Up next in 10
How I Master Buoyancy Control Underwater!
May 21, 2025
In this video I discuss my approach to buoyancy control and join the drysuit versus wing debate! I also provide an update on our efforts to locate the missing USCG Tampa and let everyone know what videos are incoming. *Competition* To win the epic Orcatorch DC710, all you have to do is become a member of the Deep Wreck Diving group on Facebook and your name will automatically be entered. Draw will be made at 1800 hrs UTC+1 on Mon 30 Jun 25 *Livestream with Achim* You can watch the Livestream that I had with Achim at https://www.youtube.com/live/e7TfRjWzKec?si=Ez5UiNmEg9O5i1_6 *Highlights* 00:00 Introduction to drysuit versus wing 02:02 Finding the bell of the HMCS Trentonian 04:12 The search for the USCG Tampa 09:45 Buoyancy Control: Drysuit v Wing 15:14 My next videos 16:08 Giveaway: Orcatorch DC710! *Kit I Use* Note, some of these are affiliate links so help support making my videos: - Gloves are Ansell Alphatec 87-063 - https://amzn.to/4jDHhX4 - Main torch is an Orcatorch D630 - https://amzn.to/4jlT4tA
View Video Transcript
0:00
Hello again and welcome to another one
0:02
of my podcasts. This one is going to
0:04
cover a couple of main things. The first
0:07
one is I'm going to talk about buoyancy
0:09
control. I know this is a thorny
0:11
subject. I know people have strong views
0:12
on it. I'm going to tell you how I do
0:14
it, why I do it, and hopefully that will
0:17
be useful or if not useful, at least
0:19
interesting for you. The second thing
0:21
I'm going to do is give you a bit of an
0:23
update on the search for the tamper. We
0:26
went out again yesterday. Uh spoiler, we
0:28
weren't successful, but we did find a uh
0:31
really interesting uh story, and that's
0:34
going to be the subject of this Sunday's
0:36
video. Before I do those things though,
0:38
I'm just going to give you a bit of a
0:39
general update about a few of the bits
0:41
and pieces. So, the first thing,
0:42
something I'm really personally proud
0:44
about is I've I've finally got over that
0:46
10,000 subscribers milestone. At the end
0:49
of the day, it's just a number, but it
0:51
was really nice to get there, and that
0:52
happened a while ago. So, so that that's
0:54
great. And uh obviously as with all
0:56
these things we move on. Second thing is
0:59
something that I really enjoyed doing is
1:01
I had another live stream um with Akim
1:05
from Inner Space Explorers that took
1:07
place um at the weekend. If you've not
1:09
seen that, I would really encourage you
1:11
to go and have a look at it and I'll put
1:13
a link obviously uh in the description
1:15
and up in the uh up there. No, wrong up
1:18
there in the uh in the top of the screen
1:20
so you can have a look at it. I'm gonna
1:22
get together with him again and we're
1:24
going to pick up all the questions that
1:25
we didn't answer on the last one. And a
1:27
massive sorry to um uh UW Greg. I know I
1:32
promised you that I'd pick up your
1:33
questions and I didn't do that. Really
1:35
sorry. I'm def we're definitely going to
1:36
do it in that response. So hopefully
1:39
you'll get that very soon. And I'm going
1:41
to be doing another one of those live
1:42
streams. It will be on my channel. It
1:44
will be in mid June somewhere some
1:47
sometime. I'm not exactly sure when yet,
1:49
but we will obviously let everyone know.
1:52
Some other stuff you may have, well,
1:54
hopefully you've seen a load of the
1:56
other videos that I've released. The
1:58
thing that I'm particularly pleased
2:00
about is my uh the bell from the
2:02
Trentonian. Um I think the last time I
2:04
did this, I told you that I found
2:06
something really important, but I
2:07
couldn't give you the details. Well,
2:09
obviously the cat is now out of the bag,
2:11
and the bell, more most importantly, is
2:13
now on its way back to Canada, which is
2:15
which is just a fabulous result. I'm so
2:17
pleased with it. If you haven't watched
2:19
the video, um obviously I'd encourage
2:21
you to go and do that. It's it's a video
2:24
that I'm I'm really pleased about. I
2:25
think it works really well and hopefully
2:28
you will uh agree too. If you don't
2:31
think so, as always, you know, leave me
2:33
a comment, tell me what you think, and
2:35
obviously that helps me make better
2:36
videos, which is uh really appreciated.
