Some people say that these two go together naturally, because wing BCs are accidents waiting to happen. They say that wings have no place in recreational diving, and should only be used by hard-core techies who need phenomenal amounts of lift.
Wings are, basically, looked on with a lot of negativity.
But when you get past the misinformation, and see the benefits of a wing setup, you’ll realise that the issue is not "Why should I use a wing?" but is actually "What possible reason is there to NOT use a wing?"
For those of you who are getting ready to take the plunge, I've written some advice on getting started with a wing.
First off, let's look at the buoyancy characteristics of a wing compared to a stab jacket.
When you're diving, you generally want to be horizontal - laying flat. A wing is a flat thing - it lays in the same plane you do, and supplies bouyancy evenly.
A stab jacket puts the buoyancy all over the place - your back, your sides, even your front:
And this means that the buoyancy is concentrated around your middle. So while you want to be horizontal, your stab jacket gives you a somewhat different posture.
However, you may say you have never noticed this issue. That's because a stab jacket is usually fairly empty, and when you're horizontal, the air rises to the part of the stab covering your back.
That may make you say "Then why should I bother with a wing, if a stab will act like a wing?"
The question is, "Why would you want a stab if the best you can hope for is that it will act like a wing?"
You also have to consider - a wing is flat and concentrated on your back. A stab jacket, being wrapped all around you, drastically increases your surface area, and therefore makes it harder for you to propel yourself through the water.
You may not think this significant. I've never measured it myself, so can't give you any empirical data. All I can tell you is that of the three people in my club who use big twinsets, two say they have no trouble, and one says he can barely move underwater. Two use a wing, one uses a stab jacket.
And then you have the backplate and harness to bring in to the equation.
With a stab jacket, you're stuck with what the manufacturers give you. You can't alter the size, you can't add or move D-rings, you can't customise it.
The harness on a wing isn't dictated by the manufacturer. You make it yourself. It can be adjusted to fit anybody, it has exactly the right number of D-rings, in exactly the locations you want them.
It also lends itself far better to good trim.
Finally, a big plus for me was the way a wing is carried when worn.
A stab jacket hangs off the shoulders when you're not in the water, and so all the weight of your cylinders, regualtors, and the jacket itself is hanging on your shoulders, puting your back under a lot of strain.
The shoulder straps on a wing are kept loose, and the weight all sits on the waist strap, which means your back is under virtually no strain at all.
I'm prone to back pain at the best of times. Going diving used to gaurantee me a day or two of back ache. It doesn't any more, because the wing puts no weight onto my back above water, and reduces the amount on in when submerged.
I use a Buddy Tekwing, which actually comes designed for cambands. I adapted it for bolts by the cunning expedient of punching a few holes in the right places and adding brass eyelets as a finishing touch. Three holes, in fact: Two for the cylinder bolts, and one for the P-weight.
