Calculate Your Diving Weight

Sinking fast is not a sign of expertise

You hear it on every dive boat: "Add an extra kilo, you'll get down easier." That's true. But descending in 10 seconds instead of 30 changes nothing about the dive that follows. What changes everything is what happens once you're at depth.

The overweighting cascade

An overweighted diver sinks naturally. To compensate, they inflate their BCD. More lead means more air in the BCD, more volume to manage with every depth change.

That overinflated BCD makes buoyancy unstable: you oscillate between too positive and too negative, scraping the bottom, damaging coral, stirring up sand. Finning becomes a constant effort to hold a depth that should come naturally.

The clearest analogy: try running with 2 kg in each hand. You can do it, but your energy consumption skyrockets. Underwater, the principle is the same. More lead means more effort, more air consumed, and shorter dives.

When convenience becomes a hazard

If the BCD fails (it happens), a properly weighted diver ascends gently. An overweighted diver, on the other hand, must fin upward constantly or drop their weights, triggering a rapid and potentially dangerous ascent.

According to the Divers Alert Network (DAN), chronic overweighting is a frequent contributing factor in scuba diving accidents. The extra effort leads to increased air consumption, fatigue, and a higher risk of breathlessness, especially in current.