I've got an idea- breathold with Scuba

[LiquidRush]

I do quite a bit of diving and thought this up, not sure if anyone practices it regularly.

1. Suit up in scuba gear, do breathe-up (without reg in mouth)
2. Dump air, sink, equalise.
3. Reach planned depth.
4. Inflate jacket.
5. Come up with ease.

(would this be dangerous for any reason, if u kept within your personal limits? I figure it might be a bit safer, as u have air/equipment handy in case of emergency.)

[Freediver81]

Hi!

I would say that what you are doing is reverse variable weights!

[Huan]

you will have all the additional drag of a bottle,stab jkt Regs blah blah usual scuba paraphernalia and the only advantage is that you don't have to kick on the way up?
I would say you would be lucky to get down 10m with a scuba rig on.
If you start breathing from the bottle then thats it for your day freediving.
why don't you just get a big rock tied to a rope, hold your breath and jump over the side.
When you get to your planned depth let go and kick your way back to the surface?
IMO a waste of time.Learn to freedive properly.

[LiquidRush]

oh I can do it properly, i'm just lazy,

[Huan]

Thats not just lazy , thats making things dangerous.

[LiquidRush]

I thought it would be a bit safer

[JonDaAzn]

your "personal limits" while wearing scuba gear will be a lot different from your limits when you are normally freediving due to weight, reduced hydrodynamic efficency, etc. This could lead to you overestimating your abilities and lead to a BO or samba

[Poida]

Don't listen to them Liquid Rush
It's a good idea with one major advantage. Whoever finds your body will get a free set of scuba gear.
Kindest regards
Poida

[DrLindholm]

Hi
breath-hold diving with a SCUBA bottle and using the BCD for an assisted ascent could be dangerous: The fast ascent could put you at risk for decompression sickness, there are known cases with serious (neurological) DCS from only one single breath-hold dive where the diver used some kind of assistance to increase ascent speed. Otherwise it is a good idea to bring a backup system during a deep dive, e.g. Enzo Maiorca and his daughters regularly used an integrated safty system in their wetsuits, it consisted of some kind of bag and a bottle of compressed air. \

Dr Lindholm

[JasonWelbourne]

I myself, am known amoungst those who know me closest for coming up with similar such ideas, which are without fail always greeted with people shouting "what's the matter with you, sounds pointless, dangerous, what a waste of time."
As a consequnce I usually do my experiments alone, although the world can not rob me of my enthusiasm to talk about neat ideas, I usually shut up about them in the end regardless of how I really feel about the subject.
In any case, there are two possibilities:

1) You have the time, energy, luck, and capacity to experiment with or without community support to the extent of proving something to be valuable or not to yourself without getting your self killed.
OR
2) You don't.

So how brave are you?

[Shadowkiller]

Originally Posted by JasonWelbourne

1) You have the time, energy, luck, and capacity to experiment with or without community support to the extent of proving something to be valuable or not to yourself without getting your self killed.
OR
2) You don't.

So how brave are you?

Im curious, do you measure the "bravery" required by the degree of stupidity of the action, or by the potential consequences? Bonus points for possible lifelong debilitating injuries?

Sometimes the bravest act is to say NO.

The problem with wearing breathing gear on a freedive is the temptation to use it, then to ignore the possible dangers created ie DCS,, air embolism etc.

[Erik]

I think one of the other problems with 'mixing' freediving and scuba is that if, like me, you've trained yourself to hold your breath, you are more likely to continue doing that, especially in a dangerous/panic situation. Guaranteed embolism.
I still do some hard hat surface supply work, and I still hold my breath as the first response in the water.
A safe way to apply the idea for the lift from the BCD would be to not mount regs on the first stage: just SPG and BCD inflator. But as stated, the drag would be ridiculous.
Dive safe: hold your breath! I'm scared of scubadiving
Cheers,
Erik Y.

[JasonWelbourne]

By using the word brave, I am not endorsing said activities. Nor am I comparing my exploits to his potential one. Lots of people have their own ideas about what is proper and what isn't. In the eyes of my SCUBA brother, liquid goggles / pipe-mask are pointless and a complete waste of time. Add the potential dangers of rupturing one's ear drums through poor soft pallate control, and you have one of those circumstances that inspire people to say "What is wrong with you, are you retarted?" But people dive with liquid goggles / pipe-masks. Amoung the right community, it is an acceptable pattern. Amoung the wrong community, it is reckless and without benefit. If LiquidRush wants to go try something out, then by all means he should do it. If he does, as you say, give into temptation, an consequentally hurt himself, then yeah, I guess he was pretty stupid. He should have been brave enough to say no because he had no business doing it in the first place. If he goes and does it, and enjoys it, and finds it rewarding, then maybe he is on to something and just talking to the wrong people about it. Maybe he could continue to develop the idea and start a new trend and he might find a community of likeminded people that didn't act so indignant about a reasonable question.

BTW, my original post was given in the tone of sarcastic and intended to be an announcement of LiquidRush's potential stupidity, but since you went and took it completely the opposite way, you made me think about things.

[efattah]

Jason has a good point.

When I first thought of the idea of fluid goggles in September/October 1998, I posted the idea on the 'freedivelist' (e-mail list). The immediate response was that it was the 'dumbest idea ever invented' and that it could 'never work' because fixing vision underwater was 'way more complicated than that, and probably impossible.'

When the goggles did eventually work, and were useful, the same people told me that the idea was 'obvious' and they assured me that I was not the inventor, that someone long before me had thought of such an 'obvious idea.'

I recall a famous person say something like this:
"When a new idea is presented,
- it is ridiculed
[then, after it shows some merit]
- it is furiously rejected
[then, once shown to be true]
- it is treated as obvious
"

[island_sands]

Originally Posted by LiquidRush

I do quite a bit of diving and thought this up, not sure if anyone practices it regularly.

1. Suit up in scuba gear, do breathe-up (without reg in mouth)
2. Dump air, sink, equalise.
3. Reach planned depth.
4. Inflate jacket.
5. Come up with ease.

bit bored after your new year's festivities?