Diving Buoyancy how to perform a Scuba Buoyancy Check

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A buoyancy check is when we place you in the water, and then by trial and error, slowly add lead until we arrive at the amount of weight that you will need to be neutrally buoyant. The Buoyancy check is a starting point. It usually will get us really close to the amount of ballast that you will eventually need. Once we find the amount of weight we need with a buoyancy check we can then fine tune the weight to find exactly what we need.
Buoyancy checks can be done with, and without scuba gear on. If we do a buoyancy check without scuba gear on, then we will need to adjust our weight later once we factor in the Scuba equipment.
My preference is to do buoyancy checks this way. The main reason is because it is much easier to balance in a vertical position without a scuba unit on and determine the correct amount of weight you need for just your body and exposure protection. We can then do a separate buoyancy check for the equipment with the cylinder down to the reserve pressure and add the two numbers together.
The benefit of knowing how much ballast we need without scuba gear on, is that in the event that we want to skin dive, we will know how much weight we need for that activity.
Also, because potentially we may be diving with different sized cylinders, or cylinders made of different materials (cylinders can be made of either steel or aluminum) . By knowing how much weight we need for just our bodies, it will be easy to adjust for a change in cylinder size or type. We can also compensate for any variance caused by the gear itself. So here is how we perform a buoyancy check without scuba.
How to perform a Buoyancy Check

• Buoyancy Check without Scuba: The goal of this exercise is to find the correct amount of weight needed to buoy you upright in the water, with the water level at about mid forehead, while maintaining an upright position

• Step 1: Standing in water that is about neck deep. Take a weight of about 2 pounds (1 kg) and hold it either by your side, your back, or slightly in front of you. Everybody is different, so you may need to play with the positioning to find where you balance out best in order to remain in a vertical position.
• Step 2: Focus on your breathing for a moment. Now take a breath that's about seventy percent of the total volume of air you think you could fill in your lungs (don't worry too much about an exact amount, it's probably impossible to determine what exactly 70% is, just use your best judgment)
• Step 3: Now slowly ease yourself into the water. You want to go really slow to prevent yourself from bobbing up and down if you float.
• Step 4: Make a note of where you are in respect to the water level and your head.
o If you sink, underwater, you will need to try with less weight, or maybe even no weight.
o If the water level was below your forehead (your eyes as an example) you will need more weight.
o Repeat this exercise with more weight until you find the correct amount of weight that is needed to be right at forehead level.
• Step 5: Once you find the correct amount of weight make a note of it. This is how much weight you need to be neutral in the water without scuba equipment on.
• Step 6 Now you need to determine how much weight you need for your scuba equipment independently of your body. When you know how much weight you need for the scuba equipment, and your cylinder at reserve pressure add these two numbers together and you will know the total weight you need in the water.
The link to the buoyancy check for scuba gear is here:    • BCD Buoyancy Check. How to determine ...  

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