serial FRC - cold water - how much weight?

[harbour seal]

hello wise db collective,

i am wondering about how much weight for serial frc diving with a wetsuit in relatively cold water (vancouver)?

i am doing serial frc recreational dives mostly in the 10-15m range at the moment.


rather than a specific number i am wondering about:

i) how much weight compared to inhale - with the same wetsuit configuration ?

ii) obviously one is not neutral at 10m for frc -- so how to judge correct weighting ? by descent speed ? by buoyancy at surface after exhale?


i have been out recently with just a 2mm vest and separate hood (plus a 2lb weight) but can last only about 50 minutes (and a few hours to get warm).

in the next couple weeks i will try and take out my elios 6mm top / 5mm bottom suit so i can dive for a couple hours.


any and all feedback would be most welcome.

cheers,
sean

[fabrice]

Hi Sean,

I'm doing recreational serial FRC dives here in Britanny, where the water temperature ranges from 7°C to 18°C. I'm wearing a 7mm Elios suit, and can stay in the water for more than 2 hours if the temperature is more than 11°C.

I'm using 5kg of lead, and I'm neutral at about 5m; this means that I only need two monofin kicks before the freefall phase. I know this not the "purest" form of FRC (where you should sink right from the beginning), but it works very well for me.

Hope this helps !

Fabrice

[jome]

I think it's basically impossible to answer - you will have to try and find out.

With a 3mm high density suit I use 2 kg for inhale and 3 kg for FRC. Seems to work ok, I'm sinking after a good duck dive and sometimes take 1 kick to get going.

[harbour seal]

hey guys,

thanks for the replies and the info.

fabrice -
the water temp in Britanny sounds quite similar to vancouver - surface temperatures here range from approx. 6 to 18 degrees celcius. right now the surface water is about 16 degrees and today i managed about an hour with just my vest/hood but i was pretty cold by the end.

jome -
i agree that one has to figure out what works with your suit and buoyancy preferences. when i next go out with my full wetsuit i was thinking of adding a bit of weight for frc but wasn't sure if this was a good idea (ie., adding to the amount of wieight i use on inhale). particularly after reading about how frc was developed---mostly in warmer waters and ideally practiced with no buoyancy change (eg. no suit) and no added weights. it sounds like people are adapting the technique to suit their diving goals and water conditions (eg. by adding weight when wearing a wetsuit).

cheers and thanks,
sean

[harbour seal]

today i tried a bit more weight (4bls) and found the diving easier.

now i pull once with my arm as i duckdive, plus two kicks, and i start sinking; still float fine during breath up as well.

cheers,
sean

[harbour seal]

i added a 2lb neck weight for a total of 6lbs and it is working very well with my current gear and depth (2mm vest, 2mm neoprene shorts, hood; 10-15m).

so far i have found that more weight has been helpful up to the point i am still comfortably floating during breath-up. during one experiment i had too much weight on my belt and had trouble keeping my snorkel out of the water in some small waves.

cheers,
sean