Interesting reading - Why Divers Die

[A. Berk]

Originally Posted by Diving Daisy

When you're in trouble, you drop your weights to ensure that you will float; that's why it's important to make sure during your pre-dive check that you can indeed release your weight belt. This 50-year-old guy, with only five dives, could not. He ran out of air and became separated from his buddy. Another diver found him floating beneath the surface, unconscious, and they could not resuscitate him. He had incorrectly attached his weights so that he couldn't release the buckle on the weight belt.

There are more than a few divers who now think it appropriate to dive with no ditchable ballast (ie lead). They believe that the achievement of 'some' amount of positive buoyancy at the end of a dive is all they need Even submarines have the common sense to carry ditchable ballast to give buoyancy in an emergency!

Berko