2:39
So, those are a few updates on the
2:41
channel, but one of the other things I
2:42
want to mention is that I get lots of
2:45
comments or requests or whatever from
2:47
people who are saying, "Dom, I'd love to
2:49
dive with you. How can we make that
2:51
happen?" And that's obviously a really
2:53
really nice thing to have. Uh, it's
2:54
it's, you know, I'm really touched by
2:56
that. So, I've been trying to figure out
2:58
a way I can do that. And one of the
3:00
things I I'm doing is I'm working with
3:02
Indeep, the local charter company here
3:04
in Plymouth. You'll have seen them on
3:05
loads and loads of my videos. And I'm
3:07
going to put together hopefully a
3:09
weekend in not a weekend, sorry, five
3:11
days of diving in September where people
3:14
can come down here and we will go and do
3:16
some 60 65 m dives. Lots of the ones
3:19
that you've seen on some of my videos.
3:20
Maybe the Stock Force, maybe um the
3:24
Medok, maybe the uh Stone Haven, a load
3:28
of these kind of things and and a few of
3:29
the other ones as well. So um once I've
3:32
got the details of that obviously I will
3:33
let you know and hopefully uh you know a
3:35
few of you will will fancy that and we
3:37
can make it happen and if that's
3:39
successful I am going to do exactly the
3:42
same thing um but more of it next year
3:45
and uh hopefully that will offer people
3:47
who are trying to get into technical
3:50
diving the opportunity to to get on some
3:52
boats and go and do some diving and
3:54
realize how fabulous it is out here in
3:56
Plymouth. So I think that's really
3:59
interesting. I think I'm quite excited
4:00
by it. I obviously just need to get all
4:02
the stuff sorted. You can imagine
4:03
there's there's all sorts of bits and
4:04
pieces you need to put in place for that
4:06
to happen. So anyway, that will be
4:08
coming hopefully. The other thing I
4:10
promised to give you was an update on on
4:13
the Tamper. You may recall I've
4:14
mentioned the Tamper in some of my other
4:16
videos. United States Coast Guard Tampa
4:19
was a relatively small vessel that came
4:22
over as part of the Americans
4:24
contribution to the war effort in the
4:26
First World War and was sunk in 1918 off
4:29
the north coast of Cornwall. So for
4:32
those of you not familiar with the UK,
4:34
that's kind of the very southwest bit of
4:36
the UK somewhere between there and
4:37
Ireland in the middle of the sea. It
4:40
basically vanished and they didn't find
4:43
very much of it. I think they found a
4:44
single body. They found a life boy
4:47
floating around but but nothing other
4:49
than that. So the only real reliable
4:52
evidence on what happened to the tamper
4:54
is from the two sources really. One is
4:58
the yubot skipper, the guy who sunk it
5:00
and the other is the convoy that the
5:03
tamper was escorting until it decided it
5:06
needed to go away and refuel and then
5:07
headed off and then vanished. So those
5:10
are the kind of source data. The area in
5:13
which the tamper is um or was sunk is
5:18
absolutely massive and there are a whole
5:21
load of wrecks in there. That that bit
5:23
of water was happy hunting grounds for
5:25
German submarines in both wars.
5:28
Obviously, there's also been a whole
5:29
load of other um ships sunk there over
5:32
the years, whether it's just, you know,
5:34
good oldfashioned weather, whether it's
5:36
collisions, um whether it's other uh
5:39
events, you know, war events, whatever.
5:41
So there's a load of shipwrecks. There
5:44
is um not very much data on what
5:47
happened to the tamper. So the the
5:49
problem with the submarine report is
5:51
that the submarine was submerged for
5:53
quite a bit of the time. It was so far
5:54
offshore. They didn't have um reliable
5:57
ways of uh calculating exactly where
5:59
they were and the um uh it was really
6:03
foggy at the time as well. So it's kind
6:06
of all these things just make it really
6:08
really bad. The convoy um was obviously
6:11
having some of the similar problems. So
6:12
it was it was in fog. Didn't know
6:13
exactly where it was. The tamper left
6:15
it. They weren't certain how far it it
6:18
went before it obviously got torpedoed.
