Why do divers jump backwards from boats when they enter the water? is it always done?
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It is as simple as ‘it stops the tank getting in the way’
A driver’s equipment is designed to be used underwater where the water well help to support everything – this means that out of the water it is large, heavy and unwieldy. Because the tank is normally worn on the back, this means that if you were to enter the water forwards, you would have to ensure you jump far enough forwards so that you don’t catch the tank or any of its plumbing on the edge of the boat, and this has to be done while weighed down with around 20kg of gear – this is absolutely possible (and done fairly often), but it is riskier and takes more effort.
In comparison, entering backwards (either by stepping calmly down a ladder, or by rolling backwards off the edge) means the heavy tank is facing away and enters the water safely without the risk of it striking the edge.
Furthermore, the reason you will often see people rolling back off the boat rather than hopping backwards is because it better allows the diver to pause and prepare – sat down the diver more easily supports the weight of the equipment and is in a calm and stable position where they can easily wait for instruction. Standing up means it is harder to support the weight, and you are less stable and more likely to be knocked off balance by the boat moving in the water or similar.
The downside to rolling off the boat backwards is that you cannot see where you are landing, and will enter the water with a moment of disorientation first – something mitigated by having instructors on hand supervising the divers. So it will be more common for led trips for inexperienced divers to enter sat down and rolling in backwards, while more experienced and self organised divers to be used to entering the water through other methods like jumping
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