Deep diving advice that goes against conventional thought?

[tursiops]

It often seems like spearfishermen live on a different planet. Outlandish gear, crazy ideas, and ignorance of best practices. And a lot of them die pursuing their obsession. Everything is OK until it isn't.

 

[Mike]

The effects of nitrogen narcosis will vary from one person to another, and from one day to another with the same person. Water temperature, physical exertion, fitness and experience are mitigating factors; breathing rate is not. Nitrogen narcosis is a product of nitrogen partial-pressure, not volume.

There is a difference in the acceptable level of safety that Air provides at depth. Everyone will experience some functional impairment at 50 FSW; although diving over this depth isn't considered dangerous in-itself. The recommended maximum depth of 130 FSW for recreational diving is too deep for some divers and overly limiting for others.

Personally I'm comfortable using air to 200 FSW (250 FSW in a pinch), but this is dependent upon the complexity of the dive. I usually will opt for mix below 200 FSW or below 150 FSW in an overhead environment.

I believe that all divers should dive within their safe diving envelope. The SDE is dictated by the diving conditions present, the diver's training and experience, as well as his/her physical health and fitness. Every diver is their own bottom-line and they must determine what is acceptable risk to them.

Information about narcosis well appreciated. But do you think if we could take narcosis out of the equation that the rest of what this person is saying is valid? I ask this because I thought the narcosis aspect of the list of risks in what he is describing are actually the least of the risks.

 

[Diver0001]

So how can this be? Have you met any other divers who can do this will no ill effects for so long?

Well.... I know that some extreme deep divers slow down their rate of respiration in order to keep pprO2 down and avoid problems with oxygen toxicity.

This story, however, strikes me more as "the deeper you go, the bigger the stories get".

R..

 

[gekodivebali]

You can't really avoid problems with ox-tox. At best you can convince yourself that you're mitigating them...

 

[Rhone Man]

I think the worst problem with that advice would be CO2 retention. Far more likely to black out due to CO2 retention on a really deep dive than you ever are for O2 toxicity on air. That advice seems calculated to maximise your chances of blacking out.

 

[Wookie]

These guys are Helldivers. Louis Rossignol (ROK) or Rock as it's stated in the article does indeed do these types of dives with regularity. Others follow his lead. They are from Louisiana. Louisiana has a culture of "Hold my Beer and Watch This". They consider themselves sportsmen, with a bit of bravado and adventure thrown in. Sometimes they die in pursuit of their sport. They would never come with me, not do I want them on my boat, as my rules and their diving style don't match. We also have a relatively serious personality clash, although I am friends with some of their members. One crews for me, but not on diving charters.

I have a fair amount of respect for them, however. We all talk about pursuing our dreams, they go out and do it. Some folks are physiologically capable of doing these dives, others (including me) are not. Many of them are not certified, because really, why bother. They aren't going to follow the rules anyway, why learn them. They aren't trying to charter, they have their own boats. They aren't buying air fills, they have their own compressors. They aren't hurting anyone else, so why not?

If we were in the Pub I'd make remarks about nanny state, freedoms to die in your own personal chosen way, and who are any of us to judge?

 

[rongoodman]

I think the author was narced when he wrote the article--it's barely comprehensible in places.

 

[DivemasterDennis]

I agree the reported commetns are ridiculous. Other words that apply: stupid, dangerous, irresponsible, misinfomred, and of course, total b-lls--t. I know there are some "deep air people out there, but I am not and will never be one of them. Too many tragic stories around to convince me otherwise.
DivemasterDennis

 

[PfcAJ]

These guys are Helldivers. Louis Rossignol (ROK) or Rock as it's stated in the article does indeed do these types of dives with regularity. Others follow his lead. They are from Louisiana. Louisiana has a culture of "Hold my Beer and Watch This". They consider themselves sportsmen, with a bit of bravado and adventure thrown in. Sometimes they die in pursuit of their sport. They would never come with me, not do I want them on my boat, as my rules and their diving style don't match. We also have a relatively serious personality clash, although I am friends with some of their members. One crews for me, but not on diving charters.

I have a fair amount of respect for them, however. We all talk about pursuing our dreams, they go out and do it. Some folks are physiologically capable of doing these dives, others (including me) are not. Many of them are not certified, because really, why bother. They aren't going to follow the rules anyway, why learn them. They aren't trying to charter, they have their own boats. They aren't buying air fills, they have their own compressors. They aren't hurting anyone else, so why not?

If we were in the Pub I'd make remarks about nanny state, freedoms to die in your own personal chosen way, and who are any of us to judge?

Iirc, a young man just drowned a few weeks ago following his advice. It's toward the top of the AI forum.

Sad, pointless, and preventable.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

These guys live in a different world than most of us. The OP sounds like something our friend Dumpster Diver might write ... and I believe he's actually done everything he claims to have done and survived.

Ain't the way I want to dive ... ain't the way I train my students to think about diving. But diving's all about choices, and if these guys want to make those kinds of dives, that's their choice.

The most glaring thing I'd point out is that the part about "minimal breaths" to reduce nitrogen loading is really bad advice. Sure you're reducing nitrogen, but at the cost of carbon dioxide buildup ... and in those conditions you're trading off one risk for an even greater one (passing out). DCS is fixable ... drowning generally isn't.

A few years ago the group Wookie mentioned lost one of their own on an oil rig dive ... the dude was diving deep on a partial tank, and at some point he passed out and sank too deep for his buddies to reach him. They never recovered his body. A few of them came on here and tried telling us all what a great diver he was. I didn't agree ... he was a daring diver, possibly an ignorant diver, definitely a dead diver ... but given the choices he made, I can't imagine him as a "great" diver.

Any idiot can dive to 250 feet. Coming back to the surface without injury is the hard part ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)