6:20
They did hearing an explosion. Um so so
6:23
those those source data is is really
6:25
poor. So what we've been doing is we've
6:27
been trying to use that that data to try
6:30
and identify where it might be and we've
6:32
been out and diving marks. For those who
6:35
don't know um a mark is a anomaly on the
6:38
seabed that's highlighted by the United
6:41
Kingdom hydrographic office. Sometimes
6:44
they will most often actually they will
6:46
give you some additional data on it.
6:47
They will say how long it is. They will
6:48
say how high it stands. They will say
6:50
how wide it is. Now that data can be
6:53
quite old. It can be relatively modern.
6:55
Sometimes it's just utter rubbish.
6:58
Sometimes it's absolutely spoton. So,
7:00
what we have been doing is is using the
7:02
information about where the tamper may
7:04
have been sunk along with the list of
7:07
anomalies that there are out there and
7:09
trying to find ones that that might
7:11
match. Oh, the other problem with the
7:13
tamper is it was hit by a a really big
7:15
torpedo and the tamper was really small.
7:17
So, these kind of torpedoes were used to
7:20
sink things like liners and and
7:22
therefore the chances are that the the
7:24
tamper was really badly smashed up. So,
7:26
it's probably quite a small underwater
7:28
anomaly. So, we've been doing all these
7:30
things together and going out and diving
7:31
wrecks and if you or diving marks rather
7:34
and trying to find out what's down
7:35
there. And if you've seen some of my
7:36
other videos, you will have seen some of
7:38
the marks that we've dived while we're
7:40
looking for the tamper. So, other good
7:42
examples would be the LCT if you've seen
7:45
my video for that one. There's another
7:47
one where I just say we dived an unknown
7:49
shipwreck and it just turned out to be,
7:51
you know, quite an old 19th century
7:53
steam ship. So, once again, I'm going to
7:54
put links to the uh the other uh dives
7:58
that we've done while we're looking for
7:59
the tamper, but we've not found it. And
8:01
we went out yesterday. We dived
8:02
something that looked really good. There
8:04
was a really high level of confidence in
8:06
it, and it turned out to be a 1970s
8:10
freighter. So, if you don't understand
8:12
how a 1970s freighter, nobody can know
8:15
where, you know, people don't know where
8:16
it is. Well, um once again, it's because
8:19
this is a big bit of sea. It's because
8:21
things that sink in storms and bad
8:23
weather, you know, often there aren't
8:25
accurate reports for these kind of
8:26
things. So, so the wreck that we found
8:28
was actually several nautical miles away
8:30
from where it was thought to be. Does
8:32
beg the question that what is the thing
8:34
that's several nautical miles away? So,
8:35
I think we're probably going to go out
8:36
and dive that at some point. So, and
8:39
obviously all this stuff is deep as
8:40
well. So, that was 90 mters. It's also a
8:42
long way offshore. So, that was nearly
8:44
40 nautical miles from the port of New
8:48
Cornwall. And and that's where we left.
8:50
So we just we go out and dive these
8:52
things. It's obviously not a a cheap
8:54
pastime to travel. 40 mi out is you know
8:57
significant amount of money. Takes an
8:59
entire day plus obviously some stuff
9:01
either side in terms of getting planet
9:03
you know ready and everything. So it's a
9:05
big investment in time and effort and
9:07
money and you need the dive team and all
9:09
the usual kind of things. So um you know
9:11
once again we've solved another mystery.
9:13
We've not found the tamper, but you
9:15
know, fingers crossed we will do at some
9:16
point. And I'm gonna make the video
9:19
about the freighter that we found uh
9:21
yesterday. I'm going to push it out on
9:23
Sunday, and you will hear all about it.
9:25
Not least, because it's an amazing story
9:27
of a a ship that was sunk by uh the
9:31
cargo of herrings that it was carrying.
