Mr. X,
Both the photos show the rescues in demonstration of technique only. Dropping the weight belt where we were would have been made things harder because the bottom was 80m away! The question of whether dropping the weight belt would make sense depends on if the rescuer felt he/she and/or the victim was too negatively buoyant and could justify the time needed to do so. More likely than not the answer is yes, release the weight belt. But if diver blacked out in the buoyant zone, the rescuer is strong, and the distance to the surface is short, there's no reason to drop it every single time.
And as far as the Heimlich maneuver, If there is land or a platform immediately nearby, great. But I don't know how to perform it in open water while keeping the victim's airway out of the water at the same time. Do you?
Also, I've renamed the photos to just Style #1 and #2 (Michael, note which is which.) These were just supposed to be vacation pictures!
Peter S.
