Most importantly, if the bungee is too tight around the wing, you might
not get adequate inflation to lift you and all your stuff off the bottom.
You certainly won't get the wing's rated lift capacity.  They try to
compensate for this with a monstrous 100lb lift, ie OMS crap.

ss

On Wed, 19 Jan 2000, Sean T. Stevenson wrote:

> On Wed, 19 Jan 2000 03:58:17 -0800, Barbara/San Francisco wrote:
> 
> >Hi Sean,
> >
> >If this is *too newbie* for the list or for FAQ--if so, just answer me
> >privately.  What are bondage wings? Thanks.
> >
> >Barbara/San Francisco
> 
> Not at all.  This has come up a few times, and will be included in the
> FAQ.
> 
> Bondage wings refers to a wing design which makes use of surgical
> tubing or elastic cord (the "bondage") to keep the wing restrained
> tight to the diver.  The idea here was to minimize the profile by
> constantly pulling the wing into as small a shape as possible.  The
> folds created in the wing material when restrained like this create a
> lot of turbulent water flow, and actually create more drag than they
> were supposedly designed to prevent.  When you look at a standard
> unrestrained wing, you will notice that the sides float up against your
> tanks, and the cross section is quite flat, as compared to the
> restrained wing, which has more of a circular cross section.  The
> restrained wing has the larger forward profile, and hence requires more
> effort to move through the water.  The leading edge of most standard
> wing designs is actually tapered to reduce this source of drag, and
> place more of this leading edge within the zone of turbulence already
> created by your head, tanks and manifold. The restrained wings are
> closer to the diver's center of gravity, which does make it easier to
> roll, but at the expense of making it more difficult to maintain a
> perfect horizontal attitude when you need to.  The sides of the
> standard wing sit higher and further apart, assisting you in
> maintaining a perfect prone attitude in the water, which is the
> position of greatest function for the diver, and the position of
> greatest decompression efficiency.  The cord or tubing on the
> restrained wings presents an entrapment hazard as well, for any bent or
> hook like shape you happen to brush against.  Perhaps the most
> significant problem with the restrained wing, from a safety
> perspective, is the fact that the bladder in these devices is under
> constant positive pressure from the elastic.  When you hit the deflate
> they deflate rapidly, but will also do so if you happen to accidentally
> puncture the bladder or otherwise compromise its integrity.  This sort
> of rapid unintentional gas loss is extremely dangerous in an emergency
> situation.  This positive pressure in the bladder complicates using the
> inflator as a tertiary backup regulator, and presents an unnecessary
> lung loading when attempting to orally inflate, increasing your
> potential for injury.
> 
> -Sean
> 
> 
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