menai bridge

[scottie]

did my first sea dive at menai bridge,anglesy on sunday.
loads and loads of sea life, everywhere you pointed your torch there was some form of life.
dived for 40 minutes along the telephone cable.
2 metres viz/ 5 degrees water temp/15 metres max depth.
oh and by the way had 24 pound weightbelt on- 4 pound weight in b.c pocket- and a colection of large rocks, and was still underweighted, is this normal for sea water diving? i must of had 30 pounds plus on me.

[Lou]

Sounds great, Scottie!  Glad you had fun, and pleased that there is loads of stuff for us to see when we come up in March!

30lbs is about 14kgs, and I use 12kgs in fresh water with a 12l, drysuit and pony.  It all depends on alot of factors so I wouldn't personally worry about how much you carry, as long as you are happy with your bouyancy.

When I went for my drysuit orientation the instructor scoffed when I told him how much weight I wore and suggested I tried less - he soon ended up agreeing with me though.  I float at about chin level with empty lungs in a swimming cossie.  Add kit to me and I float like a rubber duck!  Some people just do, all a function of size and make-up/weight.

[John Gulliver]

Lou's right! It's a personal thing. You don't say what suit you wear, but if you are wearing a 7-8 mm neoprene drysuit 14 kilos doesn't sound unreasonable. I get by with  8 kilos but I wear a membrane drysuit and carry a 3 L x 300 bar pony bottle.

[scottie]

its an o-three msf500tb 5 mm.
its just that 24 pound is plenty in fresh water. i had at least 30 pounds....and needed plenty more. its just that i was told you only need 5-6 pounds extra in sea water.
im not using anymore equipment or extra clothing than i normally wear.

[MATTBIN]

Scottie, you might find that you are breathing much deeper on your first few sea dives than you did in-land so that would add some extra lead required to the equation. I assume as well you had the same u/suit etc else that would mean a possible re-calc. In a wet suit I started much more weighted at the beginning of the season than I ended up with. Lou's right just carry what you need it might well come down as time goes on.
Matt

[Mr T.]

Hey Scottie,

Well done on your 1st dip in the Oggin!!

You'll find that as you get used to your diving and more comfy with your trim and buoyancy that can lose some of the weight. Your breathing will become better and your SAC rate will adjust - all these factors will allow you hit the surf with just a tad less weight on. But, you will always need more weight in the sea than in fresh water due to the extra buoyancy the briney gives any diver.

Like the man said "practise, practise, practise"!!

Cheers,

[Tim Ingmire]

Hi Scottie,

glad you enjoyed the diving. You're first proper sea dive is a real experience, especially if youre been limited to virtually lifeless quarries etc.

As for my fist dive in salt water, I had 36pounds stapped to me.  That was earlier this year.  In fresh water I am now down to 5Kg (compressed neoprene suit, 15L+3L Pony) which apparently isn't a lot and max out at 12Kg in salt water without the pony.  I still feel that 12Kg can come down little more tho.  

Don't worry too much about the weight, you will find that as you gain experience you'll need less.  Try doing a bouyancy check after every dive (ie when the cylinder is empty) and you should find that you will be able to drop some weight.

Now that you're hooked watch that overdraft facility get used to the max!

[MATTBIN]

I'd use 50bar as an empty 'weight' else you run the risk of going skyward when you should be holding a stop. Pedantic I know - sorry Tim I'm sure thats what you meant. I would also have my pony nearly empty as well, just in case. Although the pony adds/subtracts about a kilo.
Matt

[Davey Willo]

3% of your overall weight added is what is recommended for salt water over fresh... i.e. you and your kit weigh in at 200lbs when diving freshwater then add 6lbs for a sea dive.

As others have already mentioned scottie, first dive in the briny alone could mean you are chugging that bit harder and making yourself that much more bouyant, experience and confidance will bring that weight down no problem mate, I'm so pleased that you had a great time... wait till you're diving on wrecks and getting 10m viz, you'll freak :biggrin:


BTW mate, you mentioned water temp at 5 degrees... are you sure?? I wouldn't expect the sea temp to be that cold, we've been getting 5-6 degrees in fresh water just recently and I would of expected the sea to be a bit higher than that.

regards
Dave.

[Dr Stevil]

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Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]Quote: from Dave Williamson on 5:35 pm on Jan. 13, 2003
BTW mate, you mentioned water temp at 5 degrees... are you sure?? I wouldn't expect the sea temp to be that cold, we've been getting 5-6 degrees in fresh water just recently and I would of expected the sea to be a bit higher than that.

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Yeah...so would I, especially over on the west coast.

Re lead - I generally start inexperienced divers off with about 30lbs , especially for the sea, so that doesn't sound unusual to me,(I used about 32-34 lbs with an 8mm neoprene when I was learning). &nbsp;It's no good if someone persuades you to wear less lead then you end up stuck on the surface! As long as it sits relatively comfortably on you and you don't get back strain (used to happen to me a lot in the early days).
Chee-az
Steve