9:33
If you don't know what herrings are,
9:35
they're a type of fish, and that's what
9:37
caused um the ship to sink. 1976. So,
9:40
there we go. That's the update on the
9:42
tamper. The other thing I would said I
9:44
would talk to you about is buoyancy
9:46
control. So, um, a few people say really
9:49
nice things on my videos. They say
9:52
things like, "Your buoyancy control is
9:53
really good." You know, have you got any
9:55
tips? You know, um, how could I how
9:59
could I make mine better? And those kind
10:00
of things. And it's it's one of those
10:02
things. Obviously, I've been diving
10:03
quite a long time. I've been diving a
10:04
rebreather quite a long time. And
10:06
therefore, you know, that kind of gets
10:08
in your muscle memory. But one of the
10:10
other things um I think is is to share
10:13
what works for me. Now I'm not saying
10:15
that these will work for other people
10:16
and I understand people who do things
10:18
differently. I'm not criticizing them.
10:20
You know, at the bottom the end of the
10:21
day, this is about trying things that
10:23
work for you and finding one that you're
10:25
happy with. So what do I do for
10:27
buoyancy? Well, the first thing is I do
10:30
not use my the wing on my rebreather for
10:32
my buoyancy. Now I know in um some
10:35
circles that's absolute sacrilege and
10:38
there are organizations who teach no um
10:41
there are the BCD is what you must use
10:43
your wing is what you must use you
10:45
should only put gas into your dry suit
10:48
um to kind of minimize squeeze and you
10:51
know what if if it works them that's
10:52
absolutely fine I've tried that I've
10:54
dived with that it doesn't work for me
10:57
and so therefore I use my BCD sorry I
11:00
don't use my BCD I use my dry suit and
11:03
What is my rationale for that? Well, my
11:05
rationale is that I am going to be need
11:08
to be putting gas in and taking gas out
11:10
of my dry suit anyway. So, therefore, um
11:13
it makes sense to only have two gas
11:16
spaces to m to to um manage. So, gas
11:20
space one is the counter lungs on my uh
11:22
on my rebreather. Gas space 2 is my dry
11:25
suit. It's what I used to do. It's what
11:27
I do if I I ever dive open circuit. I
11:30
don't use my BCD or my wing on open
11:32
circuit unless I am somewhere where I
11:34
don't have a dry suit obviously. So it
11:36
it works for me in all configurations
11:40
and I think having one less gas space to
11:43
me to uh manage makes it easier and I am
11:47
all about reducing task loading
11:49
particularly when you get into high
11:51
stress situations. I think it's
11:54
important that things are easy for you.
11:57
So that's that's my kind of rationale in
11:59
terms of um the risk. I think people
12:03
often who dive dry suits are really
12:06
concerned that they if they put too much
12:08
gas in the dry suit they may end up
12:11
inverted. And if you end up onverted
12:13
then obviously there is the risk of you
12:15
coming up to surface and making a rapid
12:17
ascent and all those kind of things. And
12:19
clearly that is a very very bad thing to
12:22
happen. So you do not want to come up
12:24
inverted. You do not want to get your
12:26
feet above your head. So, um that's why
12:29
people some people like to wear ankle
12:30
weights. Some people have really heavy
12:32
fins. Some people obviously only put the
12:35
very minimal amount of gas into their
12:37
dry suit, which is um just enough to
12:39
take off the squeeze. So, you know what?
12:41
If that is a big concern to you, that is
12:43
an entirely valid way of doing it. So,
12:46
um you know, that's that's great. That's
12:48
not a concern that I have. I have done
12:51
thousands of dives in a dry suit. I have
12:53
never been inverted. I know how to keep
12:57
my feet under control. I can adopt
13:00
positions in the water, even, you know,
13:01
horizontal trim and all those kind of
13:03
things where even with, you know,
13:05
relatively serious amounts of gas in my
13:06
dry suit, that is not going to my feet
13:08
and it is not causing me to be inverted.
13:11
And I guess the other thing I know what
13:12
to do is if for whatever reason I were
13:15
to end up inverted, um, I know how to
13:18
manage that. I know obviously how to um
13:21
you know scrunch up and do a do a
13:25
forward roll or whatever in order to get
13:27
my shoulder where my dump is up
13:29
vertically so that I can get rid of gas.
