With FNZ Depth Nationals coming up this weekend, timely to think about depth weighting.
For every dive there is an optimum weighting. For a CWT/CNF/FIM dive we normally recommend being neutral at about 10m or 1/3 of the depth. Too heavy and you will start freefall slightly early but will have to work too hard on the way back up. Too light and you will have to swim deeper before you start to freefall but you get an easy swim up. The answer is to experiment to find the right mix for you. However the right weighting for you is not a static thing and my tip is to keep striving to reduce the weight while maintaining the same descent time/speed. Improvements made to duck dive technique, stroke technique and streamlining will all allow you to reduce your weighting. The payback comes when you turn to swim up and every stroke seems to propel you toward the surface so much easier and faster.