I have never done a BSAC course in my life, but when I got my original PADI OWD certification in 1984 the tables clearly provided for non-accelerated decompression. The implication was, once you were certified you could go ahead and conduct small deco obligation dives, although they never claimed to "teach" deco. Now they explicitly prohibit planned deco diving.
I had a similar experience when I got my ticket punch for OWD in 1980 in a NAUI/PADI class. The training was not to make deco dives but to give you the proper information on returning to NDL should you go into deco for any reason. The emphasis was on having enough air left to use this information. The class was a lot longer than they are now so they had to be filled with something, and he chose useful. As I remember the tables were cut off of the Navy diving tables of the day, since I don't remember having to memorize new markers for adjusting my plan to reality on the fly.
As for Nitrox, I mainly use it on multiday multidive trips because I feel better after, as opposed to air. And before you site the "it doesn't do that study", go read the study, in fact no study I've seen has done multidive, never mind multiday, study on nitrox. Once you read the methodology, you will wonder why anyone cites it. I actually agree with it that when diving (they actually didn't dive) one tank, there is no discernible difference between air and Nitrox.
Anyone could learn more about Nitrox than any alphabet class can teach, but without the card access to Nitrox can be denied. If you want to use Nitrox, get the card.
Bob
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"If you don't like it, go on the internet and complain." Brian Griffin
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---------- Post added June 15th, 2013 at 08:33 AM ----------
Surely that's an argument
for computer training?
So, by that logic, most divers should just carry a flash-card with the following...
Pcomp = Pbegin + [ Pgas - Pbegin ] x [ 1 - 2 ^ ( - te / tht ) ]
where:
Pbegin = Inert gas pressure in the compartment before the exposure time ( ATM )
Pcomp = Inert gas pressure in the compartment after the exposure time ( ATM )
Pgas = Inert gas pressure in the mixture being breathed ( ATM )
te = Length of the exposure time ( minutes )
tht = Half time of the compartment ( minutes )
and ^ stands for exponentiation
1 ATM = 14.7 psia ( 1 Atmosphere, or sea level standard pressure )
x all the compartments you wish to apply...
Now that's funny, I don't care who you are.
Exactly. Perhaps people don't use computers as effective dive planning tools because they were never taught to do so. Instead they (previously) learned to plan on plastic tables, which they never used subsequently. The training did not match the usage.
I must admit, I don't see much dive planning going on these days. Depending on the dive, I may not put a lot of work into planning but I do like to know where I am in relation to NDL, depth, time and gas before the splash. I fly the computer in the water, but will head shallower or surface if my plan and the computer are diverging, did the same on tables years ago.