13:31
So that's my kind of rationale. Um on I
13:36
have had one occasion um where I've
13:38
ended up inverted and I'm going to share
13:40
this story with you because people like
13:42
stories and also um I'm just as fallible
13:46
as anybody else. And what happened to me
13:48
is I actually managed to get a DSMBB
13:51
line caught up in my fin. And when it
13:55
got caught in my fin, I don't know, I
13:57
still no idea how it happened, but it
13:59
did happen. And I had um I had a safety
14:02
stop to do. It was relatively shallow 20
14:03
odd meter dive. So I did my uh safety
14:07
stop inverted. Uh obviously I didn't end
14:10
up coming to the surface. Did my safety
14:12
stop inverted which wasn't very
14:14
comfortable. And while I was doing that
14:15
obviously I was gesturing to one of my
14:17
buddies. Um I think I was with with a
14:19
few other people at the time. And when I
14:22
think they'd stopped laughing, they came
14:24
over and helped me by getting rid of the
14:27
uh reel from uh the clip on my fin where
14:30
it where it would caught and then I
14:31
could get get the right way up and it
14:33
was it was all okay at that point. So
14:35
yeah, it wasn't wasn't particularly
14:36
comfortable and probably not your
14:37
classic dry suit inversion, but it was
14:40
uh it was quite uncomfortable and
14:42
something you want to avoid. So, that's
14:45
my thoughts on buoyancy control and why
14:48
I use a dry suit rather than why I use a
14:51
wing. And it's all about that task
14:53
loading, reducing it, and making it
14:55
easier for yourself. It's exactly the
14:57
same reason I prefer an electronic CCR
14:59
to a uh an MCCR. All about reducing task
15:03
loading. But, but you know, I know other
15:04
people disagree. Other people have
15:06
different views, and that's entirely
15:08
fine. I I welcome those. The other thing
15:11
I just wanted to talk to you about is
15:14
the videos that I've got coming out. So,
15:16
I've already mentioned that on Sunday
15:18
I'm going to release a video about the
15:20
ship that was sunk by herring, which is
15:23
I'm just trying to figure out how I um
15:25
how I do a kind of thumbnail or whatever
15:27
for that. But, um hopefully I can come
15:29
up with something that works quite well.
15:31
The other thing I'm going to do is on
15:33
Friday I uh I've got another gear
15:36
review. So, I've been diving with uh an
15:40
Orca TTorch
15:41
DC710. It's kind of very similar to the
15:44
D710 that I I had um on my last gear
15:48
review. This one is a bit longer. It
15:50
comes with a Goodman handle and it's got
15:52
a charging point, so you can uh charge
15:55
it through the case. You don't actually
15:57
need to take it apart, which I think is
15:58
a a really nice touch. So, that one is
16:00
going to be out on Friday. Um I hope you
16:03
all watch it and hope you find it
16:04
interesting and all those kind of
16:06
things. There's also the opportunity to
16:08
win win that torch as well. And I'm
16:10
really pleased that the uh the last
16:11
torch I gave away as a competition prize
16:13
is is out there. And the uh the chap who
16:16
won it, Kevin, sounds like an ideal
16:18
recipient. He's a young lad just getting
16:20
into diving. So, um it's really nice
16:22
that he could get that torch and and
16:24
obviously that will save him a bit of
16:25
money and help with his dive and
16:27
everything. But doesn't have to be that.
16:29
Anybody can win it. It's going to be
16:31
exactly the same as my last competition.
16:33
So, you just anybody who's a member of
16:35
the Deep Wreck Diving Facebook group
16:38
will be entered into into the draw for
16:40
it. So, if you haven't done that
16:41
already, then uh please do so. And uh
16:44
you you maybe you Right. Well, I think
16:47
that's probably enough of me um talking
16:50
to you all. I hope you've enjoyed um the
16:53
update on the tamper. I hope you've
16:55
enjoyed hearing my thoughts on buoyancy
16:57
control. Hope you've enjoyed all those
16:59
other updates. And as always with my
17:01
videos, please if you were able to give
17:03
me a like or leave a comment or anything
17:06
like that, that would be really
17:07
appreciated. It does help a lot. So,
17:10
thank you all and hopefully I will do
17:13
something similar next