What did you just say?

[nimoh]

You are right, but I put some blame on dive operators (and I have heard this) who emphasize this requirement to the point of saying that if you don't have 500 PSI when you get back on the boat, you will not be allowed to do the second dive. That puts a lot of pressure on a diver to blow off the safety stop and ascent too quickly.

perhaps they should make the requirement to be back on the boat with 500psi and require a 3 minute safety stop by every diver both of which will be monitored.

If the diver isn't smart enough to manage their gas, they probably aren't smart enough to realize that their safety stop isn't actually being timed by the DM

It's unfortunate that some divers need to be protected from themselves

 

[Progen]

But 500 PSI at the 5 metre or thereabouts mark lasts just about forever if you're not panicking for whatever reason and if you're already near enough to the surface or about to ascend with that amount, you should be safe so to insist that divers come up with 500 PSI is a bit harsh and for those heavy breathers (which may not necessarily mean that they're beginners), it's really unfair to them because there might be things down there which they'd like to spend time on but they'll have to cut short their dive at the 700 - 800 PSI mark to be able to get onto the boat with 500 PSI. Perhaps it should be changed to something like 300 PSI by the time you climb onto the boat.

 

[Tigerman]

But 500 PSI at the 5 metre or thereabouts mark lasts just about forever if you're not panicking for whatever reason and if you're already near enough to the surface or about to ascend with that amount, you should be safe so to insist that divers come up with 500 PSI is a bit harsh and for those heavy breathers (which may not necessarily mean that they're beginners), it's really unfair to them because there might be things down there which they'd like to spend time on but they'll have to cut short their dive at the 700 - 800 PSI mark to be able to get onto the boat with 500 PSI. Perhaps it should be changed to something like 300 PSI by the time you climb onto the boat.

Umm.. being a heavy breather REALLY should not be an excuse for having a bad dive plan
If you need more air to do the dive, BRING IT!

Also keep in mind that pressure gauges are known to start getting inaccurate once youre "in the red"

 

[supergaijin]

How many SPG's have you seen that are innacurate? In my (fairly new) rentals, some will read 205bar, some 200, some 190.

300psi is about 20 bar- that is sweet F.A. if and when the proverbial shot hits the flan. This should never be used as a 'plan' IMO and IME.

 

[Tortuga68]

Did you read my entire post?

Yes, and I don't agree that MOF is a 'bad habit' to be avoided for the reasons you stated

 

[AfterDark]

I've been putting my MOF for longer than I've been scuba diving and I'll continue doing for the rest of my life those that don't like don't look. Who's the fool that started that stupid distress idea in relation to MOF? In 42 years of diving I've never once seen a diver in trouble put their mask on their forhead, if some diver in trouble did it wouldn't mean a thing to me anyway. I suppose I'd ask myself why does this fool have his mask on his forehead in 100fsw but that's about it.

 

[Dirty-Dog]

Umm.. being a heavy breather REALLY should not be an excuse for having a bad dive plan
If you need more air to do the dive, BRING IT!

Also keep in mind that pressure gauges are known to start getting inaccurate once youre "in the red"

Bringing more air is a lovely idea, but those of us who aren't diving at home (Colorado, for example, isn't exactly the home of a lot of diving hot spots...) are pretty much at the mercy of the various dive ops. I do my best to find ops that have options on tank sizes, but if all I can get is an AL80...I'm diving an AL80. Which means that if you're on a drift dive and the group is expected to ascend together, I may be cutting your dive short.

 

[Progen]

Umm.. being a heavy breather REALLY should not be an excuse for having a bad dive plan
If you need more air to do the dive, BRING IT!

Also keep in mind that pressure gauges are known to start getting inaccurate once youre "in the red"

Basically, what I meant was that to insist on coming onboard with 500 PSI is a bit overly conservative because if we're talking about recreational open water diving, to end the dive and start ascending at the 500 PSI mark should be sufficient for a slow relaxed ascend plus the mandatory safety stop.

 

[elmer fudd]

I've been putting my MOF for longer than I've been scuba diving and I'll continue doing for the rest of my life those that don't like don't look. Who's the fool that started that stupid distress idea in relation to MOF? In 42 years of diving I've never once seen a diver in trouble put their mask on their forhead, if some diver in trouble did it wouldn't mean a thing to me anyway. I suppose I'd ask myself why does this fool have his mask on his forehead in 100fsw but that's about it.

Check out some pictures of the recent Olympics. Lots of GOF. These are the best swimmers anywhere in the world, but somehow they never got the word that MOF means they're in distress. Guess they're just a bunch of knuckleheads.

 

[DaleC]

I'd question whether 300psi was insufficient to end a dive with.
Considering that we end the dive after a safety stop it means 300psi to get from 15' to the surface. That's a lot of gas for me.

I know the generalized rebuttal might be that some divers need overly simplistic rules because they don't know better but I prefer not to dumb down my behavior to equal the lowest common denominator. We should be pulling those people up, not forcing ourselves down.