It made an enormous difference (improvement).

I intend to wear ankle weights for a while, until I lose or forget them one day and realise I don't need them after all - because I think they will make the process of learning to use a drysuit much easier and probably safer.

After all, when I learned to ride a bicycle I used training wheels at first. I see this as just the same.

Tom