Get Your Weights Off First!

Our sad February story of the diver who fell overboard and drowned because he was still wearing his weight belt after shedding his other gear struck a chord with many readers. We wrote that the last piece of equipment on, and the first one off, is the weight belt, leaving subscriber Edward Svitil (Alpharetta, GA) to ask, what about BCs with integrated weights?

BCs with integrated weights allow you to pull the weight pouches free in a moment. You should do that in the water and then hand them up to a crew member before climbing into a small boat. While it will save you, it will also save the crew member from suffering a hernia when he hauls your rig aboard. If for some reason you can't do that, get them out of your BC as soon as you've climbed the ladder (or been pulled into the Zodiac) and are in the boat.

If you have a BC that does not allow you to release the integrated weights in their pouches, I suggest you get rid of it.

-- John Bantin