How Much weight?

How much weight does a diver wearing a 3mm shorty and an aluminum cylinder need in salt water? When conducting introductory scuba experiences (i.e., “resort” courses), our staff found it was a rare individual who needed more than twelve pounds.

Bear in mind, however, that these were people who’d never been diving before. You would expect them to be more apprehensive, breathe more deeply and, thus, require more weight than certified divers — right?

Guess again. It was common to have certified divers using the same equipment as our “resort course” divers insist they needed at least 20 pounds of lead to get down. Given that using less weight is the mark of more knowledgeable and experienced divers, we could only conclude that our resort course participants were better divers than most of the certified individuals who went out with us.

In reality, whenever certified divers told us they needed ridiculous amounts of lead, we’d hand them the same twelve pounds we gave intro course divers and told them it was the quantity they’d requested. (”Here’s your 24 pounds, sir…”) None had difficulty getting under.

“I thought the water would be warmer…”

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